SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO, ITALY - The exhumed and cosmetically enhanced corpse of Padre Pio, a mystic monk and one of the world's most revered saints, went on display here Thursday amid weeping devotees and eager souvenir-hawkers.

By evening, several thousand pilgrims had filed past the body of the purported worker of miracles and reader of souls whose cultlike following spans the globe.

Padre Pio died 40 years ago at the age of 81, and the tomb containing his remains was unearthed from a church crypt in March. A team of forensic specialists, doctors and a biochemist worked to restore the body for Thursday's ceremony.

A London company that supplies figures for wax museums created a special silicon mask to represent his face, complete with beard and bushy eyebrows.

"My heart is crying," Anna Menga, 56, said after praying alongside Padre Pio's body for the health of her sick son. "Whenever we have problems or we feel sad, we turn to Padre Pio. He has changed my life."

Padre Pio is also big business, and business in this rustic region of Southern Italy has been hurting. Numerous hotels built after Pio became a saint six years ago have gone bust, and a mayor was convicted of absconding with funds. Today, city fathers and church officials are hoping the renewed reverence will boost the economy.

Prospects look good: City officials say about three-quarters of a million pilgrims and tourists have made reservations to view the body through June. Hotels are booked.

In life, Padre Pio cut an imposing figure, a large but tormented man with a full beard, clad always in brown robes. He bore the stigmata -- bloody wounds on his hands and feet that believers say simulate the injuries of a crucified Jesus on the cross.

For critics, the adulation of Padre Pio represents the kind of superstition-infused popular worship frowned upon by Catholicism. The Vatican periodically tried to rein in Pio, banning him from priestly duties for a while.

He was frequently accused of being a fake, to the point of suggestions that he used acid to inflict the stigmata wounds on himself. However, the late Pope John Paul II embraced him fully, canonizing Padre Pio as a saint in 2002.

Even believers, however, say the hoopla surrounding Padre Pio's corpse is the last thing the humble servant of God would have wanted.