I work as a volunteer chaplain at a nearby hospital. Recently, when I went to the hospital there was a note for me that one of the patients requested a visit. I went to the room and found a very nice looking young man in his late twenties. He told me that he was in a lot of pain and also that he was very depressed because he had a relapse and had started using drugs again. He was in the hospital for drug related problems. He was so happy that I had come to visit him.

He told me that his father had introduced him to hard drugs when he was just thirteen years old and they used drugs together on a regular basis. He said that due to drugs, four times he had gone into cardiac arrest and had been declared clinically dead. He had a stroke on one occasion due to his drug abuse and was paralyzed and unable to speak for a time. Fortunately his speech and movement both had returned. However, he had started using drugs again and was very disappointed in himself. I told him that even though he had “fallen off the wagon,” so to speak, God still loved him and he should never stop trying to be free of his addiction. All the time we were talking, the nurses and therapists were coming into his room making it difficult for us to talk. “This is just my luck,” he said to me. “I finally get a visitor, and the nurses won’t give us a chance to talk.” I handed him the prayer of Padre Pio, “Stay with me, Lord,” and told him I would come back later in the afternoon.

When I returned that afternoon, the young man looked so much happier. He said he loved the prayer of Padre Pio so much that he had called his mother on the telephone and read it to her. The prayer touched him so much that he cried while reading it to his mother. He told her that he was thinking that he should go back to the Catholic Church. He had been away from the Church for a long time. His mother told him that she too, would think about returning. After the phone call, he fell asleep and he said that he had not slept so peacefully and so deeply in a long time.

I know that Padre Pio’s prayers are powerful and transforming. I have seen it on many occasions. I thank God for the blessing of seeing that power working in that young man’s heart that day.

– Ron Allen

I live in Belfast, Ireland and one cold and windy winter morning, I went to pray in the chapel at the parish of St. Agnes. It was raining heavily that day. Outside it felt colder than the coldness of my heart and home. The night before had been a bitter night with family problems and I was broken-hearted. I entered the chapel of St. Agnes and kept the hood of my coat up hoping that no one would notice my tears. When I finished my prayers, I left the chapel by the side door. I was amazed to see a life-size bronze statue of Padre Pio at the foot of the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. I had never noticed it before as St. Agnes is not my regular parish. Still crying, I went over and put my hand in Padre Pio’s and begged for his help. Because it was such a cold day, I was taken aback by the warmth of the statue’s hand. I wondered how it was possible that it could feel so warm. A few days later I returned to pray but also to see if the hand was still warm. The hand was stone cold. Over the last few years, I have visited the grotto a number of times and have touched the statue’s hand. It has been cold ever since. It is my belief that Padre Pio personally comforted me on that Saturday morning. My mind was in such turmoil and my heart was so cold that he gave me some of his warmth. I love Padre Pio and I know he has helped me in many ways over the years.

– Name Withheld

Recently I was praying in the side chapel in our local Cathedral of St. Monica’s here in Cairns, North Queensland, Australia. I was praying for a friend of mine who is an atheist and an alcoholic. She also has several diagnosed mental health problems including bipolar disorder and anxiety disorder. I prayed to St. Pio and asked him to help her. There was only one other man in the chapel at the time and as he was leaving, I noticed that he paused to touch the statue of Our Lady. At the moment he touched the statue, I perceived the sweetest fragrance of flowers. I believed it must have come from the man but after he left the chapel, the fragrance remained. I trusted then that St. Pio had heard my prayer. Shortly afterward, I received a message from my friend. She said that quite suddenly she had come to the conclusion that she must do something positive with her life. She has since applied for a good job and with Our Lord’s help and mercy and St. Pio’s intercession, I believe she is now on a new and positive path.

– Name Withheld

My grandfather, George Bartoli, went to see Padre Pio twice in his life, the first time in 1957. He was able to make his confession to Padre Pio. Usually confessions to Padre Pio lasted just a few minutes, but after the confession was over, Padre Pio and my grandfather talked for a long time. It seemed as though Padre Pio was very happy to speak with him and was in no hurry to end the conversation. My grandfather was from the northern part of Italy. He and Padre Pio talked about many things, including the wine and good food from the northern region of Italy. My grandfather had a handkerchief with him of a friend who was dying of cancer. He spoke to Padre Pio about her. “She will be in Paradise soon,” Padre Pio said. Then he blessed the handkerchief saying that perhaps it would comfort her. My grandfather had always been a worrier. “Stay calm,” Padre Pio repeated to him over and over. My grandfather said that Padre Pio had very piercing, dark eyes.

It was through my grandfather’s love for Padre Pio that I came to know and love him as well. I had drifted away from my Catholic faith and had become involved in the New Age movement. My husband and I separated and then divorced. I was living alone with my daughter and I was depressed. My grandfather was praying very hard for me to return to my faith.

I began to have double vision and then blurry vision and finally no vision at all. I was ready to get a seeing-eye dog. The doctor thought that I had a stroke but later I was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, a neuromuscular disease. The muscles in my eyelids became so weak that I could not even hold them open. I was set to have an operation on my eyes but there was no guarantee that my sight would be restored. My grandfather drove me to a final doctor appointment before the surgery. He gave me a relic of Padre Pio and told me to pray to him. I went into the examination room and before the doctor came in, I held the relic over my eyes and prayed and begged Padre Pio to heal me. My grandfather was in the waiting room, praying for me.

The doctor examined my eyes and then left the room. He came back and examined them one more time and then left the room again. He came in a third time with another doctor who also examined my eyes. Then they both left. I was quite scared. The doctor came in once again and told me that he wanted to cancel my surgery because he believed that I did not need the operation. The surgery was cancelled. I began to get my vision back and it improved daily. The biggest miracle of all was that because of the healing of my eyes, my faith was restored and also my marriage. My husband and I reconciled and were reunited after being apart for over five years.

– Claudia Bartolli-McKinney

Recently I was falsely accused in a custody battle and put through a living hell. All the time, I prayed to Padre Pio to help me and I carried a relic of his with me at all times. I received his intercession for my name has been cleared. The person who was responsible for the false accusations was held on six charges of contempt of court.

– Name Withheld

I was born near Bagdad, Iraq and baptized in the parish of the Virgin Mary of the Holy Heart. When I was still a baby, my parents decided to move the family to the United States to escape the dangers of the country and so that my brothers and sisters and I might have a better life. It was a great sacrifice for them to leave their country and all that was dear to them but they knew it was for the best. I learned about Padre Pio in 2006 and started attending the Padre Pio prayer group in San Diego. On occasion, I brought my mother with me and she liked it very much. 2007 was a devastating year for the Chaldean Catholic community in Badgad. My mother became very distraught over the tragedies that were occurring there. Chaldean Catholic bishops, priests, and deacons were being threatened daily. Extremist terrorist groups warned them that they would be killed if they continued to have Mass in their churches.

My mother watched the news on television one day and saw several of the Catholic churches in Baghdad that were destroyed by roadside bombings. She was filled with anxiety and wept over the tragic events. She had a great love for the parish she had attended when she lived in Iraq and feared that it would also be leveled just like the others. One evening when my mother was very sad, I took her to the Padre Pio prayer group with me. When we came home, I placed a picture of Padre Pio next to my parents’ bed. That night she had a vivid dream. In her dream, she was praying and pleading that God would protect her parish in Baghdad. Padre Pio suddenly appeared in her dream. He raised his hands and she could see the marks of the stigmata. He said to her in Aramaic, “Do not worry. There will be victory.” When my mother woke up, she was filled with a great sense of peace. My parents’ parish in Baghdad is still standing today. Although one window was shattered and an outer wall was damaged by an act of violence, the church was repaired and Mass is said there regularly. My parents have remained very devoted to Padre Pio.

–Zina Hallak

I saw Padre Pio in person when I was growing up. It was in 1951 and I was 10 years old at the time. My mother and I attended his Mass. I was very impressed by him. His tiny church could barely hold a handful of peasants. The Mass was very, very early in the morning and outside it was freezing. The church however was very warm inside. It was a great experience. My mother made her confession to Padre Pio. At one point during the confession, he started laughing and he said to my mother, “If these things you are confessing were sins, then we would all be in paradise.” She received absolution from Padre Pio.

– Vittorio Manunta

My brother, Mateo Garcia, was hospitalized at the Chong Hua General Hospital in the Philippines on August 20, 2007. He suffered from bleeding peptic ulcer disease, chronic liver disease, sepsis, osteomyletis, cellulitis and intravascular disease. He also had internal bleeding that the doctors could not alleviate. He was given more than 70 blood transfusions. I asked the doctor to tell us the real score about my brother’s condition so that we could prepare ourselves. The doctor told us that it was just a matter of time. Mateo was going to die. My brother Ricardo and I went to Mateo’s bedside in the Intensive Care Unit and we all prayed together. We recited the prayers our parents taught us when we were little – “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul; Jesus, Mary and Joseph, assist me in my last agony; Jesus, Mary and Joseph I breathe forth my soul in peace with you.” When Mateo fell asleep, Ricardo and I left the hospital, feeling very forlorn. We begged God to give us the strength to accept His will for our brother.

The next day, one of the Chinese doctors gave my brother a herbal medicine. A good friend stopped by the hospital and brought us a framed picture of Padre Pio, Padre Pio’s Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and a prayer leaflet with a tiny relic of Padre Pio on it. Mateo and I kissed the relic and returned it to my friend. Earnestly and from our hearts, Ricardo and I prayed the prayers of Padre Pio with Mateo. The following day, when we came to see Mateo in the ICU, we learned that the bleeding had stopped altogether. My brother was discharged from the hospital on the 15th of September. He is now recuperating at home. Thanks be to God and to the intercession of St. Pio!

– Josefina Garcia Serranilla

In the early fall of 2007, I sprained my foot. The pain increased throughout the day and by the evening, the pain was so great that I could not walk at all. That night I had to be carried to my bed. I was worried and I was wondering how I would manage since I could not walk. I finally fell asleep. That night I dreamed that I was in a large church and I was laying on the floor because I was unable to walk. Padre Pio was led into the church by two men. He knelt down near me to pray. There was a relic of St. Anthony in the church and that was why he had come. Before he left, he put his hand out and touched my foot where the sprain had occurred. Then he touched my hand. After that, many other people began to reach out to him. I woke up immediately from the dream and noticed that my foot was no longer throbbing. In fact, I was able to get up and walk to the other end of the house by myself. The injury healed quite quickly and there was no permanent damage.

– Krysten Hager

I have a great devotion to Padre Pio. It began in 2002 when I visited Italy. In the past six years, my family has had many problems. My grand daughter was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer. My daughter was also diagnosed with cancer. My stepdaughter had a hole in her heart and was in very serious condition. Also, my son suffered a heart attack. To each one of them I gave either a Padre Pio medal or a Padre Pio statue and told them to pray to Padre Pio and ask for his help. I thank God and Padre Pio that they are all doing well now.

In January 2008, I was diagnosed with lung cancer. I am seventy-eight years old and have other serious health problems. I have a pacemaker and defibulator and also a bad heart. I needed surgery but my doctor was not optimistic about my chances of surviving an operation. I gave my doctor a medal of Padre Pio and told him that I had complete confidence that Padre Pio would see me through. I was operated on at Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York City and my left lung was removed. I developed an infection after the surgery and spent three months in the hospital. After that I was transferred to Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains, New York.

One day, one of the nurses’ aides came in my room and told me that she had a dream about me. “I have never had a dream about one of my patients before,” she said. I asked her about the dream. She looked at the Padre Pio statue that I had in my room and pointed at it. “I dreamed that he was carrying you,” she said.

I am recovering slowly from the surgery. I continue my devotion to Padre Pio and the Blessed Mother and urge everyone to pray the Rosary daily.

–John Giumarra