The following testimony is from Padre Federico who was one of Padre Pio’s seminary students. Padre Pio also acted as his spiritual director. Padre Pio was always praying, night and day. His main teaching place for us was the choir, where he spent long hours of the day on his knees as a faithful worshiper of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. In our midst he prayed and responded, always holding his rosary in his right hand. In the refectory, after having hurriedly and listlessly swallowed a few mouthfuls, he continued to pray. He used to say “I wish the day had forty eight hours in which to pray.” In fact, he never left the choir until midnight. When he went to bed we felt him to be always keeping watch. His whole day was a continuous dialogue with God.

– Padre Federico of Macchia Valforte

I had just come out of the hospital with a severe nervous disorder, near a nervous breakdown. I had been working at a bank near my home where I was a credit collection correspondent for delinquent mortgages. This work where I had to collect money on delinquent mortgages from poor, desperate and sick people finally undermined my health until I was admitted to the hospital for six weeks. When I returned from the hospital, my recovery didn’t seem to be forthcoming. In desperation one day a sent a telegram to Padre Pio and asked for his intercession. That night my sister and I were in her apartment. My sister knowing nothing about the telegram exclaimed, “What is that gorgeous fragrance? Do you smell it?” At first, I couldn’t understand the significance. Then it dawned on me where this heavenly fragrance came from. That much I did know, that when Padre Pio was interceding for you, he would let you know by a fragrance. My healing did not come at once but from then on the whole course of my life started to change for the better. By January of the following year there was a complete break from the past. I can look back to that period as a turning point in my whole life.

– Name Withheld

My husband was treating me terribly. I could not take this mistreatment any longer. I begged Padre Pio to help me. I had no where to go for help but Heaven. One evening I was already in bed and the room was very quiet when my husband went to his side of the bed. He was lying down about five minutes when he suddenly jerked his head up and in a shocked voice said to me, “Someone has just whispered in my ear, ‘˜Love your wife.'” My husband changed after that experience and became much nicer to me. We have three children now and attend Mass together as a family every Sunday.

– Name Withheld

Padre Agostino, Padre Pio’s Spiritual Director, left this recollection:

Padre Pio suffered and prayed for all and in a special way for the Vicar of Jesus Christ. Very often the Lord sends spiritual and bodily sufferings for the salvation and the good of souls. Padre Pio once told me that he had suffered for a particular individual for almost two months. He said to me, “I don’t know the reason for this, but I suffer.”

When I was getting ready to leave for Genoa for the hospital, I stopped to see Padre Pio and he was in bed. He told me, “My Father, go in peace, because you have someone who is praying and suffering for you.” I answered, “Let’s divide the suffering.” He replied, “Don’t give it another thought.” All went well with me at the hospital and all thanks are due to Padre Pio who suffered and prayed.

I would like to give thanks to Padre Pio who has interceded for me throughout my life. I graduated from Sheffield Hallam University in Yorkshire in the north of England in 1983. At that time, I lived in a rented room above a bookshop and was far away from home, as I am from Scotland.The bookshop had alot of marxist, anarchist, feminist, and communistic books. I had access to all the reading material and I had read alot of Marx and Freud. I looked to science and reason rather than faith to explain human existence. I considered myself an atheist and a marxist.

The bookshop also had a variety of other kinds of secular reading material and had a contract to supply the city library with books. One night while browsing through the stacks, I came across John McCaffrey’s, ‘Tales of Padre Pio.’ I read the book at one sitting and was deeply impressed. The next morning I received a letter from my mother containing a Padre Pio prayer card and relic. It was at a time in my life when I was scared and uncertain of the future. I decided to make the prayer novena to Padre Pio to ask for guidance in my life. As a result, I won a scholarship to study for a post-graduate degree in Glasgow, Scotland. Padre Pio has been my protector and benefactor ever since and has never failed me even in my darkest times. I love and thank him from the bottom of my heart for helping me to reaffirm the beauty and peace of my Catholic faith. Viva Padre Pio!

– Kenny Keegan

During my childhood I was afflicted with an illness from the age of 8 years old. I could not attend school very much but I was able to take piano lessons. Every week I had a private lesson in my home. Doctors told me I would have the illness all my life. I met Padre Eusebio (Padre Pio’s secretary) when he visited Ireland and he told me about Padre Pio. He said he would talk to Padre Pio about me when he returned to San Giovanni. I began to correspond with Padre Pio. He told me to have pupils and teach them piano. I made a trip to San Giovanni and I met Padre Pio in 1966. He told me I would have to suffer for 3 years and then I would be cured. I am now completely cured and have my own school where I teach piano in my home and have 40 pupils. I am getting on well thanks to Padre Pio.

– Mary Kennedy

About 20 years ago I attended a seminar given by a priest who had returned from a trip to San Giovanni Rotondo. His testimony about Padre Pio was very inspiring and since that time I have developed a very close relationship with Padre Pio. I keep a small Padre Pio prayer card in the left pocket of my shirt at all times. Every night I place it on my night table before I go to bed. I obtained a Master’s Degree in Theology and Pastoral Ministry from Barry University and I am also a Certified Public Accountant. My wife and I have been active parishioners at St. Timothy Catholic Church in Miami where we head the Evangelization Ministry. I also teach Bible classes on Tuesdays. In 2010, I was diagnosed with severe aorta stenosis. My aorta valve should have had an opening of 3 cms. and mine showed only .75. To confirm the findings, my cardiologist, Dr. Hugo Garcia ordered a transesophageal echo test. The test showed the same results. My doctor explained to me that I was going to have to have open heart surgery. I met the doctor who was going to perform the surgery, Dr. Nirberto Moreno, at Baptist Hospital of Miami. When he saw the results of the echo test, he characterized the aorta stenosis as “critical.’

Before the surgery, I had to have one other procedure, a heart catheterization. The procedure would take a close look at my arteries in order to determine the entry point for the open heart surgery. It my arteries were in good shape, the surgeon would go through the side of my chest. If the coronary arteries were obstructed, the center of my chest would have to be opened for the surgery. The heart catheterization procedure was performed at South Miami Hospital on April 12, 2011. As I was coming out of the sedation, my cardiologist, Dr. Garcia, said to me, “Mr. Contreras, what have you done?” I did not understand what he meant and was afraid that he had bad news for me. “I have not done anything. But I have prayed a lot,” I replied. “Well, keep praying,’ my doctor said. ‘Your aorta valve now shows a 1.44 cm. opening. You do not need heart surgery.’ I had been praying to Padre Pio since January, asking only that my coronary arteries would be healthy. Well, Padre Pio went all the way for me!”

–Jorge Contreras

I am of Cajun descent and I speak both English and some Cajun, although broken Cajun. My daddy died on December 8, 1990. However, on December 7th, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Port Arthur, Texas, while staying near daddy’s bedside, my husband and I witnessed daddy seeing someone come in to his room. My daddy’s eyes followed them to his bedside and he extended his hand and was very serious and very humbled by whoever it was that he saw and he commenced to speak to them. We knew that there was someone very holy and very powerful there and that also there was more than one person near him. The language my daddy was speaking is one I had not heard until this morning when my husband and I were listening to a recording of Padre Pio’s voice. I recognized it as the language my daddy was speaking. It was either that language or something very close to it. We just knew that there were some very holy people escorting him into eternal life. I have never seen my daddy become so humbled as he was that day. He died the next morning. I knew we were in the company of holiness, of saintliness and we were not hung out to dry. They were powerful and they knew God. I have known about Padre Pio for many years and I am wondering if it might have been Padre Pio who was there at my daddy’s bedside. What is hard for me is to see that I am worthy of Padre Pio coming to my aide and to my families’ aide. Thank you, Amen.

– Mary Ellen Breaux Weisse

I had a terrible problem with a young man harassing me and calling me names. Eventually it got so bad that even his family started to threaten me and my husband. I prayed to Padre Pio to help me. I am happy to say I have all faith in his intercession. The man phoned to apologize after I had prayed to Padre Pio just once.

–Mrs. C. Jardim

I was down and out and homeless. I was a heroin addict. I wanted to kick the habit on my own, but I couldn’t do it. I had no money nor medical insurance. The city hospital had a long waiting list and no other help for me was available. My aunt and her friends started praying to Padre Pio for me. At first I didn’t believe, but then everything started going o.k. for me. I was admitted into a hospital for detoxification and then I was sent to an excellent rehabilitation program for drug addicts. I am now working and off drugs and trying to rebuild my life. Thanks be to God and Padre Pio’s powerful intercession.

– Name Withheld