My husband Bob and I first learned about Padre Pio by attending a slide presentation on his life at the Immaculate Conception parish in Queens, New York. We were both very inspired by the presentation. Shortly after that, we attended the Feast Day Celebration of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parish in Brooklyn. I took my mother to the celebration in her wheelchair. It was extremely hot that day in July. I needed to get my mother out of the sun as soon as possible and into some shade. I looked everywhere but the only shady place I could see was across the street. When I walked across the street, I was surprised to see there a shrine which was dedicated to Padre Pio. Beside a beautiful and large bronze statue of Padre Pio, my mother rested and got relief from the hot sun. It was the only bit of shade in the whole area. Our devotion to Padre Pio began to grow as we learned more about him.

We live in an apartment building in Forest Hills, New York which has twenty-four hour parking service. Recently, after the attendant parked our car, he introduced himself to us. His name is Daniel and he is from Poland. He told us that he noticed the picture of Padre Pio that we have on the driver’s side of our car and said that he had received a miracle from Padre Pio about eighteen years previously. His mother had a great devotion to Padre Pio. When Daniel was young, he had a serious problem with his leg and needed to have surgery. His mother was so worried about his condition that she decided to go to San Giovanni Rotondo to pray at Padre Pio’s tomb. When she returned to Poland, the doctor examined Daniel’s leg. There was no longer any problem with it. The doctor said that in his twenty years of medical practice, he had never seen anything like it.

– Clotilde and Bob Varone