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