I had lived in England for many years and to be honest, I did not live a good or holy life. I began seeing a man and I became pregnant. From that point on, the man no longer wanted anything to do with me. I moved back to Ireland to live with my parents as they said they would help support me and my baby. It was a very dark and painful time in my life. My son was born in November, 2006. It was a long and difficult labor and there were some serious complications. A few days after the birth of my son, I became quite ill, both physically and emotionally. The wound in my abdomen from the caeserean section deliver had opened and was bleeding.

My mother brought a medal of Padre Pio to the hospital and told me to put it under my pillow. I thought that my mother was very silly to suggest such a thing. I had never heard of Padre Pio before and I had no interest in learning about him either. I assumed he was a biblical figure and it annoyed me that my mother believed that Padre Pio could save me. I thought no more about the matter.

I was finally discharged from the hospital but my wound was still open and bleeding after ten days. My parents took care of my son so that I could sleep at night. One night I had a dream in which I was a little girl again, maybe seven or eight years old. I was standing in a field. I could see trees at the top of a hill. They were not like any of the trees I have ever seen in either England or Ireland but seemed to be from a foreign country. They looked like orange trees. Underneath the trees was a man dressed in a long brown cloak. He had a beard. I felt full of happiness just to be with him. He placed his hand on my head and then he hugged me. In my dream, I saw myself with a big smile on my face.

When I woke up, I did not think too much about the dream but as I was changing the dressing on my wound, I discovered that it had healed. It was not even bleeding. It was still painful but all the signs of the open wound had disappeared. I felt like a new person. I did not tell my mother about the dream, but when I showed her how the wound had healed, she could not believe it. Later, I came across a book on Padre Pio and saw a picture of him on the cover. Sure enough, he was the man I saw in my dream. I then told my mother. My eyes still fill with tears whenever I think about it. My mother told me how lucky I was that Padre Pio chose to help me.

– C. Tobin