My mother had a friend who was going to have a relic of Padre Pio brought to her home by a priest. She invited my mother to come to her house on the day that the priest was scheduled to visit. The gathering was to be at 1:00 in the afternoon. My mother invited me to go with her but I was not interested. I had never heard of Padre Pio so I declined the invitation. About five minutes before the set time of the gathering, I suddenly changed my mind and decided to go with my mother.

When we arrived at her friend’s house, there were about six people there. One had cancer and several of the others were sick. The priest passed Padre Pio’s glove to each person. The people held the glove and prayed in silence for their needs.

At that time, I was not a practicing Catholic. I did not know what to pray for when the glove was passed to me. I felt that my life was going along fine and that I had nothing to ask for so I prayed for my children. While holding the glove, I began to cry. I thought that was indeed strange since I did not know anything about Padre Pio.

The next morning when I woke up, I had a strong urge to go to confession. I had not been to confession in twenty years. I made my confession and told the priest about Padre Pio’s relic. I told him that after I held Padre Pio’s relic, something changed inside of me. The priest told me that I was in a state of grace. I have gone to Mass every Sunday since that day, six years ago when I held Padre Pio’s glove in my hand. I do pray to St. Pio and I trust in him as an intercessor with our Lord.

– Stephanie Nicolo