Padre Pio, going from his cell to the confessional, had to pass through a narrow hallway. The hallway was always jammed with people when Padre Pio passed.

A woman was on her knees hoping to kiss Padre Pio's hand when he passed.  He passed but didn't stop and went on. She felt bad, and in her heart complained that her wish had not been fulfilled.  Padre Pio was already several yards away. All of a sudden he stopped, turned around, and came straight to her, and said: "Ok. Here is my hand."

On a bus, in an organized trip to see Padre Pio, in 1961, a man tells his wife: "I'm going to just accompany you, because I don't believe in this imposter." When Padre Pio passed: "Well, here is the imposter."

And puts his hand on his head, while the man asks for forgiveness.

Silvio Scocca was on a train with a bag of candies that he intended to give to Padre Pio. He became hungry and opened the bag, and ate some of the candies. When he gave the bag to Padre Pio, he said: “How did the ones taste that you ate on the train?”

A man decided to stop smoking and to offer it as a penance for Padre Pio. Every night he would stop by an image of Padre Pio and show an unopened packet

of cigarettes, and say: Father, here is one. Next night: Here are two. And so on.

When he met Padre Pio: Father, are 81 days since I stopped. "I know, and you made me count the packets every night."

On a May 25, a woman wanted to say happy birthday to Padre Pio, but he was too far away, so she just thought about it. Few days later, at the end of the confession: "Happy birthday. Sorry I couldn't say it the 25th." "But you did already."

A woman from Switzerland convinced her son to visit Padre Pio with her. He agreed, with the condition that he would not have to kiss his hand: “These are things of Middle Ages.” After the confession he kissed Padre Pio’s hand without thinking about what he had said to his mom. When he went to his mom few moments later she noted that his lip were markedly swollen and blue. When he tried to explain, his breath had a strong perfume of violets. The swelling lasted for five days. So did the perfume.

A lady after confessing thanked Padre Pio for a grace received. Hi did not say a word. She thanked him again and again, but still not a word. She thought he must be hard of hearing. Later in the hallway she was able to kiss Padre Pio’s hand, squeezing it a bit. Padre Pio: “Gently, you are hurting me, the only thing that I have good are my ears.”

A lady waiting for Padre Pio to pass in the hallway was praying intensely that he would put his hand on her head. When Padre Pio passed he pounded firmly tree times her head with his fist, without saying a word.” Later Padre Pio was told: “Padre, you almost broke down the head of that young lady”. Padre Pio replied: “She wanted my hand on her head, and I obliged with all my heart.”

A man was told that he could ask Padre Pio for something by thinking about it during Mass. He did. Later, in the hallway, among the crowd of faithful he told Padre Pio aloud from afar: "Father, pray for my sister."  Padre Pio turning in his direction said:  "You already told me."

The young son of Dr. Remo Vincenti was in line to confess to Padre Pio. He had confessed two days before. Dr. Vincenti knew that Padre Pio would first ask “How long ago you confessed last”; end if it was less than eight days would send a person away. Dr. Vincenti, a spiritual child, prayed that Padre Pio would fulfill the wish of the child. The child confessed without being sent away. Later, Padre Pio passing in the hallway told Dr. Vincenti” “I would have done it just for the love of you.”

Helenio Herrera, the coach manager of the famous Italian soccer club Inter of Milan, was a devout Spanish gentleman. The Inter club went to nearby Foggia to play an important soccer game on January 31, 1965. On the eve of the match he visited Padre Pio with a group of players, and towards the end of the conversation said jokingly: “Let us win tomorrow’s game, and also the Championship! (Scudetto).” Padre Pio smiling: “You will not win in our home, but you will win the Scudetto.” Foggia won the game 3-2, and Inter won the championship 1964/65.

A young woman came from Benevento to ask a grace for her husband who had become totally blind. Padre Pio said that her husband’s only hope for salvation was to stay blind, as a punishment for beating his father. The poor woman reported it to her husband. He was resistant at first, and then revealed that when he was sixteen years of age he had severely beaten his father with an iron rod.

A doctor joined the men gathered in the sacristy in hope to talk to Padre Pio, but after a while he left. Padre Pio asked: “Where is he?” “He left.” “He will soon return.” He returned, and Padre Pio: “You carry your own condemnation in your pocket. Read the letter.”

In the letter there was a recommendation from a friend, asking Padre Pio to pray for the conversion of the doctor. The doctor read the letter, grew pale, and kneeling at the feet of Padre Pio asked and obtained pardon.

Paris De Nunzio from Pietrelcina went to visit Padre Pio by car with a friend who fell asleep at the wheel. While the car was swerving uncontrolled, Paris cried: “Padre Pio help us.” The friend woke up and regained control of the car. At the convent, Padre Pio: "Well you all arrived safe. I was driving the car."

 Professor Enrico Medi reported that he was driving the narrow road to San Giovanni, thinking that it was his daughter's birthday and she was blowing the candles at that time.

He missed a narrow bend of the road, and was about to crash in an incoming car. But the cars stopped few inches from each other.  That afternoon Padre Pio seeing him said: "You blow the candles, and I drive the car."

Padre Pio spent most of his day hearing confessions.

From 1918 to 1923 he heard confessions fifteen to nineteen hours a day.

During the 40's and 50's about eight hours a day.

In 1962, 83.035 women and 19.837 men registered for confession with Padre Pio: an average of about 273 per day.

In 1967 Padre Pio confessed about 15.000 women and 10.000 men. An average of 70 people per day.

For the women there was a confessional. The men confessed in the old sacristy.

The average confession made to Padre Pio lasted only three minutes. Padre Pio heard a total of about five million confessions. Padre Pio demanded that each confession be a true conversion. No excuses, no insincerity, but frankness, honesty, firm resolution.

It was like being before the judgment of God.

Padre Pio had strong views on female fashions in dress. A sign read: "By Padre Pio’s explicit wish, women must enter his confessional wearing skirts at least eight inches below the knees. It is forbidden to borrow longer dresses in church and to wear them for the confessional.”

Shorts, and short sleeves, even on children, were not accepted.

To a man going to confession in short sleeves he said: “Either you lengthen the sleeves or shorten your arms.”

"Confession is the purification of the soul."

"Confession should be made no later than every eight days."

"Let's run with confidence to the tribunal of penance were God waits for us with the anxiety of a father."

"Let's not doubt the solemn pardon of our sins."

"Jesus did not abandon you when you fled from him."

"Do not dwell on sins that have been already confessed. Jesus has forgiven them."

"Place a tombstone on the confessed sins, just as the Lord has done."

"I want to help Jesus in the tremendous task of man's salvation".

"The mercy of God, my son, is infinitely greater than your malice.”

 “If we put in the confession all our good will the mercy of God is so great that he will forgive and erase even what we cannot remember or know.”

After a day of confessions: "Oh the souls! If you knew how much they cost!"

"Before reproaching a soul, I suffer it first. But it is not I who act, but He who is in me and above me."

"Even if you had committed all the sins in the world, Jesus would say: 'Many sins have been forgotten to you because you have loved.' "

A man told Padre Pio: "My wife every night kneels in front of your picture and asks for your blessing." "Yes, I know. And you laugh at her when she does that." That was true.

Father my daughter is sick. "And you are much sicker than your daughter." "No, no, I'm feeling very well."

"How can you be well if you have so many sins on your conscience? I see at least 32 of them."

When her turn to confess came, a woman kneeled in the confessional but felt terrorized and couldn't utter a single word. "Do you want me to talk for you?"

He said word by word all the things I had prepared to say, and then added "I will be you spiritual father."

Padre Pio was confessing, and a woman in line was just told that there will be no more confessions for the day. She had a thought: "Father, send me a blessing, I need it." Instantly Padre Pio turned the head from the grille of the confessional, looked at her, made a blessing sign and then turned his face to the grille.

Mary Pyle urged her sister in law Zene to confess with Padre Pio. "Adelia, you know, I don't speak Italian". After the confession she said: "I spoke in English and he spoke in Italian, and we understood each other perfectly. I came out rather dazed."

Cunfset

An elderly illiterate woman from San Mauro Pascoli, in Italy went to confess to Padre Pio. But she did not know Italian. When the little door opened she heard speaking in her own dialect: “When did you confess last time?” Thinking of a joke she moved a bit the curtain to see who was confessing her. It was Padre Pio, who said, still in dialect, “What are you glancing at, instead of confessing?” She did confess and she felt as Padre Pio was talking like her own priest in San Mauro.

 Too many people wanted to confess to Padre Pio. So it was started a registry to sign up in person, and wait for the turn. For men was about a month, for the women 10-12 weeks.

The whole thing was very strict, and there was no way to get around it .The board and lodging ladies went every morning to check to reservation book, and would call the person when the turn was 2-3 days away. 

A woman was called that her turn would come in 2 days. The woman was there on time and waited for the friar to call her so that she could get in line. Her name was not called.

She went to ask the friar about it,  and to her dismay she realized that the board and lodging lady, signora Vasini, had called the wrong person, and her turn was 7-8 days away. The friar was unmovable. The confessions started.

The woman left the sacristy, went outside the church, and sat on the bench around the elm tree, telling the other people in her party and to other strangers what was happening. There were no words able to comfort her.

 At a certain point the woman stood up, raised her arm and pointing at the church said: “If you really are the Padre Pio they say you are, send your friar right away, so that I can confess to you.”

Between 1 and 3 minutes passed. Than a friar (not the one of the reservations), came out of the door looking around and said: “Who is signora Caccioppoli? Padre Pio is waiting for you. He says that is your turn to confess.”

The woman moved towards the friar despite the shaky legs. She went inside, and confessed to Padre Pio.

A lady after confessing thanked Padre Pio for a grace received. Hi did not say a word. She thanked him again and again, but still not a word. She thought he must be hard of hearing. Later in the hallway she was able to kiss Padre Pio’s hand, squeezing it a bit. Padre Pio: “Gently, you are hurting me, the only thing that I have good are my ears.”

 Luisa Vario at the confession told Padre Pio: 'I don't know what to say'. Padre Pio replied: "Than I will speak". 'He proceeded to tell me my whole lifès story. 'Than he said: "Do you have something to add?" 'I mentioned a sin that he had not told me.' "That's the one I was waiting for."

 Dr. Ezio Saltamerenda convinced famed sculptor Francesco Messina in 1949 to visit Padre Pio with him. Padre Pio asked Messina if he wanted to confess. He said ‘maybe but I'm not prepared.’  Padre Pio said: "Don't say anything to me. Just answer." 'Than he began to list my sins with incredible precision. It was as though he could read my soul'.

 John McCaffery went to confession to Padre Pio, and he writes of his extraordinary experience.

McCaffery wanted Padre Pio to pray for some of his friends. McCaffery recalls: "So, during a pause, I began to say 'And then, Padre. . .', but he interrupted me smilingly and said: 'Yes, I shall remember your friends too!"

Padre Pio wanted to bring lost souls back to God as soon as possible: "I can hit my children. I want to bring them up fast, even with blows".

 Brusque manners were used at times by Padre Pio to shake up and bring repentance, to keep away the curious and the fanatics. There was always a reason for his roughness.

People actually snipped bits off his habit with nail scissors when they knelt in the corridor as he was passing. "Go away. What are you her for? What do you want from me? They cut my cord and habit with scissors. This is paganism. This is fanaticism."

 "I'm forced to be rude. I am sorry, but if I don't act this way, they will kill me."

 "I'm only superficially upset. But my heart is always calm and serene".

"Do as I do. If I have an outburst, internally I am always serene."

"Sometimes words must be a little angry externally, however, serenity never leaves me."

July 14, 1920: "I sometimes raise my voice when correcting people. I realize that this is a shameful weakness. I regret it."

One woman who came on a long trip to see Padre Pio said to him in confession, “Padre Pio, four years ago I lost my husband and I haven’t gone to church since then.” Padre Pio replied: “Because you lost your husband, you also lost God? Go away! Go away!”

One man who was thrown out of the confessional by Padre Pio stated: "What kind of blackguardly monk is that? He did not give me time to say a word, but straightway called me an old pig and told me to get out!"

Another person said to this man that Padre Pio probably had good reasons for calling him an old pig and treating him in this way.  "I can't think why,” said the man who had been thrown out of the confessional; and then, after a pause, the man said: "unless it is because I happen to be living with a woman who is not my wife."

A man, had to confess that he was unfaithful to his wife. He started saying: Father I have a spiritual crisis.” Padre Pio stopped him: “What spiritual crisis? You are a vile pig, and God is angry with you. Go away.”

 Padre Mariano reported that when Padre Pio was asked why he denied absolution to some people he replied: “I send them away but I accompany them with my prayers and suffering.” And when asked what about if some disgraceful thing happened to them in the meantime, he said: “Do you think that if I make a mistake, Somebody up above makes a mistake too?”

Padre Tarcisio asked why he was so strict with some people. “My son, before making people suffer, I suffer a lot myself. But it’s necessary, because my job is to remove the old and put in the new.”

Padre Pellegrino reported that during lunch a “friar hunter” was describing how he hat shot a bird and how the bird had fallen with a blood stained wing. Padre Pio interrupted harshly: “But St. Francis didn’t do these things.” After lunch “friar hunter”, mortified, went to kiss Padre Pio’s hand. Padre Pio said: “Forgive me. I wasn’t angry with you.”

Also Padre Pellegrino reported that every time that the friary dog found the door to the orchard open he would walk up to Padre Pio’s cell, paw the floor at the door for a while and would leave only when Padre Pio said to him: “Well now, that’s enough, you can go now.”

 In 1919, a priest named Padre Carlo Naldi came with his Jewish friend, Lello Pegna. The priest explained that Pegna had recently become totally blind. They had come to Padre Pio to see if he could be healed. Padre Pio told Pegna: "The Lord will not grant you the grace of physical sight unless you first receive sight for your soul. After you are baptized, then the Lord will give you your sight." Months later, Pegna came back without the dark glasses that he normally wore. Pegna explained to Padre Pio that, despite opposition from his family, he had become a Christian and was baptized. At the beginning, he was discouraged when his blindness continued, but after a number of months his sight returned. The physician who had earlier told Pegna that he was hopelessly blind now had to admit that his eyesight was in perfect condition. Padre Paolino kept in contact with Lello Pegna for nearly thirty years, and reported that his vision was still perfect.

 Gemma di Giorgi, born on Christmas day in 1939, was blind, born without pupils. In 1947 she was brought to padre Pio. In the hallway Padre Pio touched her eyes and she started seeing normally.

"I had no pupils in my eyes," said Gemma in an interview with Father John Schug in 1971, several years after Padre Pio's death. “I had no sight at all. Today I still see normally. As you can see I have no pupils."

Francesco Visco lived near the convent, and had walked on crutches all his life because of a deformity from infantile paralysis (polio) contracted right after birth. He dragged himself about on his knees, supported by a pair of miniature crutches. The children used to make fun of him all the time. He was usually positioned near the dor of the cloister, soliciting alms.

When he was 43 he took the courage to ask: “Padre Pio bless me." Many people, including Padre Paolino da Casacalenda witnessed the happening.

Padre Pio promptly answered: "Throw away your crutches." Francesco, stunned didn’t move. This time Padre Pio shouted: “I said, throw away your crutches.” In front of all those people Francesco threw his crutches away, and walker for the first time, and for several years after, until his death.

 Pasquale Urbano of Foggia had been walking with two canes after falling from a carriage.

After the confession in 1919 Padre Pio said: "Get up and go. Throw away those canes". He walked away to everyonès amazement.

 Amelia and Federico Abresh married in 1925. In 1926 Amelia had an abortion caused by a small tumor of the uterus. The tumor grew markedly and the specialists advised not to postpone surgery. She went to Padre Pio: “Follow the advice of the doctors.” “So, I will never have children.” ”Well, then, my daughter, no instruments; you would be ruined for the rest of your life.”  She returned home and decided to see no more doctors. Two year later she had a boy. They named him Pio. Pio Abresh became a priest.

 Nicoletta Mazzone, a child from San Felice a Cancello, in 1919 was in a coma for several months from meningitis. The doctors had given no hope. The father went to Padre Pio. Padre Pio said: “Go home and be happy, the Madonna of Graces will heal her.” Pietro, the father, thought that Padre Pio had not understood the gravity of the illness, and kept explaining what the doctors had told him. Padre Pio: “Man of little faith! I repeat, go home and be glad because the Madonna of Graces has healed her.” Back home he found the daughter out of coma, eating regularly, speaking, and fealing normal. Pietro concluded that “the doctors were astonished, and said that the child had returne from the grave.”

Anna Clara Lacitrignola, a three years old child from Bari was diagnosed with polio on January 8, 1947. She was paralyzed and couldn’t move. The family spent the estate in consultations, injections, transfusions, and anything else was suggested by the doctors. No improvement whatsoever. After Easter that year the child’s grandmother went to Padre Pio. He said: ‘Go home, go home, you will find your baby better. Take courage and pray the Lord.” Back home Anna Clara improved rapidly and after few days she was completely healed “robust, healty, very bright and very pious.”

Dr. Giuseppe Sala sent a telegram to Padre Pio requesting his prayers for his son Paolo who was in critical condition with spinal meningitis. Padre Pio wired back: “On the third day he will have no more fever and he will turn out to be the most intelligent of all your children.” The prophecy proved true.

On November 1911 Mother Teresa Salvadores was dying from cancer of the stomac and a lesion of the aorta, in Montevideo, Uruguay. Monsignr Damiani, when in San Giovanni Rotondo, had obtained a glove of Padre Pio. Damiani applied the glove to her stomac and to her throath. She fell asleep, and when she awoke she was cured. She reported that while asleep Padre Pio touched her side, than breathed on her saying heavenly words.

Frances Pasqualini from San Francisco, California, testified that in December 1951 her 29 years old brother in law was stricken with “a rare illness on the nervous system” which left him paralyzed from the neck down, and the doctors “gave no hope for his life.” The family wrote to padre Pio, asking for his prayers. Two months later she reported that “the same young man is now back home with his wife and children, eating by himself, learning to walk without a cane, and showing signs of a thorough and complete recovery.”

On February 1950 the 15 years old son of Leonello Marinelli from Montignana near Perugia was diagnosed with a incapacitating disorder of the heart. The specialists said that it was beyond medical help. The child asked the father to go tell Padre Pio. When Lionello approached Padre Pio, he, before Lionello could open his mouth, said: “I know why you came. The boy is better and gradually will be cured.” When Lionello went back home, the son told him that he had a dream of Padre Pio, and was feeling better. The doctors, after examining the boy, affirmed that the heart disorder had disappeared, and declared that there was no way this could have happened naturally. In March the young Marinelli was completely well, and able to visit Padre Pio with his father.

Joe Greco had a dream in which he met Padre Pio on a road and asked him to save his sick father. Joès father suddenly recovered after the dream. Months later he went to thank Padre Pio. As soon as he kneeled at the confessional, Padre Pio said: "Well, your father is all right, than."

 In 1935 Padre Costantino Capobianco told Padre Pio that he had a relapse of tuberculosis, and had been ordered to report to a sanitarium. Padre Pio: “Don’t worry. This is just an excursion.” Padre Costantino was soon discharged, and outlived Padre Pio.

Alberto Del Fante was a journalist who despised Padre Pio. A few years later, Del Fantès grandson, Enrico, was struck with kidney disease and tuberculosis. The doctors gave little hope that Enrico would recover. Relatives of Enrico traveled to see Padre Pio and ask him to pray for him. Padre Pio assured them the boy would recover. Del Fante himself said: "If Enrico gets well, I will make a pilgrimage to San Giovanni Rotondo myself." He was convinced that nothing would happen, but the boy was healed. Del Fante was deeply moved by this miracle, and went to see Padre Pio who helped him turn to God. After Del Fantès conversion, he became a dedicated promoter of Padre Pio.

 Giuseppe Canaponi of Firenze, on May 21, 1945 was hit by a truck while driving his motorcycle. Multiple fractures from skull to feet, including 5 fractures of left femur. Multiple surgeries. Walking on crutches since. In 1948 confessed with Padre Pio. He walked away normally, without realizing it. He went back to thank Padre Pio. "I didn't do the miracle. I only prayed for you. The Lord healed you."

 In 1917 Nina Campanile’s mother was gravely ill. The doctor ha diagnosed double pneumonia. Nina went to Padre Pio to recommend her mom, sick in bed with pneumonia. Padre Pio said: “What pneumonia you are you talking about; your mom has malaria!”  Nina went back to the doctor. He reassessed the diagnosis, and with proper treatment Nina’s mom recovered.

Rosa Di Cosimo and Giovanni Savino met Padre Pio six weeks after their wedding, and became his spiritual children. He became a construction worker at the friary. They had eight children.

Daughter Lina was struck by a moped. At the first aid station the doctor diagnosed head trauma, and severe internal hemorrhage. She was in a coma and there was no close hospital to take her to. The mom run to Padre Pio. “looked into heaven like he saw another reality” and said “Let’s pray and we’ll leave everything in Our Lord’s hands.” Three days later she opened her eyes, and recovered quickly and completely.

Few years later son Giuseppe was hit by a motorcycle. He had head injury and was in a deep coma. Padre Pio prayed for him. He recovered consciousness and recovered quickly.

Giovanni went to Padre Pio’s Mass every morning and got his blessing before going to work.

On February 12, 1949 Padre Pio told him: “Giovanni, I’m praying the Lord that you might not be killed.” Padre Pio said the same thing for the next three days.” Giovanni was scared, and asked for an explanation, but Padre Pio was silent.

On February 15 he told his crew “Let’s not work today.” But they refused. They had to blast away some rocks in preparation for the friary annex. Giovanni placed a charge of dynamite under a boulder and lit the fuse. It failed to detonate. After few minutes Giovanni went over to check the charge. As he bent over the dynamite exploded in his face. The face was severely damaged. The right eye was an empty socket. The left eye had numerous foreign bodies in it. Padre Pio exposed the Blessed Sacrament and was heard to pray: “Lord, I offer You one of my eyes for Giovanni, because he is the father of a family.”

On February 25 he smelled the “aroma of paradise” and felt like Padre Pio was near him and slapped three times on his forehead. Giovanni said: “Padre Pio give me my sight or let me die. I cannot live like this. Later that morning the ophthalmologist, who was an atheist, came to examine Giovanni.

Giovanni exclaimed: “doctor I see you with my right eye. The doctor:”You might see me with the left eye. The right is completely destroyed.” Upon further exam the doctor had to admit the Giovanni was right, and said: “Now I too believe because this has happened right in front of me.”

Giovanni was released from the hospital in June and visited Padre Pio. He told him: “If you only knew what this cost me!” Giovanni continued to see perfectly from his empty right eye until his death in 1979.

 Luigi Pulcinelli in September 1943 was a student officer at the XII regiment near Foggia. The Germans attacked and took over the headquarters. He barely escaped towards the mountains with five other soldiers. They were suggested to ask help at the convent.

 Maria Palma Carboni a fifteen years old girl was victim of frightening severe diabolic possessions. No blessings could deliver her from the terrifying torment. On June 19, 1952, she was brough to Padre Pio who rested his hands upon her head. At the contact the girl fell into a swoon. After few minutes she revived, free of diabolic possession.

 Dino Segre "Pitigrilli" was a well-known materialist atheist writer from Argentina. Solicited by playwright Antonelli,  he visited unannounced, and sat in the dark in the back of the church during Mass. Before leaving the altar Padre Pio told the assembly: “Let’s pray fervently for someone who is in great need of prayer. One day he will approach the Eucharistic table and will bring many with him who have been in error like himself.” Pitigrilli took it personal and dissolved in tears. Later Padre Pio told him: “What profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul Truly, God is good to you.” Pitigrilli underwent a deep and lasting conversion. For more than thirty years he wrote plays, articles, and books with a Christian message.

 Cardinal Giuseppe Siri of Genoa, on September 23, 1972 reported: “I had been hesitating for a long time about a decision to make. I had not talked to anybody about it. One day I received a telegram from Padre Pio explaining what to do. I followed the advice and everything ended for better. How did he know?”

On February 1958 Laurino Costa sent a telegram to Padre Pio: "Pray for me to find a job." He received a telegram back “Come to San Giovanni Rotondo at once.”

On the 4th he met Padre Pio for the first time: “Laurino, I see you have arrived. You will feed my sick.” “But Padre, Laurino protested,

I’ve never cooked an egg in my life.” Padre Pio insisted: “Go and feed my sick. I’ll always be near you.”

Laurino went to Casa Sollievo and was told: “You must be the experienced cook we’ve been waiting for.” The same day he was preparing meals for 450 people.

Laurino admitted to Fr. John Schug, capuchin (A Padre Pio Profile):

“To this day (14 years later) I still don’t know what happened.

All day long I found myself calmly working and telling others what to do, as though I was carrying out a routine I had been used to.”

 Fra Modestino, the doorkeeper at the convent, showed Padre Pio a bottle of local wine that he had just bought in town, and asked him to bless it. Padre Pio did the blessing, and that with a broad smile said: “Well, this is my first miracle for the day!”  Fra Modestino did not understand why Padre Pio had said that. He shared the wine with others. It was excellent. Not long after Fra Modestino learned that the wine maker had been jailed for making fake wine from powders, not grapes.

Giovanni Bardazzi from Prato, near Florence in Tuscany met Padre Pio in 1950. In confession he was denied the absolution for three times over several months. The forthe time Padre Pio gave the absolution, and Giovanni was transformed in a God loving person. Hew started a business driving people from the Prato area to San Giovanni Rotondo several times a year, first in a Lancia Aurelia B15-2000 with nine passenger seats, and then with a bus when the number of pilgrims grew. He started numerous charities and built the church of Saint Mary of Graces in Calenzano directed by Padre Pio. “My son, you will build a church and a house for you.” “Your house will always be open for those in need.”

Brother Bill Martin, later Father Joseph Pius, was born in Brooklin, New York, August 1, 1938. He first visited Padre Pio in 1959. He returned in 1964 and entered the convent as a lay friar. He helped Padre Pio last three years (1965-1968).

In 1969, after the death of Padre Pio, brother Bill Martin entered the Morcone novitiate assuming the name of Joseph Pius, and was ordained priest in 1974. He caught Padre Pio falling in his last Mass. He died May 3, 2000.

Martin reported a case of levitation: "It was near the end of his life. Another brother and I were helping him to the altar. He was going to say Mass. I remember thinking 'Why his weight on my arm feels like nothing at all."

That's when I looked at the floor. Padre Pio's feet were six inches off the ground. He was just gliding. He was levitating on his way to say Mass. I exchanged a glance with the other monk. We had come to the same realization at about the same time. We never spoke about it. We just knew."

Umberto (Bert Longo) in 1951, at 20, moved with his mother to Leominster, MA, from San Giovanni Rotondo, to stay with his father Matteo. He Married Clara di Nardo. When Matteo migrated, Bert’s uncle Gerardo Miniscalchi became very close to him. Gerardo had a barber shop in town, and for many years was Padre Pio’s barber and cut his hair. He always wore a suit and tie when he went to the convent, as a sign of respect. In 1939 Gerardo started taking Bert with him when he was 8, and Padre Pio was always kind to him. One day he said: “Just like my own father your father emigrated to the United States in order to make a living. Many people believe that the United States is so rich that the tiles on the roofs of the homes are made of pure gold. That is why so many people want to leave Italy and move there.”

Joe Peluso, from a very small town in Pennsylvania, was stationed in Foggia, Italy during WWII and met Padre Pio on October 6, 1944. He visited with him several times for the next ten months, until his Army unit was transferred to France on July 15, 1945. He met also Padre Pio's father Grazio, his brother Michael, and Michael's daughter Pia, and her fiancé Mario. He returned to Italy in 1988 as member of the Padre Pio Foundation of America in Cromwell, CT, for a documentary on Padre Pio's birthplace.

Joe testified that Padre Pio told him:”Joe, when the war is over and you return to the United States, tell the American people, that for those who would like me to be their spiritual father, my answer is yes. I accept all Americans as my spiritual children. I only have two requirements - that they lead very good Catholic lives and that they regularly receive the sacraments. And please, tell them never to embarrass me in front of Jesus and Mary. You must tell them, Joe." Another day he told him: "Joe, pick a name for your guardian angel and call him by the name always. When you send him to me, he will come instantly."

Joe made a slide show presentation of Padre Pio's life and over the years he showed it to thousands of people. Joe died in 1996 after having spent 50 years sharing the message of Padre Pio with more people than he could have imagined.

"I was stationed in Italy at Cerignola with the 304th Bomb Wing of the 15th Air Force under commanding general Nathan F. Twining. We were told about Padre Pio. We had never heard about him. Four of us went to see him. My buddy Joe served at the Mass. They say that when he said Mass he was with Christ being crucified. You could see the tears going down his face. After padre Pio' birthday party, just before we left in ’45, Leo, Joe and I were at the monastery, and we asked Father Ignatius if we could have a piece of one of his bandages that he’d worn over his stigmata. "Oh, no!" he said. What you’re asking me to do is forbidden, and I could get into a lot of trouble. We finally convinced him to get one of those bandages if we promised not to tell anybody — including Padre Pio. He got us one small bandage and divided it in three. We came back to the monastery not so long after, and Padre Pio stopped us in the hallway. "You naughty boys," he said, really stern. "You caused one of my brothers to commit sin!" "Come on, Padre Pio," says Joe, "what did we do?" "You know what you did," he said. "You had Father Ignatius sneak into my room and take one of the bandages and give it to you." Nobody told him, but you couldn’t fool Padre Pio. He just knew things, which is why he was such a popular confessor. He was serious. But then he shook his head and his face sort of softened. He said to Father Ignatius, "I forgive you, Father. And I forgive you boys, too, but don’t go telling anybody. I wore those bandages over my heart. Go in peace." And we did. “I told Padre Pio that it’d be great to come back and bring along my wife and kid. “Don’t waste your money," he said. "Every time you receive Communion at church, I’ll be at your side." But a year or so after he died, in 1968, my wife and I went to pay our respects. When we went to visit his tomb at the church, my wife said I was in ecstasy, tears streaming down my face while I was there at his tomb, kneeling down and praying. She said I was talking out loud, carrying on a conversation with Padre Pio, but she couldn’t hear his voice, just mine. But I could hear his voice. He said he was happy I came to see him. Heck, who’d have thought a kid from the South Side of Chicago would end up back in Italy — you know, where my family came from, in the Piedmont — get wounded when a German plane bombed our Liberty ship in the bay in Naples, and end up having a saint

as my friend and spiritual father. No, nothing surprises me. “

Back in Chicago he expresses his devotion to the saint by sharing his experiences with others, visiting the sick, and praying with the aid of relics. " For example, well, there was the undertaker. I still see him around the neighborhood. His wife called me up one day, and she was crying. She said, "My husband’s been diagnosed with cancer, and we wonder if you could have him come over and say some prayers to Padre Pio and bless him with the things you’ve got." So he came over to my house. We went down to the basement with my little altar there. And we prayed together to Padre Pio to ask him to help cure my friend’s cancer. About 10 days or so later, his wife called me up. She was crying and laughing and told me, "My husband just got home from the doctor and told us the cancer is gone." And then she asked me, "How can I thank Padre Pio?" "Don’t thank him, thank God," I tell her. "He’s his boss." In San Giovanni Rotondo the three buddies Mario Avignone, Leo Fanning (later Fr. Fanning), and Joe Astarita met also Padre Pio's father, affectionately called "Zi' Orazio" and Padre Pio's American benefactor Maria McAlpin Pyle who helped Padre Pio's Casa di Sollievo della Sofferenza hospital "dream" come true. They continued to correspond with Maria Pyle until her death in 1968.

Joe, of the same Neapolitan origin as Padre Pio, was fluent in Italian and often translated for the other GI's. One day Padre Pio told Joe that five people needed a ride back to Foggia. Joe refused because it was prohibited to transport civilians in military vehicles. Padre Pio said; "Remember this. Anytime I ask you to do something form me, it will work out. You need have no fear." Joe was convinced, and allowed the two men, two women, and a little child in his military jeep. On the road Joe saw two Military Police Officers. They looked into the jeep and passes right on. At that moment the air become filled with the perfume of Padre Pio. As they continued, they encountered many MP's but Joe was never pulled over.

The perfume was smelled until the five Italians were dropped off safely. Before leaving Joe told Padre Pio he was thinking of entering the trappist order. "Joe, you talk all the time. You cannot keep silent even for a minute. You could never be a Trappist. Your vocation is to the married life." When the war was coming to an end, Joe, Mario and Leo got word that their new assignment. Leo to Japan, Mario in other part of Europe, and Joe back to New York. This was on a new military point system. They told Padre Pio before leaving. Padre Pio replied: "Points or no points I tell you that you will go home together." When they returned to the Base, their transfer orders had been changed. They were all to go back to the United States.

Assigned to the 304th Bomb Wing with Mario and Joe. "Joe told Padre Pio I want to introduce you to my friend, Corporal Leo Fanning."  Padre Pio replied: "But that is not correct. It is Father Leo Fanning." Padre Pio told him: You are to go to the altar of God. I do not want you to go anywhere else." Back home Leo entered the seminary and was ordained in Paterson, New Jersey, on May 30, 1954.Ten minutes before the ordination Leo received a Western Union telegram: “Congratulations on the day of your ordination. Padre Pio". Leo couldn't believe it. He had not told him. One day Leo, Joe, and Padre Paolino made a surprise visit to Padre Pio. Padre Pio went in the convent to see weather Padre Pio was available. When Padre Pio saw him said: "Oh, you have finally arrived. I have been expecting you and the two American soldiers all morning." Padre Pio invited Mario, Leo, and Joe for his 58th birthday on May 25, 1945. They brought a sheet cake with the words "Happy birthday, Padre Pio" on it. They sang "Happy Birthday" and at the end, all the friars, including Padre Pio, broke into applause.

Jim Cunningham, from Coral Springs, Florida, stationed in Foggia, was assigned to a photo reconnaissance squadron. Visited Padre Pio in 1945 for 3 times. He was 21. "Meeting Padre Pio and attending his Mass truly changed my life."

Dan Steele from Long Beach NY, as military police officer was stationed in Trieste in 1947. After he met his future wife Clara, she went to Padre Pio for advice. He was Protestant and felt a very strong desire to become Catholic. He was baptized by Padre Pio in 1948.

William Carrigan, of the 15th Air Force, assigned at Christmas time 1943 to the American Red Cross Field Office in Foggia. He was told about Padre Pio nearby by two soldiers, and they went to meet him. His testimony: "There is always a crowd at his Mass. The men are allowed in the Sanctuary, and crowd even to the Altar steps. Our soldiers are always accorded the favor of the Sanctuary, that they may see Padre Pio better. His Mass is often two hours long, but no one minds the time. As he began the consecration he seemed to be in great pain, shifting his weight from side to side, hesitating to begin the words of consecration which he would start and repeat-biting them off with a clicking of his teeth as if in great pain. His cheek muscles twitched and tears were visible on his cheeks. He reached for the chalice and jerked back his hand because of the pain in the wound which was fully visible to me. After the Elevation he seems to be lost to the world and pleads with Christ for the needs of his vast spiritual family. It is well known that once he accepts a person into his family of spiritual children, he never forgets them.

After his communion he leaned over the altar for sometimes as if he was in communion with Jesus.

It is easy to understand why he is long with Christ during the Consecration and at his Communion.

A peace and calm seem to settle over his pain wracked countenance immediately after he receives the Sacred Body of Our Lord. There are always many Communicants, and while distributing the Sacred Host he is most watchful of every particle. Many times he will take the paten and examine it closely, picking off or shaking a particle into the Ciborium. Often one that he alone can see. When I asked him to remember the father of one of our soldiers, he said to me, "I will pursue him with constant diligence and love."

He is most patient and kind to all who come to him at this time, especially this is true for our soldiers who often get a word and a gentle pat on the cheek from him. All want to return again, most everyone has a buddy who wants to go, too. So the word spreads and more and more soldiers are turning to a new and better interest here. From careless, carefree soldiers they turn to sober thought of their future, their family, and their relationship to God. Back in Camp the soldiers think and talk about this wonderful Priest and what he must be. Padre Pio is a designer of souls. Great artists are rare in this field. Would not you like to have your soul designed by so great a spiritual artist? Think about it. No spiritual experience quite equaled Holy Week with Padre Pio. His Masses convinced the most incredulous of the truth and meaning, of the Last Supper. For many he became the answer to the crises of faith. Padre Pio told Mr. Carrigan in 1945: "HYPOCRISY IS THE GREATEST EVIL OF OUR TIME. It exists in all levels of our society, in high places and in low places." To convince the gullible, nearly everything from cosmetics to religion, in medicine, commerce, politics, education, on TV, the press, and any possible electronic means, is presented as seeming different than what it really is.”

Mr. Carrigan visited with Padre Pio many times, and back in America he spread the experience, knowledge and devotion, for many years until his death in 2000. He distributed over a million of Padre Pio prayer cards.

Gerald. J. Adamic’s testimony: "I was an S/Sgt. in the Photo section of the 463rd Bomb Group. I was also a member of a choir organized by Father George Rice of the 463rd Bomb Group at the Celone airfield outside of Foggia, Italy. Twice we went in 1945 to San Giovanni Rotondo to see Padre Pio. We sang the Mass of the Angels in Latin for Padre Pio as he celebrated Mass. After Mass we went into the sacristy where we were allowed to kiss Padre Pio’s hands and receive his special blessing. He took us into the Monastery and showed us his cell and gave us medals of the Holy Mother. "Enclosed are most of the pictures I have of our visits to San Giovanni Rotondo. I regret that I didn’t take more.”

Mary Pyle was born in 1888 in Morristown, NJ, and died April 26, 1968 in San Giovanni Rotondo. From a very wealthy family, traveled extensively. While in Europe she met Maria Montessori, the educator who developed the Montessori  Method. She became her assistant and interpreter. Mary Pyle met Padre Pio on October 4, 1923. Mary herself said later: "We looked at one another only. Then, I fell on my knees and said: 'Padrè. He put his wounded hands on my head and said to me: 'My daughter, do not travel anymore. Stay here.'"  She built a house near the convent, and went daily to Padre Pio's Mass, received daily Communion, and confessed weekly with Padre Pio. In the mornings she helped with the correspondence coming to Padre Pio: 'He knew the contents of each letter before it was opened.'  Generous with the pilgrims, the poor, and the friars, became a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis. In Pietrelcina a young Padre Pio had prophesized that one day a convent and a church would be built, for the sons of St. Francis. Years later he told Mary to build it. "...and dedicate it to the Sacred Family". So she financed the church of the Holy Family, a convent and a seminary for the Capuchin students in Pietrelcina. During the building Mary stayed in Pietrelcina in the same house in Via Santa Maria degli Angeli where Padre Pio had lived from 1910 to 1916. In December 1929, Mary took Mamma Peppa and “zì” Grazio to San Giovanni Rotondo so that they could be closer to their son, and cared for them, in her home, until they died.

Adelaide Pyle, mother of Adelia Maria

Adelaide made frequent trips to San Giovanni Rotondo to visit her daughter and Padre Pio. She did not want to convert to Roman Catholicism. One day in 1936 she saluted Padre Pio before leaving. Padre Pio told her:”I hope we will see each other again soon, but if we don’t see each other here, we will see each other up there.” When she died a year later Mary Pyle told Padre Pio tha she had dreamed of her mom standing at the door of St. Peter’s. Padre Pio replied: ‘Who told you that your mother could not be saved?”

Frank Tenaglia of Philadelphia was born in 1965 with severe neurological brain malformations. His parent went to Padre Pio asking for his help: "Don't worry about little Francis. He will be fine and I will always look after him". Frank became an opera tenor, performing with mayor orchestras.

Angelina Serritelli from USA was brought by her family to Padre Pio for First Communion knowing only English. But she had also to make the first confession. Everybody was hesitant to let her in. She decided to go to Padre Pio’s confessional. Afterwards she said: “I confessed and we understood each other. He spoke in English."

Father would you take me for spiritual child? Yes. But next week I will be living for America. "And you think that I can't reach you there and slap you if you don't behave?”

Paul Walsh, a 17 y.o. HS senior in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, on December 2, 1983 lost control of his car on an icy road. He sustained multiple facial bones fractures, with deep lacerations. The skull was shattered and spinal fluid was leaking, with hydrocephalus and spinal meningitis. He was in a coma for several months. The doctors said that if he survived, he would have permanent irreversible brain damage. The parents prayed Padre Pio.

On Easter Sunday April 22, 1984, Paul saw “a man with a beard who stood at the foot of the bed, smiling and saying “You’re looking well.” Later he recognized Padre Pio in a picture showed to him.

He recovered fast, “without logical medical explanation” as one of the doctors said. On May 2, 1984 he was discharged from the hospital. He went on to finish high school, graduated from a community college, and completed university education, becoming a teacher.

Alexandra (Alix) Brown from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in her second year at Briarcliff College moved to Florence, Italy to study at the Simi art studio. There she met a fellow student Antonio Ciccone,. He told her about Padre Pio. Alix went to San Giovanni Rotondo in 1959 to meet Padre Pio. She went to visit him many times afterword. She felt the vocation to a religious life, and Padre Pio told her frequently “You must pray.” Alix entered a cloistered Carmelite convent on the East Coast in June 1964 and assumed the name of sister Pia of Jesus Crucified.

Antonio Ciccone worked on the family farm adjoining the back side of the convent in San Giovanni Rotondo. He received the first communion from Padre Pio. At seven he started drawing and painting. Under the patronage of Albert and Rike Fancelli and with Padre Pio’s blessing, he moved to Florence in 1954, to study art with Nerina Simi and Pietro Annigoni. He painted a portrait of Alix Brown when they were students at the art studio. In 1959 he painted the fresco of Saint Francis in the friary. From 1963 to 1980 he worked frequently in several cities in the US such as Southampton NY, Hartford Conn., Washington DC, and Palm Beach. He saw Padre Pio daily when he was in San Giovanni Rotondo. Padre Pio told him before leaving to study art “You see that the Divine Providence has helped you? Always behave yourself well.”

Bilocation is the simultaneous presence of same person in two different places.

Padre Pio describes the bilocating person, under obedience: "He knows what he wants, knows where he goes, but he doesn't know if it's the body or the mind that goes." "There is urgency, a grave danger, a soul or a body to save".

Conversing with Dr. Delfino Padre Pio asked: "What do you doctors think. Can a person do two thing at once?" 'I think two is possible.' "Well, a can do three."

To father Mariano and to father Tarcisio: "I can do three things at once: pray, confess, and go around the world."

Once he said: “They say that Napoleon could do four things at once. I’m not Napoleon, but three I can pull off!”

Marchioness Giovanna Rizzani Boschi. She is one of 6 witnesses who testified at the Process of beatification. Her life was full of coincidences that don't have a rational explanation.

She was born January 18, 1905. Padre Pio was 18 at that time, and studying philosophy in Sant'Elia a Pianisi. Padre Pio noted in a letter on February 1905: "I found myself in Udine, were a father was dying and a child was being born." The Virgin Mary told me: 'I'm entrusting this child to you.'

Now Giovanna living in Rome and in the summer 1922 in St. Peter’s basilica she asked a friar to confess her, and he did. In 1923 she heard about Padre Pio and went to see him. He told her: "Giovanna I have been waiting for you. The Virgin Mary took me to Udine when you were born to be present at your father's death. Also last year in St. Peter's I was the capuchin priest who confessed you." And: "One day you will be present at my death." Later she described the vision she had of Padre Pio's cell the night he died. She reported every detail of what happened, and described every person that was in the room.

Saint Luigi Orione made this statement: "I saw Padre Pio in St. Peter's Basilica the day that Saint Therese of the Child Jesus was declared blessed. He came smiling towards me, walking through the crowds. He disappeared when we were few feet away from each other." That happened on April 29, 1923.

In 1970 Madre Speranza di Collevalenza (now Venerable) told journalist Renzo Allegri: “At the Holy Office I saw Padre Pio every day for a whole year. He used some half gloves on his hands to hide the wounds. I would greet him, kiss his hand, and sometimes we exchanged some words. This took place between 1937 and 1939 when I was working at Sant'Uffizio (Holy Office).”

Countess Virginia Silj-Salviucci, sister of the cardinal Silj, reported that the cardinal had told her of an episode happened while he was in a meeting of the Pope Pius XI with several cardinal, debating about suspending Padre Pio a divinis (meaning from all priestly functions).

While the pope was speaking, a Capuchin friar appeared, knelt, and kissed his feet saying "Your Holiness, for the good of the Church, do not take this course of action." He then asked for the Popès blessing, kissed his feet again, rose, and left.

The pope asked: "Who let that friar in?" The prelates run outside to upbraid the guards for letting the friar in. All of them strongly denied having seen any friar. The Pope grew silent.

He ordered Cardinal Silj to ascertain were Padre Pio was that day and hour. Silj investigated, and reported to the Pope that Padre Pio was in the choir of his friary, saying the Office.

Pope Pius XI never mentioned again of suspending Padre Pio from his priestly faculties.

The Italian actor Carlo Campanini was on a tour in Brazil and went to Sao Paolo Cathedral for confession and communion. There was a very long line for confession in Portuguese. Campanini prayed Padre Pio for help. The door from a nearby confessional opened and a priest called him in Italian: "Vieni (come in)." He confessed and towards the end he "could smell the typical fragrance of Padre Pio".

Padre Carmelo, superior of the convent, decided to have meetings with the group of early spiritual daughters, at the Ventrella's house, to gather firsthand information about the beginning of Padre Pio's ministry in San Giovanni Rotondo. The first meeting was held on December 14, 1954, on January 10 and 25, 1955, and at later dates. Ten spiritual daughter were present: the Ventrella sisters, the Pompilio sisters, Filomena Fini, Rosinella Gisolfi in Placentino,

Rachele Russo, Rachelina Gisolfi and Nina Campanile. Padre Carmelo testified: 'During the first meeting Rachelina Gisolfi told everybody that Padre Pio was present. Back to the convent I didn't have the courage to ask Padre Pio about it. During the second meeting Rachelina said again that Padre Pio was there. Back to the convent I took the courage and asked him.

The answer: "Why? You don't want me there? You don't want that I come to those meetings?"

After the third meeting, back to the convent: "Yes I was there." After another meeting: "How come you don't ask me anymore if I came to the meeting?"

In 1953 Padre Pio was sitting with other monks for a play in the hall of the friary. Padre Carmelo, the Superior, was sitting by him. He reported that Padre Pio during the intermission "placed his arms on the back of the chair in front of him and rested his head on them, remaining silent and motionless for few minutes".

The next day, Padre Carmelo went to visit an invalid sick man in town and was amazed when the man and his family expressed his appreciation for permitting Padre Pio to go visit him the previous evening. Padre Carmelo asked about the time and the duration of the visit. They matched perfectly with the intermission.

In the early days, Padre Nazareno went to town with Padre Pio to visit a Franciscan tertiary gravely ill. The day after he reported to Padre Pio that she had died during the night. Padre Pio said: “I know. I assisted her. She went straight to Paradise.”

Ettore Masone, Padre Pio's only nephew. Was not yet thirty when he became gravely ill, fell into a coma, and appeared dead. The family made arrangements for the funeral next day. But all of a sudden he woke up and shouted: "I'm not dying anymore." He recovered completely and instantly. He recalled: I was at the gates of heaven and saw my sister Giuseppina who died many years ago standing there at the door. Then I also saw Padre Pio. Both wouldn't let me in." That's when he woke up.

In 1952 a woman was about to die during delivery because of an erroneous blood transfusion. She received the Last Rites. When the priest left she saw a monk. "I am Padre Pio and you will not die. Say an 'Our Father' and one day you will come to see me." About a year later she went to see Padre Pio. He told her: "You got the miracle because the Sacred Heart sent me to save you, since you are devout to him and did the First Fridays of each month."

Francesco Cavicchi and his wife visited Padre Pio in June 1967. He had confessed three days before, but wanted to confess to Padre Pio anyway. The rule was at least seven days. He stood in line and when his turn was approaching he got agitated. But Padre Pio calling him from the line said: "Come forward, my son, I have been waiting for you for a long time." He started the confession asking: "How many days has it been since last confession?" Francesco said that he couldn't remember. Padre Pio: "You have a short memory, don't you. But let me ask you this. Do you remember the bombardment In Rimini many years back? Do you remember the air raid shelter? Do you remember the trolley bus? But why I'm asking you to go back in time? You cannot even remember what you did less than a week ago!"

At that point Francesco started recollecting that in November 1943, when he was 28 years old, he was riding the trolley bus with about ten other people, including a middle aged monk. Than the bombs started falling, Francesco had difficulty getting off the bombed bus to reach the air-raid shelter and thought he was about to die. The monk helped him. The capuchin monk once in the shelter began to recite the rosary and inspired calm and confidence in everyone. After the sirens gave the 'all clear" signal, the capuchin monk was the first to leave. Suddenly Francesco: "Were you the monk?" "Well, who do you think it was?"

General Luigi Cadorna, Supreme Commander of Italian Army, after the defeat of Caporetto, on November 12, 1917 was about to pull the trigger to shoot himself. A friar appeared in front of him. "General, you will not do this stupidity!" He didn’t.

After the war he recognized Padre Pio in a picture, and went to visit unannounced. Padre Pio from afar: "Yeah, general, we had a narrow escape that night!" (In 1917 Padre Pio was an Active Duty in the Italian Army, on sick leave).

Andrea Bacile form San Martino in Pensilis was frequently rude with his wife and children. One day that he was particularly misbehaved, he saw Padre Pio in front of him. He had seen in him in pictures, but never in person. He was shocked. He asked to confess. Padre Pio said “No”; and then disappeared. Andrea apologized to his wife and children and started a pilgrimage on foot to San Giovanni Rotondo. For three days he walked without resting or eating. When he reached the convent he confessed to Padre Pio. After the absolution Padre Pio said: “Now go eat something.”

The father of a capuchin friar from Maglie (Lecce) lay in bed, paralyzed with a spinal disorder. The friar asked Padre Pio to pray for him. One afternoon the sick man saw a bearded friar at his bedside. The friar gently told him: “Suffer, suffer with patience”. The following day the same thing happened, and the man was not improving. The afternoon visits continued. On the tenth day the visiting friar said: “Enough is enough.” From then on the man started rapidly improving, and after few days he was able to go back to farming. The farmer explained to his capuchin son what had happened, and he recognized Padre Pio in a picture shown to him.

The sister of Mons. Luigi D’Indico, the pastor of St. Joseph in the Santa Croce neighborhood of Florence, Italy , was in a comatose state, suffering from paratyphoid A and B. The family prayed Padre Pio. On July 20, 1921 at 2:30 PM, Mons. D’Indico was working in his office. He felt that somebody was behind him. He turned and saw a friar walking and leaving the room. He asked his secretary who was that friar. The secretary thought that he was under stress because his sister was close to death, and was having hallucinations. At the same hour Mons. D’Indico’s sister saw Padre Pio at her bedside. He told her: “Do not worry, tomorrow the fever will disappear, and in few days there will be no trace of the illness in your body.”  She got rapidly better, and in few days was completely healed.

On August 10, 1935 (the 25^th anniversary of Padre Pio’s ordination to priesthood), Mons. D’Indico donated to the convent the lunetta majolica that was placed on top of the door to the church of Saint Mary of Graces. The majolica had been commissioned to the the Florentine studio Fratelli Testi. Mons. D’Indico wanted to thank Padre Pio for the recovery of his sister.

A woman went to Padre Pio’s Mass, leaving her child at home. When she returned, the daughter was eating a candy. The mom asked where she got the candy. The child pointed at a picture of Padre Pio. Later, after the confession, Padre Pio said: “Did you want a candy too?”

The only child of Antonio Massa, of San Giovanni Rotondo, was gravely ill and parents and relatives took turns taking care of him. One evening he suddenly started laughing and told his mom: “Mommy, Mommy, Padre Pio tickled my feet.” He was recovered.

Maria Pompilio, a spiritual daughter living near the convent, testified that her brother was praying when he began to doze off. Someone slapped him on the check and the hand seemed the one of Padre Pio. The day after, he asked Padre Pio if he had slapped him. "That's what happens when you doze off while you are praying."

Maria Pompilio testified that a man approaching Padre Pio said: 'Yes, he is the one. I'm not mistaken.' Then, kneeling and in tears said over and over: 'Father thank you for saving my life.' Outside the church he told Pompilio and other onlookers: 'I was captain in the infantry in the battlefield under heavy fire. I saw a monk a short distance away who called me.' "Captain come here by immediately." 'I did, and even before I reached him a grenade exploded were I had been, leaving a hole in the ground. When I turned back the monk was not there anymore.'

Padre Michelangelo Bellini reported that his grandma was over eighty years old and in a coma, when he prayed Padre Pio that she could live long enough to see him celebrate his first Mass. By the morning she had made an extraordinary recovery and told him that she had dreamed that a monk had brought her ten more years of life. She lived exactly for ten more years.

On June 25, 1950 Padre Pio was seen attending to the death of a fellow monk in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, without leaving the convent. When asked about it he said:  "If Christ multiplied the loaves and fishes, why cannot He multiply me?"

Joe Spada was hospitalized with terminal cancer in 1975. He, his wife Margie, the nurses and other people at the hospital were frequently overcome by the beautiful aroma of fresh flowers.

One night he was alone and saw Padre Pio sitting beside him. When Margie returned her eyes fell on a handkerchief that she did not recognize. As she reached for it, Joe said, "That's Padre Pio's handkerchief. He put it there on the stand just before he left." Still today on several occasions, Padre Pio's handkerchief has given off the aroma of fresh flowers.

 In 1956 Padre Pio served the Mass of Cardinal Mindszenty while he was incarcerated in Budapest. The news spread. Padre Pio was asked: "Did you really talk to him, did you really see him? “Certainly, if I have talked to him, I must have seen him."

 In another occasion: 'Did you visit Cardinal Mindszenty while he was prisoner in Budapest in 1956?' "Yes. I have seen him and spoken to him."

On January 29, 1957 in Alençon (France) Daniel Batonnier was about to die of cerebrospinal meningitis.  The mother at 13:30 sent a telegram to Padre Pio. At 16:00 the child was fully recovered. The doctors were puzzled. The child, seeing a picture of Padre Pio: 'Mom, I know that friar. He came to see me twice today. He was humming so as not to scare me, and then he left. Mom when I grow up I want to be a friar like him'.

A woman went to stay with the daughter and son in law in Bologna, while waiting to have surgery for a malignant tumor in her arm. She was sitting alone in the living room when a Capuchin friar came through the door. "I am Padre Pio da Pietralcina".  He exhorted her to have faith in the Madonna and blessed her arm. Then he said good bye and left.  The day after she met the doctor to go over the details of the surgical intervention. The surgeon examined the arm. There was no trace of the tumor.

 In 1926 Concetta Bellarmini, while in critical condition, was suggested to pray Padre Pio. She did. Later, a capuchin friar standing and smiling at her bedside said: “Sunday morning you will be healed."

She did recover. Weeks later she went to thank Padre Pio. From afar she exclaimed: 'That's him. That's exactly him."

A man living alone in his apartment in Rome had planned to visit Padre Pio. Lately there had been several burglaries in his neighborhood. There were no alarm systems at the time. He was undecided if to go, and prayed Padre Pio: “I will come, but you watch my house.” He went to padre Pio, confessed, then decided to stay a little longer. The day after Padre Pio passing in the hallway told him: “You are still here? I am working protecting your door.”

According to tradition in Loreto there is the house in which Mary lived. Several times was reported that Padre Pio had been seen praying there in the evening. One day Fra Daniele Natale took the courage to ask: “Padre, have you ever been to Loreto?” “No.” “But people have seen you there!” “Oh! That is something different.”

On November 17, 1962 Padre Pio received a handwritten letter from Monsignor Karol Woityla asking to pray for Wanda Poltawska form Cracow, having terminal throat cancer. Angelo Battisti, administrator of Casa Sollievo, reports that Padre Pio told him: "Angelino, conserva questa lettera, perché un giorno diventera' importante". "Angelino, keep this letter, because one day it will become important." Few days later, in a letter to Padre Pio on November 28, 1962, Monsignor Karol Woityla wrote: "Wanda was completely healed from cancer on November 21, and surgical intervention was canceled. Deo gratias. Thank you Venerable Father."

Mons. Fernando Damiani of Salto, Uruguay, visiting Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo, asked him to be helped in his final moments.

In 1941 Archbishop Barbieri of Montevideo was at the residence of Mons. Barbieri during a congress on vocations. It was night time, and he heard a knock at this door.  It was a monk who told him to go to Mons. Barbieri’s room, because he was dying. He called all the clergy in the residence, and administered  the last rites. Four bishops and six priests assisted Mons. Damiani. 

The evening of January 20th, 1936, Dr. Guglielmo Sanguinetti, was talking to Padre Pio in his cell.

Suddenly Padre Pio took to his knees and urged them to pray “for a soul that is soon to appear before the tribunal of God.” Afterwards Padre Pio said: “Do you know for whom you prayed? It was for the King of England.” Around midnight padre Pio went to the room of Padre Aurelio: "Let's pray for a soul which at this moment is about to appear at the tribunal of God.”

The next day the newspapers announced the death of King George V.

Maria Pompilio, when her brother died, asked Padre Pio to intercede so that he could come in her dreams. Her brother came in a dream to her and said: "Padre Pio assisted me in my agony. He stayed until the Judge judged me. I was given eleven years of Purgatory, but for intercession of Padre Pio the pain was reduced to one year. Many mysteries in the life of Padre Pio will be known only in the other world." The morning after Maria went to see Padre Pio. From afar he said: "Are you glad now?" "Yes, it seems that you are everywhere." Padre Pio replied: "What sense has for me being on Hearth if I can't go up and down. I know. Your brother told you that the mystery of my life will be known only in Paradise."

Padre Domenico da Cese Manoppello reported that early in the morning of September 22, 1968 he went to open the church at Manoppello, located more than 200 kilometers away to the north of San Giovanni Rotondo, in the province of Abruzzi. Inside the church he found Padre Pio on his knees, his head in his hands, before the image known as the Holy Face. Padre Pio said to him: “I do not trust myself any more. Pray for me. Goodbye until we meet again in Paradise.” Padre Pio died few hours later.

Padre Umile, friend of Padre Pio was bedridden in Genova because of a fall. On September 22, 1968 at 4:30 PM Sister Ludovica brought to Padre Umile a cup of tea. In entering the room she felt and intense perfume of flowers. Padre Umile said to her: "Padre Pio went to say me the last goodbye." Few hours later Padre Pio died.

Alberto Cardone told Padre Pio: “It’s a long time since I have heard from my father.” He was in America , but Cardone had not mentioned it to Padre Pio.” “Oh!, your father is in America. He’s better that you or I.”

Maria De Nunzio was a spiritual daughter of Padre Pio living in Pietrelcina. Once, she was preparing a cup of coffee for a friend, and knowing that he was going to visit Padre Pio asked him if he could deliver a letter to him. He visited with Padre Pio but forgot to give him the letter. Padre Pio: "Aren't you forgetting something? You enjoined a cup of coffee with Maria and you promised her to give me the letter that is now in your pocket."

A woman from Pesaro, the wife of a workman, testified that she brought her deaf-and-dumb daughter to Padre Pio. He cured her instantly. In an outburst of gratitude the woman took a gold chain from the child's neck, the only object of value that she owned, and gave it to Padre Pio for the Virgin. 

When she returned home she told everything to her husband. He flew into a rage at the offering she had made to Padre Pio. He said that she should have chosen some other article rather than the gift that he himself had made to his daughter.

The next morning they found the chain on the bedside table.

Paolina, mother of five, from San Giovanni Rotondo, known to Padre Pio as a special soul, fell gravely ill before Easter.

The doctors said there was nothing that they could do to save her. The husband and children went to Padre Pio to implore his help.

He said: "She will resurrect on Easter Sunday". On Good Friday she lost consciousness. On the morning of Holy Saturday she went into a coma.

The relatives went again to Padre Pio. He said: "She will resurrect." She died late Saturday evening. The family made the preparations for her body to be dressed in her wedding gown as it was customary in the area. Padre Pio started the Easter Vigil Mass and at the moment of the Glory,

When the bells ring and the organ resound he started crying. At the same time Paolina got up un-helped, kneeled beside the bed and started reciting aloud the "Credo". Everybody was astonished. They asked her what had happened. She said: "I was climbing and climbing happily. When I was about to enter in a great light I started coming back, and went back." Padre Pio had not said "She will recover" but "She will resurrect."

During WWII many Allied Aviation Pilots of different nationalities and religions were based in Puglia. General Bernardo Rosini of the United Air Command reported that "Each time that the pilots returned from their missions, they spoke of this Friar that appeared in the sky and in stretching out his wounded hands, prevented them from dropping their bombs, and diverted their airplanes, making them turn back.

 Everyone was talking about these incredible stories. But since the episodes kept recurring, the Commanding General of USAF general Nathan F. Twining who happened to be in Bari,  and decided to pilot himself a squadron of bombers to destroy an amunition dump near San Giovanni Rotondo.

When he and his pilots were in the vicinity of the target they saw the figure of a monk with upraised hands appear in the sky. The bombs got loose from the plains falling in open areas, and the planes made a sharp turn to return to base without the pilots intervening.

Back on the ground everybody asked everybody else about the happening and wanted to know who that friar was. The General was told about Padre Pio and decided to visit him with the pilots in that squadron. The pilots immediately recognized Padre Pio.

When Padre Pio saw the general he told him: "So you are the one that wanted to destroy everything." The general become a friend of Padre Pio.

Padre Andrea D'Ascanio testified: "The sacristy was full of people and they were looking at the door from were Padre Pio had to go to the confessional. There was no way that Padre Pio could reach the confessional walking through such a large crowd. The door didn't open, and I saw Padre Pio walking over the heads of those people and go to the confessional. Later I asked him about it. ""I assure you, my son, it was like walking over bricks" (sopra un mattonato).

Father Joseph Pius Martin reported:  "It was near the end of Padre Pio's life. Another brother and I were helping him to the altar. He was going to say Mass. I remember thinking 'Why his weight on my arm feels like nothing at all." That's when I looked at the floor. Padre Pio's feet were six inches off the ground. He was just gliding. He was levitating on his way to say Mass. I exchanged a glance with the other monk. We had come to the same realization at about the same time. We never spoke about it. We just knew."

Whenever anyone smells the perfume it is a sign that God bestowed some grace through the intercession of Padre Pio. The scents are violets, lilies, roses, incense, or even fresh tobacco.

The perfume has always a positive value. It testifies his presence as an approval for something going on, a warning of approaching danger, appeal against sin and temptation, message of comfort to a soul in distress, an answer to a cry for help, the announcement or the confirmation that he has heard our prayer or request.

One of the doctors who examined Padre Pio decided to take with him a cloth that had been covering the side wound, for laboratory analysis in Rome. Nobody knew about it. During the trip several people told him they were smelling the perfume of Padre Pio. And the patients smelled the same perfume during the doctor's visits.

At 4:45 in the morning Carlo Pedriali was in the sacristy with his three years old son, waiting for Padre Pio’s morning Mass. As soon as he entered, the child pulled his dad’s sleeve: “Daddy, where is this smell of perfume coming from?” No other person reported it.

Fra Modestino, the doorkeeper of the convent, reported:  “I was serving Padre Pio's Mass when I started smelling his perfume. It was so intense that I was about to faint, and mentally asked him to stop.

The perfume stopped. Later I asked Padre Pio about it. "My son it's not me. It's the Lord. He decides who smells it, and when. Everything happens if and when He wants."

A woman involved in an accident broke arm and shoulder, and after 3 years of surgeries the doctors said that she would never be able to use her arm. She wants to Padre Pio. He said: "Don't despair. The arm will recover." She went back home. No improvement. 3 months later, on September 17, 1930, feast day of the wounds of St. Francis, she and all in the family, and the neighbors smelled a strong perfume of daffodils and roses. It lasted about 15 minutes. The arm returned normal. The radiographs showed no abnormality in the bones and cartilages.

Alberto del Fante, a known writer, has promised Padre Pio to make the sign of the Cross and say a prayer before starting to work. On February 28, 1931 he started writing an essay without first signing himself. He suddenly smelled incense. He called wife, children and maid, asking them if they smelled anything. They were smelling incense. He got the message.

A woman testified: "My husband was taken to the hospital in Taranto with life threatening injuries after a car accident. After several days of no improvement I prayed Padre Pio. I smelled a marvelous perfume of lily. From then on my husband made a fast recovery.”

Maria Galiano

On October 1949 Maria Galiano was about to die from uterine adenocarcinoma. The daughter sent a telegram and 2 letters to Padre Pio. On April 29 1950 Maria smelled an intense perfume. It lasted for 2 days. The third day she felt healed. The doctors run tests and found that "the tumor has completely disappeared.”

The Bishop Carlo Rossi was sent to investigate Padre Pio in 1921. He was particularly impressed by the perfume, and examined the cell and found only plain soap. “This very intense and pleasant fragrance, similar to the scent of violet, I have smelled it. It is sensed in waves, when he walks by, in his spot in the choir, even from a distance. The scent remained with hair of Padre Pio’s that had been cut two years before, as it also attached itself to the stigmatic blood and bandages.”

Robert Hopcke, a Lutheran seminarian, was attending a Catholic Mass with his friend Vincenzo Mandato. “I remember smelling very distinctly a strong odor of roses just before the homily, It went away, then it came back during the Creed. It faded and came back during the Consecration of the Host.” Robert looked around but there was no woman nearby, and no flowers, and the candles were far away. After Mass  Vincenzo asked Robert: “Did you smell anything during Mass?” They had had the same experience. Later Robert wanted to report the episode to Vincenzo’s father, Mr. Mandato, who had known Padre Pio well. Mr. Mandato explained in detail about the perfume of Padre Pio that Robert had smelled. Robert concluded: “I cannot deny that before I even spoke of what I smelled, Mr. Mandato had described it perfectly.”

Dr. Festa was one of the early examiners of Padre Pio’s wounds. He testified: “On my first visit I took from Padre Pio a small cloth stained with blood, do do a microscopic examination back in Rome. I am entirely deprived of the sense of smell, but the persons that were with me in the car smelled a fragrance very distinctly, and said that it corresponded to the perfume emanating from Padre Pio. They didn’t know that I had the cloth, enclosed in a case.”

“In Rome, I conserved the cloth in a cabinet in my study. The room was frequently filled with perfume, and many patients spontaneously asked me what was the origin of the perfume.”

With Padre Pio, at times a grave physical illness disappeared for a period of two or three years, sometimes longer. People were given time to organize their life and prepare for the final journey.

Dr. Francesco Ricciardi, suddenly cured of cancer in 1928, lived nearly four years.

 Giuseppe Scatigna of Palermo was being treated at Casa Sollievo in 1968, just before the death of Padre Pio. He had malignant melanoma  with widespread metastases. The cancer was so advanced that he was told that he was unlikely to live for more than 48 hours. The wife got from the friars a linen clot that had been used by Padre Pio. The two of them prayed that he might have five more years of life so that he might help grow the adopted daughter. He felt immediately better. X rays revealed no trace of cancer. He went back to Sicily and was in good health for almost ten years. Before he died he said: “I wanted five years so that our daughter could grow up. Padre Pio obtained nine. So I am grateful.” He died a happy death.

"More souls of the dead from Purgatory than of the living climb this mountain to attend my Masses and seek my prayers.”

"Most of the saved pass through Purgatory before arriving at the fullness of beatitude.”

“More souls of the dead from Purgatory than of the living climb this mountain to attend my Masses and seek my prayers.”

"The souls in Purgatory pray for us, and their prayers are even more effective than ours, because they are accompanied by their suffering. So, let's pray for them, and let's pray them to pray for us."

"The souls in Purgatory repay the prayers that we say for them."

"When we pray for the souls in Purgatory we will always get something back."

Padre Pio was in a room at the convent. A man came: "I am Pietro Di Mauro. I died on September 18, 1908, in this room during a fire. The Lord let me come from Purgatory. If tomorrow you say the Mass for me, I will go to Paradise."

Padre Pio reported: "I was agitated. I told the superior Father Paolino da Casacalenda what had happened and asked to celebrate the Mass for Pietro." Father Paolino gave the permission and later went to consult the registry at City Hall. In that date a fire had killed a man with that name.

Zi' Grazio, Padre Pio's father, went to spend some few days with his son in 1926. He was assigned the cell #10. When he tried to enter the cell, two friars stood in front of the door, not letting him in. He explained who he was, to no avail. When he made a step to force himself in, they disappeared. He was terrorized, and went to Padre Pio. "Dad, don't get agitated, those are two poor friars in Purgatory. They have to serve their Purgatory in the spot where they disobeyed the rule of St. Francis." 

One night in 1944 the friars heard loud voices coming from downstairs saying "Viva Padre Pio". The superior Padre Raffaele da S. Elia a Pianisi told the doorkeeper Fra Gerardo da Deliceto to let those people out and lock the door properly. Fra Gerardo went downstairs, didn't find anybody, and the door was double locked as it was supposed to. He went back to report. Padre Raffaele was puzzled and went straight to Padre Pio asking if he knew something.

"Oh! Those were soldiers who had died on the battleground, and came to thank me for their salvation."

Padre Pio to Cleonice Morcaldi, a month after the death of her mother: "This morning your mom flew to Paradise. I saw her during Mass."

 “If you need me and cannot come, enter in a church, kneel at the Blessed Sacrament, and send me your Guardian Angel.”

"Send the guardian angel. He doesn't pay a train ticket and doesn't consume shoes."

 “My guardian Angel has been my faithful companion since my infancy.”

"The mission of my Guardian Angel includes explaining me other languages."

“When we die, our Guardian Angel will take our soul to heaven.”

“From cradle to grave our Guardian Angel never leaves us alone; not even when we sin.”

“Our Guardian Angel  never leaves us, even when we are disgusting God with our behavior.”

“Oh if all men could understand this great gift that God assigned to us; this celestial spirit. "

"For whoever is alone there is his Guardian Angel."

“Our Guardian Angel  is a great gift from the Providence to us.”

“The duty of the Guardian Angel is not only of spiritual guidance. He also prevents bodily harm for us.”

 “Our Guardian Angel prays constantly for us.”

“Let’s confide to Our Guardian Angel our pains and sorrows. He is like a friend, like a brother.”

"The angels envy us for one thing only: they cannot suffer for God."

 "Your Guardian Angel prays for you; offers to God all the good works you accomplish; your holy and pure desires."

"When you seem to be alone here is a friendly soul to whom you can unburden yourself and in whom you can confide your sorrows."

"Do not forget this invisible companion, always present to listen to you; always ready to console you."

 "Invoke often this Guardian Angel, and repeat the beautiful prayer: 'Oh Angel of God...'."

 "May the desire to see this inseparable companion incite you to leave this body quickly."

 "Often remember his presence; thank him; pray to him; Respect him; be in constant fear of offending the purity of his gaze."

"What consolation when, at the moment of death, you will see this Angel, who accompanied you through life and was so liberal in maternal care. "

 Padre Alessio approached Padre Pio to ask some question". "Boy, live me alone, don't you see that I am busy?" Later Padre Pio apologized and explained: "Didn't you see all those Angels who were with me? They are the Guardian Angels of my spiritual children, who brought me their messages. I had to give them answers to refer."

 In 1912 Padre Agostino on a trip passed by Pio’s house in Pietrelcina at three in the morning. At that time Padre Pio was living there. Padre Agostino marveled that the door was open. So he decided to get in. Padre Pio was in bed but not asleep. “Why do you leave the door unlocked?" "I have the guardian angels keeping watch through the night.”

 Padre Mariano Paladino stayed many years at the convent. From 1950 to1960, and from 1965 to1969. He was the first chaplain of the Home for the Relief of Suffering. He wrote an unpublished manuscript of Memories, recalling his years with Padre Pio. One day while he was in Lourdes he prayed his guardian angel to go to Padre Pio and ask him to pray for a special grace. After a little while he smelled the intense perfume of Padre Pio. Back in the convent, Padre Pio told him: "The angel came right away. He is not disobedient like me and you.  And the perfume meant that I love you."

"How do you take care of the so many letters you receive?" "The Angel does his job."

A man from California used to pray his Guardian Angel to tell his needs to Padre Pio. One day, after the confession he asked Padre Pio if he really heard his Guardian Angel. "Do you think I am deaf?" And he repeated what he had told recently his Guardian Angel to tell Padre Pio.

 "Father, my income doesn't allow me to come to see you as often as I'd like." "Who told you to come here? Don't you have your Guardian Angel? Tell him what you want, send him here, and you will have an answer right away."

 Piergiorgio Biavati was driving from Florence to San Giovanni Rotondo in 1960. When he reached Napoli he felt very tired and sleepy. He stopped at a rest area for coffee. There were three more hours of driving. He testified: “I remember only that I started the engine and put my hands on the wheel. I don’t remember any second of the drive. When I reached the square in front of the friary someone shook me by the shoulders and said: “Come on now, take over.” When Biavati told Padre Pio of the episode, Padre Pio said: “You were right. You were sleeping all the way and my guardian angel was driving for you.”

A policeman was on duty near Padre Pio during an official function. Padre Pio took him apart and told him: "Go home to your parents. In a week you are going to die." "But I'm perfectly healthy" the man replied. "You will be even better in a week" Padre Pio insisted. The man listened to the advice, went on leave, and once at home he told his parents what Padre Pio had said. A week later he suddenly had a heart attack and died. 

Photographer Modesto Vinelli testifies that he used to see Padre Pio almost daily and take pictures of him. One day at the end of 1918 Padre Pio told him: "Modesto, we have fifty years ahead of us." He was also taking pictures on the day of the 25th anniversary, in 1943. Padre Pio told him: "Modesto remember that we still have 25 years to go." On September 20, 1968, Padre Pio told him: "Modesto, the fifty years are over." Padre Pio died few days later, Modesto lived until 1983.

Kneeling while Padre Pio was passing in the hallway, a man told him: "Father, My wife is expecting. What name should we give to the boy?" "Call him Pio". The man replied: "And if it is a girl?" "Call him Pio", insisted Padre Pio. It was a boy.

Settimio and Licia Manelli, now Servants of God, went to visit Padre Pio after the wedding in 1926 and became his spiritual children. "Father, will you protect this new family?  "Certainly!  This is my family. I take it as a duty to guide and protect this family. You will have more than 20 children. They went to Mass every day. They had 21 children. One of them, Stefano Maria, founded the religious family Franciscans of the Immaculate.

Paris De Nunzio's daughter Graziella in 1955 asked Padre Pio if she should marry Andrea Mandato. Padre Pio: "Do it with the blessing of God." Graziella Mandato told Padre Pio that she was expecting. Padre Pio:" You will have a son, Name him Pio Francesco." Pio Francesco Mandato was born on July 6, 1956.

Giuseppina Gagliardi asked Padre Pio about her missing soldier son. Padre Pio; “Poor son. He suffered so much. He suffers no longer.” Later, through the Red Cross Giuseppina learned that her son Italo had indeed died.”

 Joseph from San Giovanni Rotondo decided to get married on September 12 and went to Padre Pio to tell him the news.

Padre Pio: "No, you will get married on September 8." Back at home the mom told him:

Son, you can't marry the 12th because your cousin has chosen that date for her wedding. We might have to choose the 8th."  Joseph than told his mom of the conversation with Padre Pio.

 During the WWII, a mother of a soldier asked about her son, who was missing in action.  “Padre Pio prayed for the boy and then told the mother: “He must be alive, for I cannot find him in the other world.” Eventually the son returned.

Mary told Padre Pio: “What I am going to do when God calls you?” He replied:” What are you going to do when God calls me?” Mary Pyle died few months before Padre Pio.

Mary Pile was present when, conversing with Padre Pio three priests asked the order in which they would die. Padre Pio obliged, and time proved correct.

One of the three priests was Padre Romolo. In a separate occasion he told Padre Pio: “We are almost the same age; who will die first?” Padre Pio: “We will both live a long time, but I will die first. It has been determined that you will die very old.” Padre Romolo survived Padre Pio, and died at the age of ninety five.

Padre Teofilo di Pozzo visited Padre Pio in the midst of a grueling preaching schedule. Padre Pio told him to slow down his activity. “Don’t you know that your life is hanging by a tread of parsley?” He died four months later at fifty-two.

 Padre Dionisio da Cervinara told Padre Pio that he was going to Venezia for further studies. Padre Pio told him: ‘Studies, studies! Think of death.” Padre Dionisio felt offended and went away. Padre Pio, shrugging his shoulders: “There is nothing I can do.” Less than three weeks later Padre Dionisio died suddenly. He was twenty four.