A lot of Saints of the Catholic Church possessed the charisma that allowed them to know distant things, or to view the future, or to see and to sense distance space using their senses and their normal intellectual abilities. Father Pio had the charisma of this supernatural knowledge. Just looking at a person he could see into the most secret parts of his soul. Many testimonies suggest this was the gift of Padre Pio.

A woman from Bologna (Italy) said: “Once my mother went to father Pio with some of her friends. She met with Father Pio in the sacristy of the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo as soon as he arrived. Padre Pio told her: “Why are you here? Go home, your husband is sick”. My mother thought she had left her husband in good condition. Anyway, she went back home on the first available train. When she arrived at home she asked about my father’s health. There was no news. But during the night my father had serious respiratory difficulties. Something pressed him in the throat. That night, at eleven p.m. my father was hospitalised brought into the operating room. The surgeon that operated on him extracted from his throat at least two basins of pus.  Father Pio had seen in advance what would happen to this lady’s husband and with his suggestion and prayer he had succeeded in influencing the happy solution of the case.

A spiritual son of Padre Pio who lived in Rome omitted out of shame to make his customary small reverence when he passed near to a church in the company of some friends. Suddenly he heard Padre Pio’s voice saying: “Coward!” After a few days he went to San Giovanni Rotondo, where he was reproached by Padre Pio:  “Be careful!  This time I have only scolded you; next time I will give you a slap.”

One day at sunset, Padre Pio was in the garden of the monastery.  He was chatting pleasantly with some of his spiritual children and others of the faithful, when he realized his handkerchief was missing.  He said to one of those present, “Here is the key to my cell.  Please go there and get me a handkerchief.”  The man went to the cell but besides the handkerchief, he took one of Padre Pio’s half gloves and put it in his pocket.  He could not pass up the opportunity to obtain a relic!  But when he went back to the garden and gave Padre Pio the handkerchief, Padre Pio said to him: “Thanks, but now go back to the cell and put back in the drawer the half glove that you put in your pocket”.

A certain lady used to kneel in front of a photograph of Padre Pio every evening before going to bed to ask his blessing. Her husband, a good Catholic, thought that the gesture was an exaggeration and began laughing and teasing her each time she did so. Once he told Padre Pio about his wife’s habit.  “Every evening my wife kneels in front of your photo and asks you to bless her.”  Padre Pio answered, “I know, I know…and you start laughing.”

A certain man had the reputation of being a good Catholic, admired and esteemed by all who knew him. Actually he was living in sin.  He had neglected his wife, and was now compensating for his loneliness by a relationship with another woman. On one occasion he went to confession to Padre Pio.  In order to justify himself, he started talking about a "spiritual crisis."  But he had not counted on facing an "extraordinary" confessor.  Padre Pio stood up at once and shouted, “What spiritual crisis? You are a litterbug! And God is angry with you. Go away!

A gentleman said, “I had decided to give up smoking and to offer this small sacrifice to Padre Pio.  Since then, every evening, with the intact packet of cigarettes in my hand, I stayed in front of his image telling him, ‘Father...it is one...’ The second day, ‘Padre, it is two…’ Three months later, I went to San Giovanni Rotondo to see Padre Pio after doing the same thing every evening. ‘Padre,’ I told him as soon as I saw him, ‘I haven't been smoking for 81 days, 81 packets...’ Padre Pio said, ‘I know everything you know, you made me count the packets every evening.’”

A bus driver who was transporting tourists on a trip to Gargano was in the sacristy waiting to leave again when Padre Pio arrived. Although the bus driver was in the middle of the group of about ten people, Padre Pio noticed him and said, “Son, don’t you even ask for a blessing?" The driver, amazed, stepped forward from the group and knelt in order to receive Padre Pio’s blessing. But instead of blessing him, Padre Pio asked him: “So, what have you done?” – “Nothing Father, I haven’t done anything. I went to confession when I was at Monte Sant’Angelo, and I have even attended Mass with the tourists I am guiding. “And  afterward?" - “I have purchased some religious objects.” “Ah, it was not those holy images that made you curse but those sweets!"  The astounded driver remembered that after the Mass he had cursed because the number of nougats he bought turned out to be less than was needed by the tourists. Mortified, he tried to say something; but Padre Pio drew him far from the group and said, “That's not all. On the road on the way to St. Giovanni Rotondo, you slighted and offended a driver that you have met on your road..” The man who said he hadn't done anything started to say an act of contrition.

A lady came from England to have her confession heard by Padre Pio.  She went to his confessional but Padre Pio closed the window saying:  “I am not available to you.”  The woman stayed for several weeks and during this time, daily returned to his confessional and daily was turned away. Finally, Padre Pio consented to hear her confession. She asked the Padre why he made her wait so long to be heard.  Padre Pio answered:  “And You?”  “How long have you made Our Lord wait?” You should wonder how Jesus could welcome you after you committed so many sacrileges. You have delayed your judgment for years, besides sinning against your husband and your mother you have received Holy Communion in mortal sin.  The woman was stunned and reformed.  She cried when she  received absolution. She returned to England a few days later, very happy.

A gentleman tells this story.  Once I ate too many figs and I felt guilty about it.  I thought I had committed a sin of gluttony.  Since I would have confession with Padre Pio the next day I thought I would confess it then.  The following day as I was walking slowly on the road to the convent, I made an examination of conscience.  The sin of gluttony did not come to mind.  Padre Pio heard my confession but before concluding and before the absolution I said to him, “I think I am guilty of yet another sin but I can’t remember it.”  “Don’t worry,” he answered me smiling: “for two figs”.

God sees everything we do and we will have to give him a response for everything we do. The following story illustrates that God knows even our most hidden thoughts.  In 1921 a man, who had belonged to a gang of unrepentant criminals had decided to kill his wife in order to be free to marry another woman.   He put together a plan that would provide him with a good alibi.  His wife was a devotee of  Padre Pio  who lived in the small town of Gargano. Since no one in that town knew of him or his reputation he thought it would be a good place to put his homicidal plan into effect.  One day he suggested to his wife that they make a trip to Gargano and while they were there she could take advantage of the opportunity to visit the Friar she admired so much. When they arrived in the town, he left his wife in a hotel, and went alone to the convent to arrange for her to have confession with Padre Pio.  He thought that while his wife was at confession he would be seen in town to corroborate his alibi.  He looked for an inn where he would invite some of the town’s people to have a drink with him.  Then, he would make some excuse, leave the inn, go kill his wife who had just left confession, and then later return to the inn.   The convent was surrounded by open country  and in the faint light of evening  he felt sure no one would see anything. The plan was perfect. When he reached the convent he saw Padre Pio in the confessional.  At this point he felt an impulse that he couldn’t contain.  He knelt in front of Padre Pio’s confessional, and began to make the sign of the cross.  Before he finished, cries came from the confessional.  “Go away”  Go away” “Go Away” “Don’t you know that it is forbidden to kill somebody?”  Then Padre Pio grabbed the man by the arm and lead him away.  The man was stunned, incredulous, and dismayed.  He ran away to the country where he tripped on a boulder and fell face down in the mud.  For the first time he acknowledged the horrors of his life full of sin.  After a while he saw all of his existence and among the torments of his mind he understood his inhumane wickedness.  Tormented to the depths of his soul he returned to church and asked Padre Pio to hear his confession.  Padre Pio consented and with endless sweetness spoke to him as if he were an old friend.  Padre Pio listed for him his whole life, moment by moment, sin after sin, crime after crime, everything in incredible detail, until he finally came to his  recent intention to kill his wife. The man listened to Padre Pio speaking about the homicide that he had planned in his own mind.  He had never told anyone else about it.  Exhausted but finally free the man threw himself at the feat of the monk and begged forgiveness.  This was not the end.  Before the absolution was finished Padre Pio asked him, “You have desired to have children haven’t you?  Well, do not offend God anymore and you will have a child”.  The man returned a year later to Padre Pio, totally converted and he had become the father of a child who was born from the same wife he had wanted to kill.

The friar who was the Guardian of the convent of St. Giovanni Rotondo related:  "Last year a dealer from Pisa came come to Padre Pio for a healing of his daughter. The holy man looked at him and said: 'You are sicker than your daughter. I see you dead.'  'No, no, no Padre, I'm very well' answered the man.  "Wretch!," Padre Pio cried.  'Unfortunate! How are you well with so many sins on your conscience? I can see at least thirty-two sins!' Everybody can image the amazement of the dealer. After his confession, he told  whomever would  listen to him: "He already knew everything and he has told me everything about my life!"

A priest told of an adventure that happened to a brother of his who had travelled very far to go to confession to Padre Pio.  After his confession Padre Pio asked him: "My son, do you have anything else to confess?"  "No, Padre."  Padre Pio told him to look for something else to remember. He examined his conscience again without success; he could not find anything else to confess. Then, with sweetness, Padre Pio told him: "Son, you arrived yesterday morning in Bologna at 5.00 a.m. Churches were still closed. Instead of waiting you went to the hotel to rest before Mass. You went to bed and then you fell asleep so deeply that you woke up at three o'clock in the afternoon, when it was too late to attend a mass. I know you have not done it in malice, but it was a negligence that hurt Our Lord!"

Because of the great crowds that went to see Padre Pio, two policemen were assigned to the convent to protect him. One day in the sacristy after the celebration of Mass, while Padre Pio was disrobing the sacred vestments, he turned smiling to one of the policemen and said:  "As soon I have given thanksgiving for the Mass and you are finished here, come to my room because I have to speak to you."  The policeman was very happy for this invitation so, when he ended his service, he went to Padre Pio's cell.  Padre Pio told him: "Listen to me!  In not more than eight days you will die at your father's home, my son."   The policeman answered him: "But Padre, I am feeling very well."   But Padre Pio added: "Don't worry about it! You will be better in eight days. What is this life? A pilgrimage.  We are on a train, my son!   Ask your boss to go on leave to enjoy your family...you are going to die...and your relatives???  They do not know anything about this..."  The policeman, stunned by these words, asked: "Father, can I tell what you have told me?"  "Not for now," the Father answered, "you can tell it only when you will be at home."  The young man went to the town of St. Giovanni Rotondo and he asked for permission to go home. His boss did not want to grant him the permission because there was no suitable motivation.  However,  on Padre Pio's intercession, the policeman received the permission to go home.   When the policeman reached his house, he told his parents: "I've come to greet you and Padre Pio has told me that I will die."  After eight days the policeman died.

The monks of the convent of Venafro, who entertained Padre Pio a few times, were witnesses of other inexplicable phenomenon besides the visions.   While Padre Pio was seriously ill, he was able to know the thoughts of people. One day Friar Augustine went to find him.  "This morning say a particular prayer for me, " Padre Pio requested.   Going down to the church, Friar Augustine decided to remember the brother in a special way during the Mass, but then he forgot to do it.   When he returned to Padre Pio,  the Padre asked him:  "Have you prayed for me?"  "I forgot to do it,"  Father Augustine answered. Padre Pio told him: "Don't worry.  God has accepted the intention you made while you were going down the staircase."

Padre Pio was solicited more than once to expiate the sins of a man.  Padre Pio, who was praying in choir, lifted his head and severely says: "This man has made Our Lord wait for twenty-five years to confess and he is not able to wait for me for five minutes?"  It was ascertained that the fact was true.

Padre Pio’s prophetic spirit as told by Padre Carmelo, who was Superior of the Convent of St. Giovanni Rotondo, is contained in this testimony:  “During the last World War, we spoke of the war every day and of the uproarious military victories of Germany on all the fronts of battle. I remember one morning I was in the little parlor of the convent, and I read in a newspaper the news that the German troops were moving by now in the direction of Moscow. For me, it was important news; in fact, I saw in that news that the war would end with the final victory of Germany. Going out in the corridor, I met Padre Pio, and gladly I told him shouting: “Father, the war is ended! Germany has won!” - “Who has told you it?” asked  Padre Pio. - “Father, the newspaper,” I answered. - And Padre Pio said: “Germany has won the war?  Keep in your mind that Germany, this time, will lose the war, worse than the last time! Remember it! “.  I told him: “Father, the Germans are already near Moscow.”  He added: “Remember what I have told you!”  - I said: “But, if Germany loses the war, Italy will lose the war as well!“  - And, he emphatically answered me: “We will see if together they will end the war.” -  I didn’t understand those words, taking into account the alliance of Italy and Germany, but the words became clear the following year after the armistice with the English and Americans of September 8, 1943, and the Italian declaration of war against Germany.

A lady said: “I wanted to take part in a trip to St. Giovanni Rotondo, in order to meet and to approach Padre Pio. It was the year 1961. A man in the bus suddenly cried: “My wife wanted me to bring her to this “impostor.” - The reference to the dear Padre Pio was evident, for that insult had struck me to the  heart. When we arrived at St. Giovanni Rotondo, we immediately went to the church to take part in  Holy Mass. At the end of the Mass, Padre Pio came toward us. When he was next to us, he stopped just in front of the gentleman who had insulted him on the bus and said: “Come here! Come to this impostor.”  - The man became pale; he knelt, and stammering, he said: “Forgive me Father! Forgive me!” Then Padre Pio put his hand on his head and, blessing him, added: “Stand up, I forgive you.” That gentleman converted instantly to the delight of all present.

 

A lady told this story: “In 1945, my mother brought me to St. Giovanni Rotondo to introduce me to Padre Pio personally and let me confess to him. There were so many people! Waiting for my turn, I thought about what I had to tell him; but when I knelt in front of him, my mind went blank. The dear Father immediately acknowledged my timidity and, he told me smiling: “Do you mind if I speak for you? “I nodded, with a sign of the head, and after in a moment, I was amazed. It didn’t seem possible! Padre Pio told me, word by word, what I would have told him. I kept calm, and mentally, I thanked him for having helped me to experience one of his gifts. I submitted to him the health of my soul and my body. He answered: “I will be your spiritual father forever!“ I left with an immense joy in my heart. While I was returning on the train and in the street, I smelled an intense perfume of flowers that I will never forget!

A young man in Padova (Italy) approached Padre Pio for a benediction but the Father looked at him and told him: "Remove your communist partnership card from your wallet (it was  the time when the Russian communist regime was persecuting the Catholic Church) together with the photos of those bad women that you jealously preserve. Are you not ashamed by such photos? ". "Yes, I am" - said the guy.  "And since you have intention to do cleaning, remove also the pictures of the bad women in the drawer of the table at home."

A certain lady knew very well Padre Pio. During a confession Padre Pio reproached her. The lady said: "I can't remember well which was the reason. When I went away from the confessional, I went to make the penitence but rather than to industriously question my conscience, I begged my protecting saints in heaven to leave me to understand what the Father wanted by me.  I continued so for several days. In the following confession Padre Pio told me: "You have gone around the World by complaining."   "But, Father, I have not complained about anything with anybody" - I said.  "Oh, really? Replied the Saint.  "For sure, Father".  And he said: "So, tell me, who have put the heaven upside-down with her requests? ".

Brother Pasquale said. One day leaving the Railway station in Foggia I took a bus to go to St. Giovanni Rotondo. While the bus was crossing the landscapes of Puglia, Brother Pasquale thought: "This spiritual life sometimes looks like we have to climb on the glasses!".  When he arrived at the convent and he entered the sacristy, he asked to confess with Padre Pio.  His turn arrived and he went in  beyond the curtain of the confessional for the confession. After having received the absolution, he was about to go out, but Padre Pio told him smiling: "…so, Does sometimes this spiritual life look like we have to climb on the glasses!?".  Brother Pasquale didn't say a word and he understood Padre Pio was a man of God.

Mr. Enzo said: "They had told me that you could ask something to Padre Pio even with your mind during the mass. I tried to do so. But at the end of the mass, after the Saint had finished the thanks, I went to talk to padre Pio and I told him: "Father, prays for my sister."  He said: "Have you already told it to me, haven’t you? ". Mrs. Lucietta said: "On 25, May it was Padre Pio’s birthday. After the mass, while he retired in the sacristy, Padre Pio should pass next to me. I told inside of my mind, "Please, Lord save him for long."  After few days, at the end of the confession I told him: "Best wishes, father, since I  have not been able to say to you on 25, May."  Padre Pio said: "You have already told me… ".

Mrs. Alma said: "Padre Pio was confessing the women and I was in the church three or four meters far from him. During the day I would not have had the possibility to speak to him. Then I said with the thought: "Father, send a benediction to me. I need it."  I had just ended to think my desire, when I saw that the Saint, moving outside and making a sign of cross. Then he kept on confessing.

It was the second time that Teresa saw the Father. After the confession she went to the corridor of the convent to kiss his hand. When Padre Pio arrived, he didn't stop next to Teresa and he did not give her the hand. She could not touch Padre Pio so she was dissatisfied and she complained in her heart, without saying a word. Then the Saint went back and paternally gruff told her: "Please, kiss my hand otherwise I give to you a small slap on the face."

Mr. Joseph of St. Giovanni Rotondo had fixed his date of wedding and he went to the convent to inform Padre Pio. "Father I will get married on September, 12th. It is the day devoted to the holy name of Mary". - "No" - said the Saint - "You will get marry the 8th of September, devoted to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgo."  The young man was amazed about Padre Pio words. When he went home his mother told him: "Listen! Your cousin has established to get marry on September, 12th. As the guests in the majority are the same of ours, we have to change the date of your marriage; it suitable to do it on September the 8th." Joseph didn't say anything since Padre Pio had already informed him about the change.

A Padre Pio’s spiritual daughter’s father went to St. Giovanni Rotondo. He was from Modena. It was the first time that the father of the girl went to the convent. As soon as he met with Padre Pio, the monk said: "You are Adriana's dad, is it true? ".

Father Atanasio Lonardo said: "We was in the choir for the prayers and the meditation of the evening. The superior of the convent gave the signal of the term of the common prayer. Padre Pio said: "Pray for our Provincial father that is in agony". We knew that  Father Bernard of Apicella was sick of bronchus-pneumonia, but we didn't know the serious state of the illness. We prayed a long. The day after, December 31st, 1937, we knew that he was dead.  After few months Padre Pio said he had entered Heaven.

Padre Pio knew what happened to pope Pio XII after his death. On October 9 th 1958, the same day when Pope Pio XII died in Castelgandolfo (Rome), sister Pascalina Lehnert wrote a letter to St. Giovanni Rotondo to a monk in order to know what was Padre Pio’s thoughts on Pope Pio XII. The monk who received the letter, asked Padre Pio about the death of the Pope. Padre Pio, with a face almost transfigured, said: “He is in Paradise”. The monk, did not want to believe and he asked again: “Have you seen him in Paradise?” and Padre Pio answered: “Yes, I have seen him in Paradise”.

About this event Father Agostino of St. Marco in Lamis, annotated in his Diary on  November 18 th 1958: "Padre Pio was very sad for the death of Pope Pio XII. But Our Lord let him see the Pope in the glory of Paradise."

Father Alberto D’Apolito met for first time with Padre Pio in 1917. He said: “I was a boy when I went to the convent together with my uncle to meet with Padre Pio. My Uncle was a monk and he was a friend of Padre Pio from their schooltime. We arrived at the convent and my uncle and Padre Pio greeted. Then, they started speaking to each other. Suddenly Padre Pio asked me: Do you want to become a Monk? I immediately answered: No, I don’t. I want to become a salesian priest and I want to go to Rome like some friends of mine. Padre Pio said: “I see” and he started speaking again with my uncle. The visit finished and we were going to leave the convent when Padre Pio gave his blessing and told the boy: “You will be a monk like your uncle”. It was true. After several years, that boy became monk.

Father Alessio Parente said: "I washed Padre Pio’s face and I helped him to go to bed. Then I rummaged in the pockets of the suit to take some medal that he always had in his pocket. I wanted to bring them with me in memory of Padre Pio. But I did not find anything in the pocket. The day after I went to greet him and help wake him up. At that point I was surprised since he put his hand in his pocket and he gave me some medal with photo by telling me: “Keep them always with you for my memory”. I did not tell him that I wanted to have some medals.

 

    Discernment

Padre Pio had the gift of Discernment.  He was able to recognize that a man was a priest or if objects had been blessed. The phenomenon of “discernment” was one among many of his gifts.

One day a gentleman who wore a jacket, tie and pants was in the sacristy with the others waiting for Padre Pio’s arrival. This man was in the first row. When Padre Pio saw him, he said, “Father, you came “disguised,” but you don’t have to be ashamed. Next time, you can come dressed as priest.”

Padre Pio told another young man who was wearing only pants and a sweater that he should go away and come back wearing the cowl of St. Dominic. Confused and embarrassed, the young man confessed in front of everyone to being a Dominican priest.

Sometimes, when Padre Pio was shown objects like Crowns of the Rosary, or asked to bless sacred images, he returned some to the applicant with the precise statement: “This has been already blessed.” He was correct.

Padre Pio was able to sense if water was "blessed water". And if someone gave him a bottle water of Lourdes' water without telling him where the water came from, he would bring the bottle to his lips and  kiss it.

Once the bus-driver from Rome to whom Our Lady appeared in a cave at the three fountains in Rome (the Virgin of the Revelation) went to meet with padre Pio. He related: "When I was with him - we had never met before - I handed him a little envelope without telling him what it contained. Padre Pio took the envelope, held it to his breast with passion and he didn't return it to me. The little envelope contained some earth from the cave of the Three Fountains."

 

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