Supernatural knowledge
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.
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."
Condividi e segnala 
