10/31/2025
The year was 1919. One morning after Mass, a man in the church who was staring intently at Padre Pio exclaimed, “Dear Lord, it is him. Truly, it is him. I am not mistaken!”
Upon saying that, the man knelt down and began to cry. “Padre Pio, thank you for saving me from death!” the man said. “You must not thank me, my son. Thank our Lord and the Virgin of Graces,” Padre Pio replied. Padre Pio and the man spoke together for a few moments but they were speaking so softly that no one nearby could hear them.
Later, some of the people in the church asked the man what he and Padre Pio had talked about. The man explained that he had been a captain in the infantry. Once, when he was on the battlefield engaged in combat, he saw a friar standing a short distance away. The friar was delicate and fair-skinned and had beautiful, expressive eyes.
The captain could tell by looking at him that he was not a military chaplain for he wore a brown robe. The friar said to him “Captain, come here quickly. Move away from where you are standing immediately!”
The captain followed the friar’s instructions. No sooner had he run toward the friar, than a gr***de exploded right in the spot where he had been standing. The force of the explosion left a large hole in the ground. If he had not followed the command of the friar, he would have been killed instantly. The captain had the greatest desire to thank the friar for saving his life but when he looked in his direction once again, the friar was nowhere to be seen.
When the captain recounted his story to his fellow-soldiers, one of the soldiers told him that he too had been rescued from death by a beautiful monk. At the military base, others reported that they too had seen a friar on the battlefield who raised his eyes toward Heaven and prayed. One of the soldiers said that the friar’s name was Padre Pio who lived in San Giovanni Rotondo.
The captain had made a trip to San Giovanni Rotondo in order to see if Padre Pio was the priest that he had seen on the battlefield. How happy he was to be able to confirm that it was indeed Padre Pio who had rescued him and how glad he was to be able to thank him personally for saving his life.