Padre Pio Account

Grazia was a peasant who was twenty-nine years old. She had been blind from birth. She used to go to the little Church of the convent in order to meet padre Pio. Once Father Pio asked her "if she wanted to see", "Of course, I would!" answered the girl, "but I want to see, only if this is not due to me, not to any pity", "Well, you will recover said padre Pio and he sent her to Bari, Italy where there was a very good doctor who was the husband of one of padre Pio's friends. But the doctor, after checking the patient's eyes, told his wife: "There's no hope for this girl! Padre Pio can heal her only by a miracle but I must send her back home without operating on her." His wife insisted and told her husband: "But if padre Pio has sent her to you...you could at least try to operate on her, at least on one of her eyes." The doctor agreed and operated on both of her eyes. Grazia's eyes were healed! She could see now. When she was back in San Giovanni Rotondo, she ran to the convent and she knelt down at padre Pio's feet. The friar ordered her to stand up. She told him "Bless me, Father...bless me! So he marked the sign of the Cross on her but she was still waiting to be blessed. In fact, when she was a blind woman, padre Pio used to bless her by making the sign of the Cross on her head with his hand. So at that point padre Pio said: "How do you want to be blessed? With a bucket of water poured on your head?