And today's talk is about how Padre Pio restores a vital organ, that a young child, she was
born without this organ and somehow Padre Pio restored it through his intercession.
So, please do stay tuned to find out more.
Hello, friends of following Padre Pio.
On this channel, we take a glimpse into the incredible life of our great Saint Padre Pio,
who was a Capuchin Friar, and he was a mystic.
He was an incredible miracle worker, tremendous miracle worker.
Do stay tuned to find out more about Padre Pio, about his miracles, and also what his
intercession could do for you.
A quick reminder that we do have a Lenten selection of videos.
So, we have certain videos every week selected, and you can go to the video description below,
click through and it'll take you to this selection of videos.
It's intended to help people make a better Lent.
Also do participate in this Padre Pio apostolate by liking the video, share the video with
your friends and colleagues, and do enroll your mass prayer intentions.
You can watch a video on the end screen, how to do that.
We have a Mass, especially dedicated to Padre Pio every Friday, and you can enroll your
intentions for that mass.
Now, our story took place in April of 1966.
And Vera and her husband, Harry Calandra, they were both delighted when their fifth
child was born.
The baby was named Vera Maria, and she was born with a congenital, or a permanent, we
could say, problem.
And that is that part of the vital, a vital part of the urinary tract was just totally
missing.
She was born without that.
And so with all of these complications, it was pretty certain that this was going to
be a death sentence for Vera Maria in the not too distant future.
So, the doctors realized all of this, it was diagnosed before Vera Maria was even one year
old.
And so, the Calandras followed...
they proceeded to follow every medical option and path that they could, but nothing worked.
And eventually they had exhausted all of the possibilities and now they had to turn to
their faith, and they had to rely on their faith.
And so Vera started reading up, and she came across a book by Padre Pio about Padre Pio.
And so she became very interested in this, and she started to pray to Padre Pio, and
she noticed certain signs that her prayers were being heard.
And Padre Pio began to show his presence, we could say, in different ways.
She noticed the scent of roses once when she was praying.
And then this other event occurred.
She heard interiorly, these words, "Bring the child here to me in Italy and come quickly."
So, it must have been very convincing for her.
And she spoke to her husband about this.
She mentioned it to him, and her husband encouraged her.
"Yes, go to Padre Pio, go to his monastery."
So, Vera set off to Italy, to Padre Pio's monastery in San Giovanni Rotondo.
And she took three of her children with her.
Eldest son, Michael, and Vera Maria, who was now two years old, as well as the latest,
the young one recently born.
You can imagine with a young family like it, must have been quite a difficult journey.
And she traveled to Italy, there to meet the priest who performs miracles.
And the young mother was fortunate to have two meetings, two audiences with Padre Pio.
And they discussed things, obviously told him what the of problems were, and what Padre
Pio did during these meetings is that he blessed both the mother and the child.
She prayed in the depths of her heart that Padre Pio would really assist her, with these
words, "I pray to God that He work a miracle.
One that all people can see."
And she also made this silent promise within her heart.
A promise to God that if her daughter survives and is healed, then she was going to let the
whole world know of the greatness and the generosity of Padre Pio the future Saint.
And it seems that Vera's prayers were heard, because now she went back to the United States.
Padre Pio had blessed them, prayed for them.
They went back and there the doctors did an examination once again of Vera Maria.
And they noticed now that a rudimentary bladder was now growing, was now forming in place
of one that had never existed.
So, it seemed like an absolute miracle.
And this had followed Padre Pio's blessing.
And Vera Maria's health just continued to get better, to improve.
And then after a little while her prognosis was good, was very good.
And at this point, her mother Vera kept her promise to God that she had made all the way
back in Italy.
And this is how they did it.
The Calandras dedicated their lives now to winning souls, to the intercession of Padre
Pio.
So, making people aware of Padre Pio, what his intercession could do for them.
And in 1971, they founded the National Center for Padre Pio in the United States.
And today, Vera Maria, she now works as an administrative assistant there, and the Vice
President of the center.
They're all active there.
They keep promoting the center and promoting the works of Padre Pio.
They describe themselves like this.
"It is a scenic spiritual destination honoring one of the most beloved saints of our time.
And at the National Center for Padre Pio, we continue his salvific mission by leading
more souls to God in his name, with the assistance of Padre Pio."
And so that is the founding story of the National Center of Padre Pio.
Next time on this channel, we're going to be looking at another story called You Will
See a Miracle of Our Lady.
These were words of Padre Pio.
A priest had been accused of some sort of a immorality.
He Had been stripped of his priestly faculties, and now his odious path back into the church.
And a reminder that during lent, we do have a special selection of videos, and you can
go to the video description below, click on the link to our special selection of Lenten
videos.