"...they saw a friar in the sky who forbade them to drop bombs there."
Did you know that Padre Pio appeared in the sky and stopped a bombing? This amazing story clearly shows how God works through those who seek holiness.
According to Padre Pio's official website, during World War II, the Allied troops were in the Gargano area, near San Giovanni Rotondo in Italy, carrying out military missions.
Father Damaso de Sant'Elia, who was superior of the convent in Pianisi, Italy, recounted that, after Sept. 8, 1943, the military initiated attacks on the entire province of Foggia, but San Giovanni Rotondo did not fall victim to a single bomb.
The soldiers who tried attacking indicated that "they saw a friar in the sky who forbade them to drop bombs there."
The general of the Italian Air Force and part of the "Air Unit Command" together with the allied forces, Bernardo Rosini, incredulous in facing this fact, decided to take command of the bomber squadron to "destroy a German ammunition depot" that he had met in the same city.
Rosini returned from the flight shocked.
“As soon as they approached the target, he and his pilots saw the figure of a friar in the sky with his hands raised. The bombs dropped themselves, falling in the forests, and the planes turned around without any intervention from the pilots,” the general said.
Everyone who heard the story wondered who this "ghost" was that mysteriously managed to control the planes.
Rosini heard that a friar with the stigmata lived in San Giovanni Rotondo. The friar was considered a saint and might be responsible for this amazing miracle.
After the end of the war, the general, together with some of the pilots, visited the convent where Padre Pio lived, and as soon as he crossed the threshold of the sacristy, he could see among the friars the priest who stopped his planes.
The saint approached Rosini. Taking him by the shoulder he said, "So, are you the one who wanted to eliminate us all?"
The general knelt in front of Padre Pio, and he heard the priest's words in English.
Because of these amazing experiences, Rosini, who was a Protestant, became friends with Padre Pio and converted to Catholicism.