The Baby Said to Have Returned to Life Through Padre Pio’s Prayers
The many extraordinary stories associated with Saint Padre Pio, one Padre Pio miracle is particularly striking: the account of a six-month-old baby said to have returned to life after Padre Pio prayed for her.
The story is recounted by Lilá Sant’Anna in her book Who is Padre Pio? It is a remarkable story not only of an alleged miracle, but also of a mother’s extraordinary faith when all human hope appeared to be lost.
A Mother’s Journey to Padre Pio
The six-month-old child was gravely ill and, despite medical treatment, seemed beyond saving. Her mother nevertheless refused to abandon hope. She decided to make the long journey to San Giovanni Rotondo and ask Padre Pio for his prayers and intercession.
But during the train journey, the child’s condition deteriorated. According to Sant’Anna’s account, the baby died.
The mother did not turn back.
Still trusting in God, she wrapped her child in cloths, placed her in a suitcase and continued towards San Giovanni Rotondo, determined to reach Padre Pio.
When she finally arrived, she hurried to the church and found Padre Pio hearing confessions. She waited her turn, carrying the suitcase with her. When she reached Padre Pio, the grieving mother knelt before him and opened it. Padre Pio turned pale. He raised his eyes towards Heaven and began to pray. “Your Child Is Not Dead”
Dr Sanguinetti, one of Padre Pio’s collaborators at the Home for the Relief of Suffering, is identified in Sant’Anna’s account as being present.
After praying, Padre Pio’s expression suddenly changed. Colour returned to his face and he told the mother: “Why do you weep?! Your child is not dead… she only sleeps!” According to the account, the baby then began to breathe again, peacefully, as though she had merely been sleeping.
For the mother who had continued her journey when every human reason for hope appeared to have vanished, her child was alive again.
An Echo of Jairus’s Daughter
Sant’Anna closes the account by pointing to a striking passage in the Gospel of St Luke. When Jesus came to the house of Jairus, whose daughter had died, He said to those mourning her: “Do not weep; she is not dead but sleeping” (Luke 8:52).
The similarity is impossible to miss.
Story should ultimately direct our attention beyond the extraordinary event itself. Padre Pio was above all a priest and a man of prayer whose life pointed people towards Jesus Christ. For us, this mother’s perseverance poses a simple question: when everything appears hopeless, do we still trust God?
Padre Pio’s life continually reminds us to pray, to persevere and to place even our greatest sufferings into the hands of God.
