Insert the decision to return to finish your teaching term in Ampleforth during March to June 1990

Fr. Alexander joined me on my return to Malta to be with my family and he drove most of the way with occasional stops in Brescia and Padua.
We had decided to stay a few days in San Giovanni Rotondo where Alex celebrated mass in the crypt where Padre Pio was buried. Alex would disappear for three or four hours to spend time in prayer, and I would do the same in my own way. San Giovanni was full of pilgrims and a very busy place, but tranquility was very much in evidence. On one of these peaceful days, we strolled down the main road where the hospital ‘Casa Solievo Della Sofferenza’ dominated the scenery. It was Padre Pio’s dream to have a place where the elderly and the poor could be looked after as they endured illness and suffering. As we walked, the street was lined with shops which sold memorabilia about the Saint. We wandered into one of these and Alex and I browsed through the merchandise planning to buy some small items to give to our friends. The lovely young lady serving at the counter, seemed very interested in what we were doing as she realized we were speaking English.
She came up to me and asked me if I was devoted to Padre Pio and whether I knew much about him. I had read prodigiously about this stigmatized monk and had read many of the stories at least two or three times. I told her this and she asked me if I had read the story of the young girl of two years who had been scalded when she grabbed a pot of boiling water.
This recorded story describes how the young girl’s mother ran off to find a doctor who she brought back to the house. As they entered, the toddler saw not only the doctor, but a bearded monk whom no one else saw. It is believed that it was Padre Pio as, to everyone’s surprise, all traces of scalding disappeared immediately.
I replied that I knew the story well. The shop assistant then told me that she was the very same girl and asked if I wanted to see her legs. Fr. Alex found this very amusing and chuckled loudly as I very politely turned down the offer.
The beauty and innocence of this childlike individual was something I will never forget. In today’s world her offer may sound strange but there, in that small shop, it was a spontaneous expression of gratitude to God’s care through this marvellous saint.
he was born in Malta. Whereas my mother was of mixed descent, like most Maltese people.