The souls of Purgatory appeared to Padre Pio and asked for prayers

One evening Padre Pio was resting in a room on the ground floor of the convent, used as a guesthouse. He was alone and had just stretched out on the cot when suddenly a man wrapped in a black cloak wheel appeared. Padre Pio, surprised, getting up, asked the man who he was and what he wanted. The stranger replied that he was a soul of Purgatory. “I am Pietro Di Mauro. I died in a fire, on September 18, 1908, in this convent used, after the expropriation of ecclesiastical goods, as a hospice for old people. I died in the flames, in my straw mattress, surprised in my sleep, right in this room. I come from Purgatory: the Lord has allowed me to come and ask you to apply your Holy Mass to me in the morning. Thanks to this Mass I will be able to enter Heaven ”. Padre Pio assured that he would apply his Mass to him ... but here are the words of Padre Pio: “I, I wanted to accompany him to the door of the convent. I fully realized that I had only spoken to a deceased when I went out into the churchyard, the man who was at my side suddenly disappeared ". I must confess that I went back to the convent somewhat frightened. To Father Paolino da Casacalenda, Superior of the convent, to whom my agitation had not escaped, I asked permission to celebrate Mass in suffrage of that soul, after, of course, having explained to him what had happened ”. A few days later, Father Paolino, intrigued, wanted to do some checks. going to the registry of the municipality of San Giovanni Rotondo, he requested and obtained permission to consult the register of the deceased in the year 1908. The story of Padre Pio corresponded to the truth. In the register relating to the deaths of the month of September, Father Paolino traced the name, surname and reason of death: "On September 18, 1908, Pietro di Mauro died in the fire of the hospice, he was Nicola".

This other episode was told by Padre Pio to Father Anastasio. “One evening, while alone, I was in a choir praying, I heard the rustle of a dress and saw a young friar trafficking at the main altar, as if dusting the candelabra and arranging the flower holders. Convinced that it was Fra Leone who rearranged the altar, since it was dinner time, I went to the balustrade and said: "Fra Leone, go have dinner, it is not time to dust and fix the altar". But a voice, which was not Fra Leone's, answers me ":" I'm not Fra Leone "," and who are you? ", I ask. “I am your confrere who made his novitiate here. Obedience gave me the task of keeping the high altar clean and tidy during the trial year. Unfortunately, several times I disrespected the sacramented Jesus passing in front of the altar without revering the Blessed Sacrament preserved in the tabernacle. For this serious lack, I am still in Purgatory. Now the Lord, in his infinite goodness, sends me to you so that you can decide how long I will have to suffer in those flames of love. Please ... "-" Believing that I am generous towards that suffering soul, I exclaimed: "you will stay until tomorrow morning at the Conventual Mass". That soul screamed: "Cruel! Then he let out a shout and shot. " That wailing cry produced a heart injury that I have felt and will feel all my life. I who by divine delegation could have sent that soul immediately to Heaven, I condemned her to stay another night in the flames of Purgatory ".