By Tim Binnall
A pair of women in Ireland claim that an apparition of the revered saint Padre Pio manifested itself before their astounded eyes during a recent church service. According to a local media report, the remarkable sighting is said to have occurred on September 23rd at St Saviour’s Church in the city of Limerick as Nelly Cosgrave and Mary Tynan were attending a mass recognizing the anniversary of the saint's passing. For the service, parishioners had placed on the alter a photo which shows a suspected apparition of the saint from 2013 and, when Cosgrave glanced at the image during the service, she was taken aback by what she saw.
The picture, she recalled, suddenly became "ablaze in light" and when the bewildered witness "looked all around me to see if there was something shining on it but there wasn’t." After a few minutes, Cosgrave was astounded when the silvery illumination transformed into an apparition of Padre Pio "with his brown habit and white cord tied around his waist." Realizing that no one else in the church had noticed the wondrous sight, the awestruck observer nudged her friend Mary, who was sitting beside her, and her companion also looked over and spotted the remarkable vision. While uncertain as to the purpose of the apparition's appearance, Cosgrave theorized that perhaps Padre Pio simply wished for the pair to "spread the message that he's still doing the lord's work."