In 1971, I lived with my wife and two children in Islip
Terrace N.Y. in a small ranch house. One day I happened to be up in my
attic
doing some spring-cleaning. While shuffling some boxes around, I came
across a
Padre Pio pamphlet. I had never heard of Padre Pio before. I asked my
wife what
she knew about Padre Pio, and how the pamphlet got up in the attic. She
told me
that Padre Pio was a priest who received the so-called Stigmata, and
that she
got the pamphlet while attending Catholic school. That was all she
knew.
That
night I started reading the pamphlet, and I could not put it down. I
was
riveted to it until I finished its 30 some odd pages. About a week
later, I was
at my friend Jack Provenzano’s house, and spotted a book on
Garabandal lying on
a counter. I picked it up and started scanning through it. He told me
to take
it home, and bring it back when I finished reading it. I did this and
the same
thing happened. I was riveted to it until I finished reading it.
About a week later, my neighbor Virginia Stanson told me that she was having a blind man
come to her house, and that he was going to give a talk on Padre Pio and Garabandal that following Friday.
I asked her who this blind man was, but all I could learn from her was that he was a man who went to Italy and met Padre Pio. That Friday I went to Virginia’s
house along with about
twenty other people, some of whom I knew and some I didn’t. I
recall Joey’s
talks took about two hours. As Joey spoke there was absolute silence in
the
audience. About one hour into the talk, a voice inside my head said,
“Call this
man.” I said nothing and did not think much about the voice.
About 15 minutes
later the voice came again “Call this man.” I said
to myself, “Why should I
call this man?” Again, 15 minutes later “Call this
man.” Now I am getting a
little aggravated. I said to myself, “Why should I call this
man, I don’t know
the man?” Again, 15 minutes later “Call this
man.” By this time I was losing patience
with myself, but told no one of these messages. At the end of the
evening, all
the people very respectfully formed a line, and each one of them shook
Joey’s
hand to say good night, to thank him and wish him well. I was the last
person
on line. When he got to me, he did not shake my hand normally as he did
the
others. He grabbed my hand and shook it with both his hands, then after
releasing one of them, he pointed a his figure to me and said "Don't
forget to call me now!" I almost fell on the floor. I asked him how he
knew I was going to call him. He just smiled at me and walked out the
door.
Some days later I called Joey and he invited me to his
house in Lindenhurst N.Y. I went there at the appointed time, and was
introduced to a Mr. Charlie Melou. Joey told me that Charlie was a good
friend
of his. I later found out that Charlie was one of the sighted men that
went
around escorting Joey on conferences. Joey then left the room leaving
me alone
only to chat with Charlie.
Charlie - "So you are Vito."
Vito - "Yeh, I'm Vito."
Charlie - Two weeks before Joey met you, he asked me
if I knew a guy by the name of Vito. I told Joey that I did not know
anyone by the name of Vito. Joey replied that he did not
know anyone
by the name of Vito either, but the name kept buzzing in his head. He
told me
that he believed that this was God’s way of telling him that
he needed to pray
for some one by the name of Vito.
One could attribute all these happenings to coincidence.
It could be chalked up to coincidence that during the time that Joey
was
praying for a guy named Vito, I happened to stumble on a Padre Pio
pamphlet,
and a book on Garabandal. It could also be chalked up to coincidence
that Joey
asked me not to forget to call him right after I an inner voice told me
to call
him.
As a result of this extraordinary experience, I became one
of Joey’s sighted people who escorted him on conferences. I
did this very
interesting work for about 7 years. During that time, I had the honor
and the
privilege of meeting some wonderful and amazing people.
During that 7 year period, I heard stories that forced me to
ponder and scrutinize. I heard stories about Joey’s medal,
and apparent
miracles that God performed through Joey’s intercession. I
will tell of two
quick stories that stick out in my mind.
A nun who suffered from breast cancer
told this first story to me. She was recovering in a hospital from a
mastectomy. She told me she was in a great deal of pain. During her
hospital
stay, Joey paid her a visit. While he was blessing her with his medal,
the pain
immediately left her, and entered Joey’s body.
One other quick story. A 16-year-old girl was born
with an arched spine, and had to live with her body in a curved
position
similar to a hunchback. Her mother took her to Joey who blessed the
girl with
the medal he received at Garabandal, touching her back with
it. The young girl said. "Oh I feel heat!" The girl then straightened
up into a normal position.
Vito at Padre Pio National Center