By Philip Kosloski, Aleteia - By September, everyone in San Giovanni Rotondo seemed to be ill, the schools were closed, and what little commerce there was in town was brought to a halt. In the next couple months, two hundred people from a population of ten thousand would perish. Padre Pio’s spiritual daughters came to him terrified, begging him to save them. “Never fear,” he assured Nina Campanile. “Put yourself under the protection of the Virgin, do not sin, and the sickness will not overcome you.” Although some of the “daughters” fell ill, none of them died.