Sophie, from Manchester, was accompanied by her father, John, originally from Ballydesmond and who lives in County Cork, and by Donald Enright from Monkstown, Cork, who brought three relics with him of the Italian stigmatist.

"We were delighted with the attendance. But this is nothing new. We've had attendances of 2,000 people," Mr Enright said.

"Sophie has appeared on four different television channels in England to tell her story and everyone at the Kilmallock event found it amazing."

Six months ago, the young girl was asleep in the early hours of the morning following a party in her house, when a 23-year-man burst into her room, pulled out a gun and shot her at close range at the base of the skull.

The bullet split into three parts and she was not expected to survive.

Mr Enright, a life-long devotee of Padre Pio, said that when he was contacted, he travelled to the hospital with a relic of Padre Pio, whom he had met as a young man many years ago in San Giovanni.

From then on, Sophie began to improve.

At the church in Kilmallock, Mr Enright blessed people with three relics of Padre Pio, a glove, a bandage and a piece of the stigmatist's beard.