2024-08-31 00:00:00
Every August 31, the Virgin of Tears is celebrated, a Marian devotion that originated in Syracuse (Italy) in the middle of the 20th century, when an image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary sheds tears over and over again.
In 1994, Pope St. John Paul II visited the place, he referred to those tears as “tears of pain for those who reject the love of God … tears of pain and hope” for the conversion of the world.
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The tears, Mother
The miracle happened in 1953, in the noble house of the spouses Angelo Lannuso and Antonina Lucia Giusti. The couple had made an image of the Virgin Mary in their bedroom as a plaster relief. For four days, between August 29 and September 1, tears fell from the eyes of the image.
Antonina was the first to witness the miracle, being pregnant with her first child at the time. The Lannuso couple received the image of the Virgin as a wedding gift.
The local priest, Father Giuseppe Bruno, arrived at Lannuso’s house with several people, including some scientists, such as Dr. Michele Cassola, openly atheist doctor. On the spot, the experts were direct witnesses of the miracle – which would later form the commission that would investigate the events – that it would not be repeated from that day on.
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Investigation stage
The fluid was collected from the face of the Virgin and a scientific commission, chaired by Cassola, carried out various studies on it.
The main study was a comparison between two samples of human tears – those of a child and an adult – and the tears that shed the image. The study showed that the fluid that came from the eyes of the image of the Immaculate Conception corresponded to the normal compound of human tears. When the investigations were completed, the Commission found no scientific explanation for the phenomenon and limited itself to presenting its final report on September 9, 1953, a strong report stating that there was no natural explanation for what happened. .
Three months later, on December 12, 1953, the day the Church celebrates the Virgin of Guadalupe, the bishops of Sicily unanimously announced that the image of the Mother of God had mourned.
Oh, the tears of Mary! (Pope Pius XII)
Almost a year later, on October 17, 1954, Pope Pius XII referred to this great fact in a radio message on the occasion of the regional Marian conference of Sicily.
The Pope said: “Will men understand the obscure language of these tears? Oh, the tears of Mary! On Golgotha they were tears of pain for Jesus and sorrow for the sin of the world. Are you still crying for the new wounds in the mystical Body of Jesus?… Or are you crying for so many children who have lost the error and guilt of the life of grace and who have greatly offended the divine majesty? Or are they tears awaiting the late return of other children, who were once faithful and are now being carried away by false miracles among the host of God’s enemies?
“Tears of pain for those who reject the love of God” (Saint John Paul II)
The great influx of devotees prompted the construction of a sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin of Tears in 1968, which would be renovated in 1994. The same year, in November, Saint John Paul II consecrated the place.
In the framework of his pastoral visit to Catania and Syracuse, the pilgrim Pope said that the Virgin’s tears “testify to the presence of the Mother Church on earth… They are tears of pain for those who reject God’s love, for separated people. families or those who have difficulties, for the youth who are threatened by the civilization of consumers and who are often restless, for the violence that still causes bloodshed, and for the misunderstandings and hatreds that open deep abysses between men and women people,” he said.
Pope Francis: “To dry the tears”
On May 5, 2016, Pope Francis led the prayer vigil called “To dry the tears”, in the framework of the Jubilee of Mercy, an event in which the Virgin of Tears was brought to the Vatican. Then, the Holy Father emphasized that “next to every cross is always the Mother of Jesus. With her mantle, she wipes away our tears. With his hand he helps us rise and leads us on the path of hope.”
Two years later, on May 25, 2018, Francis again presided over a liturgy in the presence of the consolation of the Virgin’s tears. From the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, the Pontiff said: “They brought from Syracuse the relics of the Virgin’s tears. They are here today, and we pray for the Virgin to give us and also humanity, because we need it, the gift of tears, so that we can cry for our sins and for so many calamities that make God’s people suffer. children of God.”
The Marian Sanctuary of Syracuse receives approximately one million pilgrims each year.
The visionary spouses of the miracle of tears. Photo: Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime.
Central Editing
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