Ambrosio Spinola
12-02-2005, 10:33 AM
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2005-12-02T031226Z_01_KNE211481_RTRIDST_0_OUKOE-UK-LIFE-VIRGINMARY.XML
SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - The dark streaks like bloody tears that have drawn believers to a Virgin Mary statue here in recent weeks follow a long tradition of Catholic apparitions around the world which often provide solace to the faithful.
Steady numbers of Catholics have made their way to the Vietnamese Catholic Martyrs Church in Sacramento, California's capital, to view an outdoor statue that has clearly visible dark streaks running down from the eyes.
"I am a believer because throughout history the Virgin Mary cried," Van Li, who came to the United States from Vietnam in 1993, said as he visited on a rainy Thursday afternoon. "She cries for everybody's sin."
Believers worldwide have seen what they believe are signs from the Virgin Mary since shortly after her death two millennia ago.
"For most people they are a kind of catharsis, they become a way of coping with stresses and anxieties," said Sandra Zimdars-Swartz, author of "Encountering Mary" on visions of the Virgin Mary.
"It usually has to do with a time of anxiety," she said. "A statue weeping blood, kind of obviously, she's not crying for joy."
Timothy Matovina, an associate professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame in South bend, Indiana, said such visions were more common in Christianity than other faiths.
"Christianity, Catholicism in particular, is a very incarnational religion," he said. "One of the claims of Christianity is that god became human; that's absolutely impossible for Muslims."
SKEPTICS
Skeptics say a human dabbing of pigment or blood could explain the marks on the Sacramento statue.
Randall Sullivan, author of "The Miracle Detective: An Investigation of Holy Visions", said it was right to be sceptical of such visions. "If you dismiss this as fraud or hysteria, odds are you'll be right."
"But it is still a stupid thing to do, to dismiss them, because there are a large number -- a relatively small percentage, but still a large number -- of these incidents that can't be dismissed," he said.
Matovina of Notre Dame said such events, whatever their nature, can have profound meaning for believers and draw together people of all types.
"There is a sense of what some call communitas, a levelling that you don't find anywhere else, only in sacred places where everyone feels equal before this mystical, divine experience."
Some people are travelling long distances to see the Sacramento statue. "I wish everybody would see this," said Donald Quiroz, who came from southern California. "These signs are trying to tell us something about our troubled times."
A spokesman for the Diocese of Sacramento, which serves 500,000 Catholics across northern California, said the church had not made any conclusions about the streaks on the statue, first seen about November 19.
"The diocese and the parishes are watching right now," said Kevin Eckery, adding that no formal investigation was underway. "For now it is a sort of wait and see."
SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - The dark streaks like bloody tears that have drawn believers to a Virgin Mary statue here in recent weeks follow a long tradition of Catholic apparitions around the world which often provide solace to the faithful.
Steady numbers of Catholics have made their way to the Vietnamese Catholic Martyrs Church in Sacramento, California's capital, to view an outdoor statue that has clearly visible dark streaks running down from the eyes.
"I am a believer because throughout history the Virgin Mary cried," Van Li, who came to the United States from Vietnam in 1993, said as he visited on a rainy Thursday afternoon. "She cries for everybody's sin."
Believers worldwide have seen what they believe are signs from the Virgin Mary since shortly after her death two millennia ago.
"For most people they are a kind of catharsis, they become a way of coping with stresses and anxieties," said Sandra Zimdars-Swartz, author of "Encountering Mary" on visions of the Virgin Mary.
"It usually has to do with a time of anxiety," she said. "A statue weeping blood, kind of obviously, she's not crying for joy."
Timothy Matovina, an associate professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame in South bend, Indiana, said such visions were more common in Christianity than other faiths.
"Christianity, Catholicism in particular, is a very incarnational religion," he said. "One of the claims of Christianity is that god became human; that's absolutely impossible for Muslims."
SKEPTICS
Skeptics say a human dabbing of pigment or blood could explain the marks on the Sacramento statue.
Randall Sullivan, author of "The Miracle Detective: An Investigation of Holy Visions", said it was right to be sceptical of such visions. "If you dismiss this as fraud or hysteria, odds are you'll be right."
"But it is still a stupid thing to do, to dismiss them, because there are a large number -- a relatively small percentage, but still a large number -- of these incidents that can't be dismissed," he said.
Matovina of Notre Dame said such events, whatever their nature, can have profound meaning for believers and draw together people of all types.
"There is a sense of what some call communitas, a levelling that you don't find anywhere else, only in sacred places where everyone feels equal before this mystical, divine experience."
Some people are travelling long distances to see the Sacramento statue. "I wish everybody would see this," said Donald Quiroz, who came from southern California. "These signs are trying to tell us something about our troubled times."
A spokesman for the Diocese of Sacramento, which serves 500,000 Catholics across northern California, said the church had not made any conclusions about the streaks on the statue, first seen about November 19.
"The diocese and the parishes are watching right now," said Kevin Eckery, adding that no formal investigation was underway. "For now it is a sort of wait and see."