Our Lady of Tears – Syracuse, Sicily, August 1953
Our Lady who Wept
You cannot visit Syracuse or Syracuse as it is known in Italy, without visiting the Sanctuary of Our Lady who Wept. Honestly, we were more than a little skeptical, until we discovered all the invaluable and indisputable scientific evidence that assured us it was legitimate. Like Bishop Ettore Baranzini, we have always had reservations when it comes to supposed apparitions and supposed miracles. Only when Mother Church verifies, do we write and make programs.
Our story begins in Syracuse on August 29, 1953, five months earlier, Antonina and Angelo Jannuso were married. Because they were a young couple in distress, with Angelo a poor worker earning the minimum wage, they accepted their brother’s kind invitation and moved into their small house on Via degli Orti di E. Giorgio. On the day of their marriage, they received a plasterboard of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as a wedding gift. Although they were what we would call lukewarm Catholics, barely performing their ecclesiastical duties by going to church on Sundays, they reverently placed the plasterboard on the wall above their bed.
Shortly after they were married, they discovered that they were going to know the blessing of giving birth to a son. The couple were delighted, but as was typical of the Sicilian working poor class, things were not going to be easy. They found out that Antonina had toxemia. Not only did this cause excruciating seizures, but the seizures sometimes led to bouts of blindness. On the day of the miracle, August 29, Antonina was left blind due to a seizure resulting from her seizures. She was totally blind from three in the morning until eight thirty at night, when her sight recovered completely.
Later he wrote that he turned to the image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on his bed, to thank Our Lady for having regained his sight, when to his total amazement what he saw, but the plaque of Our Lady was crying. He called his sister-in-law and aunt who, when he told them what they had seen, thought he was delirious due to his illness. She said she then insisted that they look closely at the image of Our Lady. They reluctantly did as he asked.
When they approached the image, they also saw tears welling up from Our Lady’s eyes, and attested to the fact that they also saw some tears running down Her face to the head of her bed. Needless to say, upon witnessing the image cry, they had mixed feelings: fear mixed with wonder and amazement. They immediately set out to advise the neighbors. They removed the plaque from the wall and took it outside so that the neighbors could see what they had seen. Neighbors couldn’t help but confirm what they too had seen. The image of Our Lady shed tears!
Visitors came from far and near to witness the miraculous phenomena for themselves. People are always looking for the supernatural! Not only the curious came, but a very respected gentleman from the neighborhood, a certain Mario Messina; and after he, too, noticed the tears welling up from the image’s eyes, he removed the plaque from the wall to see if possibly the tears were not coming out of the plasterboard of a hidden reservoir. Upon examining it, he could do no more than state that he saw no evidence to contest the miraculous formation of tears on the plaque. The plate was dried and tears quickly formed on the dry surface.
As the crowd grew, crowding into the little house to see the image, the authorities, with the permission of the Jannusians, removed the plaque from the wall and hung it on the outside wall of the house to satisfy the curiosity of all who had seen it. heard of the miraculous event. Seeing that the numbers were increasing rather than decreasing, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to maintain any semblance of order, the local carabiniere decided to take the badge to the local police station. The image continued to cry, even as it was carefully transported to the local police station. But once inside the station, forty minutes had not passed when the image stopped crying. Consequently, it was restored to its rightful home: the home where the Jannuso lived.
Now, the people had not moved from outside the house. Then, at 2 a.m. on Sunday, August 30, the plaque, which had cried again, was placed on a pillow for all to see and worship. On Monday, the plaque was taped to the wall. Then, people began to accumulate tears in handkerchiefs, pieces of cotton and all kinds of pieces of cloth. Our Lady, kind and helpful Mother, was able to assure Her children that a miracle had indeed occurred – for them! As it was not well adhered to the wall, they decided to take the plaque to the house across the street and place it on an Altar specially designed for this purpose. The crowds kept coming. As they approached the image of Our Lady, they knelt down and began to pray the Rosary. That done, the Rosary was finished; the plaque was gently carried to the Jannuso home.
Investigations begin
Upon learning of this miracle, three priests called the Jannuso family and verified, with their own eyes, what others had seen; In fact, the image on the plaque was crying! One of the priests prudently notified the Chancellery. After which, the Chancellery convened an investigative committee made up of highly respected priests, four scientists, and three trusted witnesses. Satisfied that the mix was complete and balanced, the chancellery ordered them to go to the Jannuso house and carefully scrutinize the situation.
The delegation arrived at the Jannuso home on the morning of Tuesday, September 1. Our Lady once again thanked Her children and allowed the image to cry. While the image of Our Lady wept, the delegation carefully inspected the plaque. Not only were they able to witness the crying of the image, but they were given the opportunity to examine the plaque, as tears cascaded down the face of the image, filling the cup that the image of Our Lady had gently formed with Her hand. , with which he held. he offered his heart to his children. They found that although the front of the plate was wet from tears, the back of the plate was dry. They carefully collected a sample of tears to take to the laboratory for scientific examination.
The team of scientists carefully collected approximately twenty drops of liquid into a thin, sterilized tube and poured the liquid into an equally sterile vial. The vial was then taken to a laboratory to be thoroughly examined by chemists and doctors. They took this sample of tears and tested them against the tears of an adult and those of a child. They found that the tears in Our Lady’s image contain the same liquid composition found in the human tears analyzed. His conclusion: the liquid brought from the plate in the Jannuso house was like that of the tears of a human being.
The tests were concluded on September 9, 1953 and the findings were verified by the following doctors: Michele Cassola, Francesco Cotzie, Leopoldo La Rosa and Mario Marietta.
This was what the Church needed! As we know, the Church will send the most scrupulous Defenders of the Devil to dispute, if necessary, any questionable characteristics of a supposed miracle. Using both men of science and the Hierarchy, when the findings demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt the veracity of the miracle, then Mother Church was free to act; and act She did it!
The Archbishop of Syracuse paid a visit to the Jannuso house and inspected the plate and, without saying anything, returned the next day to pray the Rosary, along with the crowd that had gathered. His approval was joined by the many other bishops who had visited the Jannuso home and witnessed the flow of tears. Later, Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini made the following statement in a radio broadcast on December 13:
“After a careful screening of the numerous reports, after verifying the positive results of the diligent chemical analysis under which the gathered tears were examined, we have unanimously announced the ruling that the reality of the facts cannot be doubted.”
That’s not enough? On October 17, 1954, His Holiness Pope Pius XII further affirmed the miraculous tears with the following statement on national radio:
“… we acknowledge the unanimous declaration of the Episcopal Conference held in Sicily on the reality of that event. Will men understand the mysterious language of those tears?”
Reference: “The many faces of Mary – book II”