Our Lady of Syracuse: The Tears of the Virgin
Our Lady of Syracuse: the tears of the Virgin
In Syracuse (Sicily, Italy), from August 29 to September 1, 1953, a small plaster image of the Immaculate Conception wept tears for four consecutive days. The phenomenon was investigated by a medical commission and witnessed by thousands of people. The Italian Church recognized the event as supernatural.
The phenomenon
The image belonged to the couple Antonina and Angelo Jannusso. Antonina was gravely ill. On looking at the image, she noticed that it was weeping. The tears were analyzed by a forensic laboratory and classified as “human lacrimal fluid.” The Sicilian Episcopal Conference, in December 1953, recognized the authenticity of the phenomenon.
The shrine of the Madonna delle Lacrime
In 1994, the great Shrine of the Madonna delle Lacrime was inaugurated in Syracuse, designed by the architects Michel Andrault and Pierre Parat. With its form of a giant teardrop in concrete, it is one of the most original religious buildings of the twentieth century. Pope John Paul II visited the shrine in 1994 and venerated the weeping image.
Spiritual message
Mary’s tears in Syracuse were interpreted as a call to conversion in a postwar period marked by fear and by dechristianization. John Paul II said in Syracuse: “Why do you weep, Mother? Your tears are a call to conversion, to a return to God.”
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Magisterium of the Church
Lacrimatio imaginis Beatissimae Virginis Mariae in Siracusa (1953) a Conferentia Episcopali Siciliae recognita est. Pius XII dixit: “Potest ne lacrimare illa quae in caelo regnat?”
Pius XII, Radiomessage (17 octobris 1954)
📚 Literal translation: The weeping of the image of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in Syracuse (1953) was recognized by the Episcopal Conference of Sicily. Pius XII said: “Can she weep who reigns in heaven?”
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