United States Section

 
Boston (1992)
A statue of the Madonna which was carried through a religious procession in Boston, USA, appeared to blink briefly on a videotaped recording of the event. Since the procession, thousands of people have flocked to the chapel and clubhouse of the Madonna del Soccorso di Sciacca Society where the statue is kept. Many people consider the 'blinking Madonna' a miracle, while others, including two video technicians who examined the videotape, believe the camera's shifting autofocus mechanism was responsible for the phenomenon. Two video experts from Harvard, however, said the autofocus theory could not be proven conclusively even after a careful analysis of the videotape.
(Source: Boston Herald)



 
The Bronx (1992)
Thousands of visitors from all over the world have flocked to the shrine of the Virgin Mary at St Lucy's Roman Catholic Church in The Bronx, New York. Hundreds have been healed this year after drinking the shrine's miracle water - remarkably coming not from the original spring but off the New York City water mains. People preparing for major surgery have found operations no longer necessary after drinking glasses of the water - cured by their faith, their prayers and the symbolic water, according to parish official Anthony DelGuadio. (Source: Examiner, USA)

 

 
California (1991)
Since 1991, a young Filipino man, Carmelo Cortez, has had numerous experiences of the Madonna and is able to manifest detailed images of the Christ, Mary, and others onto rose petals. Healings have also been associated with these phenomena.

Report ( from Share International, October 1996 )

California (1995)
On the 13th of each month, hundreds of people flock to a remote spot in the Mojave Desert in southern California to witness sightings of the Virgin Mary. Maria Paula, a local Catholic woman, says she regularly has visions of the Virgin Mary. Up to three-quarters of the crowd who attend the desert gatherings each month, have reported seeing the Virgin. The local Catholic bishop hasn' officially recognized or approved Paula's activities. But the Rev. John Santillan, a priest at a Los Angeles church, acts as Paula's spiritual adviser and attends the monthly visions. "I don't completely accept it, but my tendency is to say, 'Yes, something is happening.'"
( Source: Bakersfield Californian, USA; L.A.Times, February 16, 1997)

California (1996)
Hundreds of people each night are visiting the Immaculate Conception Church in San Francisco to see an image of the Virgin Mary which has appeared on the church's gabled roof. The image appeared about the same time as two neighbourhood teenagers were killed in a nearby park.

The image appears after dark, and is visible throughout the night. People gather each evening to pray and sing religious songs. Some say they have smelled the scent of roses. There have also been reports of healings. "The presence of her was quite overwhelming. It was quite a spiritual experience ... From my abdomen to my neck it was like this overwhelming spiritual sense," said one visitor, Taren Sapienza.

Four local television stations and both major newspapers in San Francisco reported on the story. The Cable News Network (CNN) also produced a news story on the image. The church's priest, Father Guglielmo "William" Lauriola, told CNN: "We have a sign that is pulling our attention toward something supernatural." The image has had a positive effect on the community as well. "I've seen lots of young people come here and many people who have not been to church for years," Father Lauriola told the San Francisco Examiner.

The CNN story included a segment on Benjamin Creme. "British lecturer Benjamin Creme, who has written about religious phenomena, visited the chapel. He believes the image and similar signs signal a Second Coming as the new millennium approaches," said reporter Fred Wayne. "This is part of the signs of an extraordinary event, which to my certain knowledge is taking place in the world," said Creme. (Sources: San Francisco Examiner; CNN, USA)

Letter from Share International, November 1996
 

Florida (1996)
Thousands of people are flocking to a modest Florida house to hear a woman deliver messages from the Virgin Mary. Rosa Lopez says that she receives daily messages from the Virgin who urges more prayer and devotion. Lopez offers these messages to the public once a month.

In 1992, after making a pilgrimage to a town in Georgia where visions of the Virgin had been reported, Rosa first saw what she thought was a photograph of the Virgin affixed to a tree. "What a beautiful picture," she thought -- until she saw the figure bless the crowd with a wave of her hand. After returning home, Rosa began seeing visions of both Jesus and Mary in her own bedroom, and these visions eventually became a daily part of her life.

Others have reported witnessing the visions as well. Jasinto, a local resident, doubted the visions until he himself saw the Virgin one evening. "She was in the window," he says. "I passed my hands in front of the vision and I still saw it."

Many who see nothing unusual insist they feel something. "It's a presence," says Rosa's daughter, Cari. "There's a calmness, a tranquillity, a peaceful feeling when you're there." Pilgrims to the site have also claimed healings from water flowing out of a fountain beneath a statue of Mary in Lopez' front yard.

Catholic authorities in the area have tried to discourage people from visiting the house. One statement from the archdiocese stated: "Unless it's authorized and approved, it can't become a subject of devotion and belief. It could become a source of religious and spiritual confusion." (Source: Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, USA)

Florida (1996)
During three weeks over Christmas 1996, 450,000 people went to view the wall of a black glass building in south Florida where a two-storey-high image of the Virgin Mary had appeared. The rainbow-coloured image on the outside of the Seminole Finance building in Clearwater, Florida, is about 50 feet wide and 35 feet tall, and stretches across nine panes of glass.

Some witnesses said the image began forming about the time of Thanksgiving, in late November. A couple of weeks later, a customer of Seminole Finance called a local television station to say she had seen an image of the Virgin Mary on the building. The station showed pictures of the image during their newscast, and soon large crowds began gathering.

"It's quite amazing. It's very spiritual, very peaceful," said Patty Scharn, a receptionist at the building. According to police spokesman Wayne Shelor: "People are making shrines, bringing gifts, candles, flowers, statues. Some have been overwhelmed and fainted. We have the infirm, the disabled in wheelchairs, the blind. They're coming 500 at a time.... But it's not a carnival atmosphere. There is a sense of awe and wonder."

Some visitors said the image was caused by the sun reflecting off water left by sprinklers. A spokesman for the local Catholic diocese said: "There's no reason at this point to think that what's appearing there cannot be explained by natural causes ... We're just telling people to exercise caution. Use some healthy scepticism."

But many who have come to view the image do not need to be convinced of its authenticity. "It was like you're in an angel's arms," said one visitor. ( Sources: Associated Press; Clearwater Times; St Petersburg Times, USA)

Eyewitness Report by Jane Baker and 1997 Update

 
Kentucky (1992)
Reverend Leroy Smith is the priest at St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Cold Spring, Kentucky. Earlier this year, Reverend Smith received information from a "visionary" in nearby Ohio that the Virgin Mary would appear at his church on 31 August at midnight. Word quickly spread, and the story received a great deal of local and national media attention.

At the appointed date and time, with thousands in attendance, both inside and outside the church, Reverend Smith said: "Let's take a moment to welcome Our Lady into our midst." Some of those inside saw lights in various forms moving through the church, or flashing lights reflected in the church windows. Others outside the church saw a vision of the Virgin Mary in a tree and above the church's bell tower.

"Miracle at Cold Spring" interview with Reverend Smith by Monte Leach

"...in most of the messages - from Medjugorje and elsewhere around the world - the message is: 'Time is short. Realize that there will be difficulties and problems, and that this is not the end of the world - but perhaps the end of an era'."
(Reverend Smith)

The woman receiving the messages is known by her first name, Sandy, and has lived in the area most of her life. Sandy was not a particularly religious person until 1992, when, she says, the Virgin Mary appeared to her. The Virgin urged her to build a shrine where people could come to say the rosary and pray for peace, and hear her weekly messages given through Sandy. Some visitors say they have seen a cloud of light descend into the statue of the Virgin, the centre of the outdoor shrine, just before Sandy receives her message, and leave when the message is completed. Children say they have had the silver crucifixes on their rosaries turn to a golden colour. About 3,000 people now come to the shrine on an average weekend, with up to 30,000 on special days. (Source: The Sun, USA)

 
Louisiana (1989)
In yet another manifestation of the Virgin Mary, between 8,000 and 10,000 people flocked to a clearing in rural Tickfaw, Louisiana, where they had been told the Virgin would appear. As in other such instances, some of the viewers claimed they saw strange lights emanating from the sun; some said they saw Jesus, Mary and Joseph; and a few claimed they had received messages from the Virgin.

According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the crowd was drawn to the site because word had spread that a local man, Alfredo Raimondo, had been asked by the Virgin in February to sponsor a Mass in honor of St. Joseph. Raimondo explained that the Virgin was especially pleased because so many people from the area had visited Medjugorje, where apparitions of the Virgin have appeared for years.

Among the faithful at Tickfaw were two women and a boy who said they saw the Virgin. One of the women said they had received a message they were asked not to reveal, an experience which is common at such manifestations.

A priest from New Orleans spent five hours at the site hearing confessions: "Some people said it had been 10, 20, 30 years since they had been to confession. Some people had tears running down their faces." The county sheriff's deputy remarked that the event was the first time in 12 years of directing traffic that nobody had complained to him, and noted that "This is the nicest, most well-behaved group of people".

Ohio (1991)
Visions of the Virgin Mary have been drawing crowds to a roadside shrine at the Society of St Paul in Ellsworth, Ohio. A 17-year-old high school boy began the vigils there two months ago after claiming he had talked with Mary. Some in the community report seeing images of Mary in the setting sun, while others say the sun spins or pulsates as it sets over the shrine. (Source: Youngstown Vindicator)

Ohio (1992)
In a tiny church located in the industrial section of a small Ohio town, a painting of the Virgin Mary is seen to weep. At St Jude Orthodox Church in Barberton, Ohio, tears are reported to flow from the Virgin's eyes on the two-by-three-foot painting. St Jude's pastor, Father Roman, like many of the visitors to the church, believes the event in Barberton is a miracle "a sign of compassion from God." He says of the painting: "If it gives some blessing, we'd like people to come and see it. We want to try to bring people back to church and God." ( Source: Knight Ridder Newspapers )

 
Oregon (1994)
A little mobile home in Boardman, Oregon, USA, is drawing hundreds of people eager to see an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in a landscape painting purchased at a garage sale.

It all began on a Thursday morning when Irma Mu-oz woke before dawn and couldn't get back to sleep. She watched a little TV while her mother made a packed lunch for her father, who was leaving for work. Irma's mother, Lourdes Mu-oz, asked her for a cup of coffee. As she took the cup to her mother, the painting above the bed caught her eye. She said she could clearly see in it an image in the shape of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

"I had an uncontrollable desire to cry, so I cried," Irma Mu-oz told the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Washington. "I said to my mother: 'There is the virgin'." Her mother was sceptical, but when "she got up and saw it, she believed me," said Irma.

Many Catholics of Mexican descent are devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe, another name for the Virgin Mary, and honour her Feast Day on 12 December. The feast commemorates a day in 1531 when the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to a poor Indian in what is now Mexico City.

For 23-year-old Irma, the sight came as a complete surprise. "I wasn't a very religious person, but I am now," she said. Irma called her sister, and word quickly spread. A Spanish-language radio station in Walla Walla, Wash., picked up the story and sent a reporter to broadcast live from the scene. By the Thursday evening, the family's small mobile home was filled with roses and votive candles and people hoping to see the image for themselves. Some prayed as they gazed -- others just stared quietly -- at the image in a glossy area on the otherwise dull surface of the painting. The image is about the size of a dinner plate. Unfortunately the crowds and lighting made photographs impossible. (Source: The News-Review, Roseburg, Oregon, USA)

 
Texas (1993)
An image of the Virgin Mary has appeared on a car in Elsa, Texas. The car is Dario Mendoza's 1981 maroon Chevrolet Camaro, and the Virgin's image appeared on the rear fender on the driver's side. When Mendoza's family and friends first noticed the image, they were so moved that several of them slept outside that night so they could stay close to the image.

The next morning, Mendoza had an attack of sceptism, and washed his car. The image only grew larger. Soon the local papers carried the story and people flocked to see the image of "La Virgencita". They came to pray, bring flowers, sing, and to leave small written prayers asking for the Virgin Mary's help with their problems. The pilgrims continued to arrive each day.

When Mendoza, who gets seasonal work picking cotton in Louisiana, needed to get to work, he realized he could not take the car - which by now was the centre of a small shrine. Instead, he hitchhiked to the fields.

The church is refusing comment on the subject, just as it did when Mary's image recently appeared on a cottonwood tree in front of a boarding house in nearby Brownsville, Texas. The Mendoza family says they have no idea why the Virgin chose Dario Mendoza's car for her miracle. (Source: Wall Street Journal, USA)

Texas (1997)
Since 8 September 1997, thousands have come to see an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe or Madonna that is visible on a glass door located in the leasing office of The Nook Apartments on Fredericksburg Road in San Antonio, Texas.

A few months later another image of the Madonna also appeared in a window in Floresville, just 30 miles to the south of San Antonio.

Article by Bob Arthur (Share International, May 1998)
 

Texas (1998)
A statue of the Virgin Mary, which has stood for 10 years in the front yard of a modest home in Corpus Christi, Texas, was recently noticed by a passerby to be moving. The passerby alerted the owner of the house, Raquel Fernandez, to the movement, and the two of them then reportedly witnessed the statue turn its head both ways, open its eyes and take mincing steps to the edge of its niche.
"I fell to my knees and started crying," said Fernandez. "The Holy Spirit came over me from my head to my toes. It was beautiful." Since then, thousands have flocked day and night to view the statue, pray, and make offerings to the icon.
(Source: Houston Chronicle, USA)

 
Washington (1997)
Thousands of belivers flocked to an ordinary traffic sign here hoping to catch a glimpse of an image of the Virgin Mary. Chico Rodriquez, a police officer in this town about 30 miles southeast of Yakima, said he saw Madonna images on a road sign east of the city limits. "It shows like the figure of the Virgin Mary," Rodriquez said last Sunday. "It's the full figure. You really can't make out the face ... more of a profile. It's just all of the collars and stuff there."

The sighting was first reported around 4 p.m. Saturday on the sign at the intersection of state Route 241 and Yakima Valley Highway. Within hours, thousands were arriving as the report spread by word of mouth among the predominately Hispanic communities in the area.

 
Conyers (1997)
On 13 October 1997, approximately 30,000 people flocked to the farm of Nancy Fowler, who claims she has been visited regularly by the Virgin Mary since 1990. She told the crowds that the Madonna said She will appear again next year for the last time. Initially, the Holy Mother appeared to her on the 13th of every month, but since 1994 there have only been messages once a year, on 13 October. That is also the day, according to official Roman Catholic doctrine, on which the Madonna last appeared, in Fatima, Portugal. Nancy Fowler also said that the Virgin appeared to her in her home and that the apparition lasted for eight minutes. (Source: de Volkskrant, the Netherlands)