| Our Lady Who Cried | | | | plaque, which had resumed crying, was placed on a |
| You cannot visit Syracuse or Siracusa as it is known | | | | pillow for all to see and venerate. Monday, the plaque |
| in Italy, without visiting the Shrine of Our Lady Who | | | | was pinned to the wall. Whereupon, the people began |
| Cried. Quite honestly, we were more than a little | | | | collecting tears on handkerchiefs, pieces of cotton and |
| skeptical, until we discovered all the invaluable, | | | | all sorts of bits of cloth. Our Lady, kind and obliging |
| indisputable scientific evidence assuring us it was | | | | Mother that She is, was able to assure Her children |
| legitimate. Like Bishop Ettore Baranzini, we have | | | | that in truth a miracle had come about - for them! As it |
| always had reservation when it came to alleged | | | | was not securely attached to the wall, they decided to |
| apparitions and purported miracles. Only when Mother | | | | bring the plaque to the house across the road and |
| Church verifies do we write and make programs. | | | | have it placed on an Altar fashioned just for this |
| Our story begins in Syracuse on the 29th of August, | | | | purpose. The crowds continued to come. As they |
| 1953, Five months before, Antonina and Angelo | | | | approached the image of Our Lady, they went down |
| Jannuso were married. Because they were a | | | | on their knees and began praying the Rosary. That |
| struggling young couple, with Angelo a poor worker | | | | done, the Rosary was finished; the plaque was gently |
| earning the barest minimum wages, they accepted his | | | | carried back to the Jannuso home. |
| brother's gracious invitation and moved into his small | | | | The investigations begin |
| house on Via degli Orti di E. Giorgio. The day of their | | | | Hearing of this miracle, three priests called on the |
| marriage, they received a plaster plaque of the | | | | Jannuso family and verified, with their own eyes, what |
| Immaculate Heart of Mary, as a wedding present. | | | | others had seen - indeed the image on the plaque was |
| Although they were what we would call, lukewarm | | | | weeping! One of the priests prudently notified the |
| Catholics, barely doing their Church duties by going to | | | | Chancery. Whereupon, the Chancery convened an |
| church on Sundays, they reverently placed the plaster | | | | inquiry committee comprising well respected priests, |
| plaque on the wall above their bed. | | | | four scientists, and three reliable witnesses. Satisfied |
| Soon after they were married, they discovered they | | | | the mix was well-rounded and balanced, the Chancery |
| were to know the blessing of giving birth to a child. The | | | | directed them to go to the Jannuso home and |
| couple was overjoyed, but typical of the hardworking | | | | carefully scrutinize the situation. |
| poor class of Sicily, things were not going to be easy. | | | | The delegation arrived at the Jannuso home the |
| They discovered Antonina had toxemia. This not only | | | | morning of Tuesday, September the 1st. Our Lady |
| caused her to have excruciating convulsions, the | | | | once again obliged Her children and allowed the image |
| convulsions, at times, resulted in her suffering bouts of | | | | to weep. As the image of Our Lady was weeping, the |
| blindness. On the day of the miracle, August 29th, | | | | delegation carefully inspected the plaque. They were |
| Antonina was blinded, due to a seizure resulting from | | | | not only able to witness the image weeping, they were |
| her convulsions. She was totally blind from three in the | | | | granted the opportunity to examine the plaque, as the |
| morning until eight thirty that evening, when her | | | | tears were cascading down the image's face, filling the |
| eyesight was totally restored. | | | | cup the image of Our Lady had gently formed with |
| She later wrote that she turned to the image of the | | | | Her hand, with which She held out Her heart to Her |
| Immaculate Heart of Mary over her bed, to give | | | | children. They discovered that, although the front of the |
| thanksgiving to Our Lady for her returned eyesight, | | | | plaque was wet with tears, the back of the plaque |
| when to her utter astonishment what did she see, but | | | | was dry. They carefully gathered a sampling of tears |
| the plaque of Our Lady was crying. She called out to | | | | to bring back to the lab for scientific examination. |
| her sister-in-law and aunt who, when she recounted | | | | The team of scientists went about carefully gathering |
| what she had seen, thought she was delusional due to | | | | approximately twenty drops of liquid in a slender, |
| her illness. She said she then insisted they look closely | | | | sterilized tube and poured the liquid into an equally |
| at the image of Our Lady. They reluctantly did as she | | | | sterile vial. Thereupon the vial was taken to a lab to be |
| asked. | | | | scrutinized thoroughly by chemists and physicians. |
| When they moved closer to the image, they too saw | | | | They took this sampling of tears and tested them |
| the tears flowing from the eyes of Our Lady, and | | | | against tears of an adult and that of a child. They |
| attested to the fact they, as well, saw some tears run | | | | found the tears of Our Lady's image to contain the |
| down Her face unto the headboard of her bed. | | | | same liquid composition as found in the human tears |
| Needless to say, upon witnessing the image crying, | | | | tested. Their conclusion: The liquid brought from the |
| they had mixed feelings - fright mixed with awe and | | | | plaque in the Jannuso home was like that of the tears |
| wonderment. They immediately set out to advise the | | | | of a human being. |
| neighbors. They removed the plaque from the wall and | | | | The tests were concluded on September 9, 1953 and |
| carried it outside so the neighbors could see what they | | | | the findings were verified by the following doctors: |
| had seen. The neighbors could do nothing less than | | | | Michele Cassola, Francesco Cotzie, Leopoldo La Rosa |
| confirm that which they too had seen. The image of | | | | and Mario Marietta. |
| our Lady was shedding tears! | | | | This was what the Church needed! As we know, the |
| Visitors came from far and near to witness the | | | | Church will send the most scrupulous Devil's |
| miraculous phenomena for themselves. People are | | | | Advocates to dispute, if necessary, any questionable |
| always looking for the supernatural! Not only the | | | | characteristics of an alleged miracle. Using men of |
| inquisitive came but a well-respected gentleman in the | | | | Science as well as the Hierarchy, when the findings |
| neighborhood, one Mario Messina came; and after he | | | | proved beyond a shadow of a doubt the veracity of |
| too noticed the tears spilling from the eyes of the | | | | the miraculous occurrence, then Mother Church was |
| image, he removed the plaque from the wall to see if | | | | free to act; and act She did! |
| possibly the tears were not coming through the plaster | | | | The Archbishop of Syracuse paid a visit to the |
| plaque from a hidden reservoir. Upon examining it, he | | | | Jannuso home and inspected the plaque and saying |
| could do nothing but affirm that he could see no | | | | nothing, returned the following day to pray the Rosary, |
| evidence disputing the miraculous formation of tears | | | | along with the throng that had congregated. His |
| on the plaque. They dried the plaque and tears quickly | | | | approval was joined by the many other Bishops who |
| formed on the dry surface. | | | | had visited the Jannuso home and witnessed the |
| As the crowds swelled, jamming themselves into the | | | | flowing of the tears. Then Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini |
| small house to see the image, the authorities, with the | | | | made the following statement on a radio broadcast |
| Jannusos' permission, removed the plaque from the | | | | December 13th: |
| wall and hung it on the outer wall of the house to | | | | "After carefully sifting of the numerous reports, after |
| satisfy the curiosity of all those who had heard of the | | | | having noted the positive results of the diligent chemical |
| miraculous occurrence. Seeing the numbers increasing, | | | | analysis under which the tears gathered were |
| rather than lessening, and finding it more and more | | | | examined, we have unanimously announced the |
| difficult to maintain any semblance of order, the local | | | | judgment that the reality of the facts cannot be put in |
| carabiniere decided to bring the plaque to the local | | | | doubt." |
| police station. The image continued to weep, even as it | | | | That not enough? On October 17th, 1954, His Holiness |
| was being conveyed carefully to the local police | | | | Pope Pius XII further affirmed the miraculous tears |
| station. But once inside the station, forty minutes had | | | | with the following declaration on national radio: |
| not passed when the image ceased weeping. | | | | "...we acknowledge the unanimous declaration of the |
| Consequently, it was restored to its rightful home - the | | | | Episcopal Conference held in Sicily on the reality of |
| home where the Jannusos lived. | | | | that event. Will men understand the mysterious |
| Now, the people had not moved from outside the little | | | | language of those tears? |
| house. So, at 2 a.m., on Sunday, August the 30th, the | | | | |