Nevertheless, for the spiritual realm to manifest in the physical as a statue showing emotions and weeping is incredible. In this article, we will delve into what makes a statue weep. We will go from hoax to miracle and try to understand why it happens. Weeping statues are certainly not unusual, and there are many cases of weeping statues seen across the world.
Weeping statues are particularly common in Catholicism , where the most famous example might be the Madonna of Syracuse. Located in Sicily, the statue has been observed to shed tears since the year Other instances of weeping statues come from Hungary, Macedonia, and Argentina. While weeping statues are common, people regard the weeping Virgin Mary statue in certain churches as particularly miraculous.
Catholics hold the Virgin Mary, as the mother of Jesus Christ, in particularly high regard among Christians. Given her high position of reverence in the Catholic Church, an accordingly high number of miracles have been attributed to her, often without direct evidence. Flames consumed the whole cathedral, however miraculously the Veil of the Virgin Mary, a relic held in the cathedral, was saved without a scratch by three priests. That something so delicate as a veil survived in a destructive fire is incredible to fathom.
Even the priests who saved the veil escaped the fire without any harm. Apart from her relics, statues of Mary have been observed to weep on several occasions. Catholics believe that the tears are because Mary cries over the seven sins of the world. Thus, her tears carry the power to wash away the sins of the people. People also believe that the Virgin Mother cries over the seven sorrows she endured in her lifetime.
These seven sorrows are often depicted as seven swords that pierce her heart in religious art and iconography. They have cameras in the church that apparently showed no man-made explanation. While weeping olive oil might seem like a peculiar event, weeping statues have been a common occurrence in the Catholic world for the last seven decades. Creating a fake weeping statue is relatively easy — sometimes it happens naturally through condensation, but typically even the most innovative approaches are not too complicated.
Only a couple of weeping statues have been recognized by the Church. In the last few decades, there have been several widely publicized cases in Italy where statues began weeping blood. It also helps that statues are usually coated in glaze, which does not let liquid through. Fats tend to have a higher melting point than room temperature, at about C or a little higher in the summer! Cocoa butter melts at C, while pure coconut oil melts at 25 C, meaning it is solid at lower temperatures.
A quick peek at the chemistry behind it: Fats have a large proportion of saturated fatty acids which, if seen very closely, can be straight and long, and thus stick together better and pack tightly. This means that they require more energy heat to melt. Fats could conceivably be cooled first before application.
How they figured it out, though, certainly is! Several times, red tears turned out to be blood, indeed… the blood of the fully human and very much alive owners of the statues or other people within close proximity , that is! Interestingly enough, the Vatican officially recognizes only only ONE instance of a crying statue.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith or the Holy Office is in charge of investigating such reports, in order to maintain the integrity of the Church.
In the end, I thought it would be more interesting to study how people find meaning in phenomena like weeping statues. At the Santo home, the people I talked to shared moving personal stories of pain and sadness, hope and healing.
The sense of togetherness in and through suffering was far more important than talk of miracles. In Worcester — as well as in Hobbs, New Mexico — I expect what is going on is much more than superstition. Edition: Available editions United Kingdom. Become an author Sign up as a reader Sign in.
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