TEARS from a weeping statue of Mary in Western Australia were being tested last week.
The statue, an 85cm fibreglass figure, is owned by Rockingham parishioner Patty Powell and has been seen weeping what appears to be rose oil by Archbishop Barry Hickey of Perth and parish priest Fr Henry Walsh.
Ms Powell, who bought the statue in Thailand eight years ago, first noticed it weeping on March 19, St Joseph’s feast day.
It wept again 10 days later on Good Friday and has continued to produce tears since.
It was not until the feast of the Assumption, August 15, when she returned to find the house filled with a strong scent of roses, that she told Fr Walsh.
He agreed to display the statue in the church on Fridays from 4pm-7pm.
‘People were coming and praying the Rosary and spending time in the church and that’s always a good thing,’ he said.
‘The first night there were about 100, then the TV got hold of the story and I couldn’t believe the result.
‘On September 6 an estimated 3000 people came. The church holds 600 and people were packed five deep and spilled out into the car park.’
Archbishop Hickey, who described it as ‘a truly remarkable phenomenon’, released a brief statement about the statue on September 5 saying, ‘whether it is of natural or supernatural origin I cannot say, as no official investigation has been made. Nevertheless the sight of Mary’s statue weeping tears has already had powerful spiritual effects, causing many people to return to God’.
