Devotion to Our Lady's Tears
THE SANCTUARY OF THE MADONNA DELLE LACRIME:
THE FACT
On August 29-30-31 and September 1, 1953, a plaster painting depicting the immaculate heart of Mary, placed as the bedside of a double bed, in the home of a young married couple, Angelo Iannuso and Antonina Giusto, in via degli Orti di S. Giorgio, n. 11, shed human tears.
The phenomenon occurred, at more or less long intervals, both inside and outside the house.
Many were the people who saw with their own eyes, touched with their own hands, collected and tasted the salt of those tears.
On the 2nd day of the tear, a cineamatore from Syracuse filmed one of the moments of the tear.
Syracuse is one of the very few events so documented.
On September 1, a commission of doctors and analysts, on behalf of the Archiepiscopal Curia of Syracuse, after taking the liquid that gushed from the eyes of the picture, subjected it to microscopic analysis. The response of science was: "human tears".
After the scientific investigation ended, the picture stopped crying. It was the fourth day.
HEALINGS AND CONVERSIONS
There were about 300 physical healings considered extraordinary by the specially established Medical Commission (until mid-November 1953). In particular the healings of Anna Vassallo (tumor), of Enza Moncada (paralysis), of Giovanni Tarascio (paralysis).
There have also been numerous spiritual healings, or conversions.
Among the most striking is that of one of the doctors responsible for the Commission who analyzed the tears, dr. Michele Cassola.
Declared atheist, but an upright and honest man from a professional point of view, he never denied the evidence of tearing. Twenty years later, during the last week of his life, in the presence of the Reliquary in which those tears which he himself controlled with his science were sealed, he opened himself to faith and received the Eucharist
PRONUNCIATION of BISHOPS
The episcopate of Sicily, with the presidency of Card. Ernesto Ruffini, quickly issued his judgment (13.12.1953) declaring authentic the Tearing of Mary in Syracuse:
«The Bishops of Sicily, gathered for the usual Conference in Bagheria (Palermo), after having listened to the ample report of the Most Msgr. Ettore Baranzini, Archbishop of Syracuse, about the" Tearing "of the Image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary , which took place repeatedly on 29-30-31 August and 1 September of this year, in Syracuse (via degli Orti n. 11), carefully examined the relative testimonies of the original documents, unanimously concluded that the reality of Tearing.
THE WORDS OF JOHN PAUL II
On November 6, 1994, John Paul II, on a pastoral visit to the city of Syracuse, during the homily for the dedication of the Shrine to the Madonna delle Lacrime, said:
«Mary's tears belong to the order of signs: they testify to the presence of the Mother in the Church and in the world. A mother cries when she sees her children threatened by some evil, spiritual or physical.
Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Lacrime, you arose to remind the Church of the Mother's cry. Here, within these welcoming walls, those who are oppressed by the awareness of sin come and here experience the richness of God's mercy and his forgiveness! Here the tears of the Mother guide them.
They are tears of pain for those who reject the love of God, for families broken up or in difficulty, for the youth threatened by the consumer civilization and often disoriented, for the violence that still flows so much blood, for the misunderstandings and hatreds that they dig deep ditches between men and peoples.
They are tears of prayer: prayer of the Mother who gives strength to every other prayer, and also begs for those who do not pray because they are distracted by a thousand other interests, or because they are obstinately closed to the call of God.
They are tears of hope, which melt the hardness of hearts and open them to the encounter with Christ the Redeemer, source of light and peace for individuals, families and the whole of society ".
THE MESSAGE
"Will men understand the arcane language of these tears?" Asked Pope Pius XII in the Radio Message of 1954.
Maria in Syracuse did not speak as in Caterina Labouré in Paris (1830), as in Massimino and Melania in La Salette (1846), as in Bernadette in Lourdes (1858), as in Francesco, Jacinta and Lucia in Fatima (1917), as in Mariette in Banneux (1933).
Tears are the last word, when there are no more words.
Mary's tears are the sign of motherly love and of the Mother's participation in the children's events. Those who love share.
Tears are an expression of God's feelings towards us: a message from God to humanity.
The pressing invitation to conversion of the heart and to prayer, addressed to us by Mary in her apparitions, is once again reaffirmed through the silent but eloquent language of the tears shed in Syracuse.
Maria cried from a humble plaster painting; in the heart of the city of Syracuse; in a house near an evangelical Christian church; in a very modest home inhabited by a young family; about a mother waiting for her first child with gravidic toxicosis. For us, today, all this cannot be meaningless ...
From the choices made by Mary to manifest her tears, the tender message of support and encouragement from the Mother is evident: She suffers and fights together with those who suffer and struggle to defend the value of the family, the inviolability of life, the culture of essentiality, the sense of the Transcendent in the face of prevailing materialism, the value of unity. Mary with her tears warns us, guides us, encourages us, consoles us
Petition to Our Lady of Tears
Madonna of tears,
we need you:
of the light that radiates from your eyes,
of the comfort that emanates from your heart,
of Peace of which you are Queen.
Confident we entrust you with our needs:
our pains because You soothe them,
our bodies to heal them,
our hearts for You to convert them,
our souls because You guide them to salvation.
Worthy, O good Mother,
to join your tears to ours
so that Your divine Son
grant us grace ... (express)
that with such ardor we ask You.
O Mother of Love,
of Pain and Mercy,
have mercy on us.
(+ Ettore Baranzini - Archbishop)
Prayer to the Madonna delle Lacrime
O Madonna of Tears
look with maternal goodness
to the pain of the world!
Wipe away the tears of the suffering,
the forgotten, the desperate,
of the victims of all violence.
Get everyone to tears of repentance
and new life,
that open hearts
to the regenerating gift
of God's love.
Get everyone tears of joy
after seeing
the deep tenderness of your heart.
Amen
(John Paul II)
Novena to the Madonna delle Lacrime
Touched by your tears, O Mother of mercy, I come today to prostrate myself at your feet, confident for the many graces you have given me, to you I come, O Mother of clemency and pity, to open your heart to you, to pour into yours Mother's heart all my pains, to unite all my tears to your holy tears; the tears of the pain of my sins and the tears of the pains that afflict me.
Respect them, dear Mother, with a benign face and with merciful eyes and for the love you bring to Jesus, please console me and grant me.
For your holy and innocent tears implore me from your Divine Son the forgiveness of my sins, a living and active faith and also the grace that I humbly ask of you ...
O my Mother and my trust, in your Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart I place all my trust.
Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary, have mercy on me.
Hello Regina ...
O Mother of Jesus and our compassionate Mother, how many tears you shed on the painful journey of your life!
You, who are Mother, well understand the anguish of my heart that pushes me to resort to your Motherly Heart with the confidence of a child, although unworthy of your mercies.
Your heart full of mercy has opened up to us a new source of grace in these times of so many miseries.
From the depths of my misery I cry to you, good Mother, I appeal to you, O merciful Mother, and upon my heart in pain I invoke the balm comforting your tears and your graces.
Your maternal crying makes me hope that you will kindly grant me.
Implore me from Jesus, or Sorrowful Heart, the fortress with which you endured the great pains of your life so that I always do, even in pain, the will of the Father.
Obtain for me, Mother, to grow in hope and, if it is in accordance with the will of God, obtain for me, for your Immaculate Tears, the grace that with so much faith and with lively hope I humbly ask ...
O Madonna delle Lacrime, life, sweetness, my hope, in you I place all my hope today and forever.
Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary, have mercy on me.
Hello Regina ...
O Mediatrix of all graces, o health of the sick, or consoler of the afflicted, o sweet and sad Madonnina of Tears, do not leave your son alone in his pain, but as a benign Mother you will come to meet me promptly; help me, assist me.
Accept the moans of my heart and mercifully wipe away the tears that line my face.
For the tears of pity with which you welcomed your dead Son at the foot of the Cross in your mother's womb, welcome me too, your poor son, and obtain me, with divine grace, to love God and brothers more and more.
For your precious tears, obtain me, or most amiable Madonna of Tears, also the grace that I ardently desire and with loving insistence I confidently ask you ...
O Madonnina of Syracuse, Mother of love and pain, I entrust myself to your Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart; welcome me, keep me and obtain salvation for me.
Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary, have mercy on me.
Hello Regina ...
(This prayer is to be recited for nine consecutive days)
Crown of tears of the Madonna
On November 8, 1929, Sister Amalia of Jesus Flagellated, a Brazilian missionary of the Divine Crucifix, was praying offering herself to save the life of a seriously ill relative.
Suddenly he heard a voice:
“If you want to obtain this grace, ask it for my Mother's Tears. Everything that men ask me for those Tears I am obliged to grant. "
Having asked the nun what formula she should pray with, the invocation was indicated:
O Jesus, hear our petitions and questions,
for the sake of your Holy Mother's Tears.
On March 8, 1930, while she was kneeling in front of the altar, she felt relieved and saw a Lady of marvelous beauty: Her clothes were purple, a blue mantle hung from her shoulders and a white veil covered her head.
The Madonna smiling amiably, gave the nun a crown whose grains, white as snow, shone like the sun. The Virgin said to her:
"Here is the crown of my Tears (..) He wants me to be honored in a special way with this prayer and He will grant to all those who will recite this Crown and pray in the name of my Tears, great graces. This crown will serve to obtain the conversion of many sinners and in particular that of the followers of spiritualism. (..) The devil will be defeated with this crown and his infernal empire will be destroyed. "
The crown was approved by the Bishop of Campinas.
It is composed of 49 grains, divided into groups of 7 and separated by 7 large grains, and ends with 3 small grains.
Initial prayer:
O Jesus, our Divine Crucified One, kneeling at your feet we offer you the Tears of She who accompanied you on the way to Calvary, with love so ardent and compassionate.
Hear our pleas and our questions, good Master, for the love of the Tears of your Most Holy Mother.
Grant us the grace to understand the painful teachings that the Tears of this good Mother give us, so that we always fulfill your holy Will on earth and we are judged worthy of praising you and glorifying you eternally in heaven. Amen.
On coarse grains:
O Jesus remember the Tears of She who loved you most of all on earth,
and now he loves you in the most ardent way in heaven.
On small grains (7 grains repeated 7 times)
O Jesus, hear our petitions and questions,
for the sake of your Holy Mother's Tears.
In the end it is repeated three times:
O Jesus, remember the Tears of She who loved you most of all on earth.
Closing prayer:
O Mary, Mother of Love, Mother of pain and Mercy, we ask you to join your prayers to ours, so that your divine Son, to whom we turn confidently, by virtue of your Tears, will hear our pleas and grant us, beyond the graces we ask of him, the crown of glory in eternity. Amen.