Today's devotion: the tears of the Madonna
On 29-30-31 August and 1 September 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 refuse 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 dissolve hardness hearts and open them to the encounter with Christ the Redeemer, source of light and peace for individuals, families, the whole of society ».