The Myrrh-Streaming Icon (III)

Returning to his home in Montreal, Canada, Jose placed the Iveron Mother of God in his icon corner. At about 4 o’clock AM on 24 November 1982, he was woken up by the smell of an intense perfume, the fragrance of roses or, more exactly of holy chrism used for the sacrament of chrismation. This chrism or myrrhon is actually an extraordinary synthesis of different perfumes. Jose Munoz, during that night of November 1982, saw that the perfume was coming from the icon, a type of oil or myrrhon was actually exuding from the hands of the Christ Child. Then the icon was solemnly taken to the small cathedral of Montreal. Since that time, it never ceases to exude this mysterious oil, which is collected on cotton balls and divided among the faithful. Just a tiny cotton ball has enough fragrance to fill an entire room, and even sometimes a soul. Jose Munoz, the timid guardian of the "Portaitissa" has taken the icon over seas on occasion, to parishes and monasteries of his own jurisdiction. The myrrh-streaming icon, however, belongs to no one.