Our Lady wept in Syracuse, in the 1950s

Also known as the Weeping Madonna of Syracuse, this plaster hanging wall plaque depicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the style of the 1950’s. Like many others just like it, it was mass-produced in a factory in Tuscany and shipped to various locations throughout the world.

This particular plaque of Our Lady of Tears was purchased for a wedding gift for a couple who wed on March 21st, 1953. The couple, Angelo and Antonian Iannuso, would later admit that they were not devout, but they liked the plaque and placed it on the wall over their bed. Antonian soon became pregnant, but the happy couple soon learned that the pregnancy caused Antonian to suffer from toxemia that caused frequent convulsions and even temporary blindness.

On the morning of 29 August, 1953, Antonian awoke to find that her sight had been restored.

The plaque of Our Lady of Tears was publicly displayed, convincing even the skeptics of the prodigy as many of the sick were miraculously healed of their ailments. Some of the tears were collected for scientific examination, and the findings were as follows:

“…the liquid examined is shown to be made up of a watery solution of sodium chloride in which traces of protein and nuclei of a silver composition of excretory substances of the quaternary type, the same as found in the human secretions used as a comparison during the analysis.

“The appearance, the alkalinity and the composition induce one to consider the liquid examined analogous to human tears.”

The tears stopped four days later at 11:40 am.

On October 17, 1954, Pope Pius XII stated the following during a radio broadcast:

“…we acknowledge the unanimous declaration of the Episcopal Conference held in Sicily on the reality of that event. Will men understand the mysterious language of those tears?”

In a homily at the dedication of the shrine, Pope John Paul II said:

"We see Mary's tears in apparitions where she shows that she accompanies the Church in her earthly journey, everywhere in the world. Mary wept at La Salette, in the middle of the last century, before the apparitions at Lourdes, at a time when Christianity was facing growing hostility in France.

She wept again in this place, in Syracuse, at the conclusion of the Second World War. It is possible to understand these tears against the background of these tragic events: the immense slaughter caused by the conflict; the extermination of the sons and daughters of Israel; and the threat posed to Eastern Europe by openly atheistic Communism.

Mary's tears are signs: they testify to the presence of the Mother in the Church and in the world. A mother cries when she sees her sons threatened by an evil, be it spiritual or physical.

We are reminded of the tears of Peter... when, in the house of the high priest, at the crowing of the cock, Jesus looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the words the Lord had spoken to him; then "he went out and wept bitterly" (Lk 22:61-62). His were tears of sorrow, and of conversion. And after the Resurrection, Peter was able to say to Christ: 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you' (Jn 21:17). (John Paull II, homily of November 6, 1994)

Adapted from Roman Catholic Saints