PARMA, Ohio (WKRC) – Some visitors claimed to have witnessed a “miracle” while viewing a blessed statue during their tour of Ohio.
According to WJW, the International Pilgrimage Statue of Our Lady of Fatima is on tour in Northeast Ohio. According to the outlet, the statue travels around the world to spread the message of Our Lady of Fatima.
According to the broadcaster, the statue was commissioned back in 1947 based on the specifications of the venerable Sister Lucia, who was one of three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. According to Britannica, Lucia was one of three peasant children of the Catholic faith who witnessed a woman identifying herself as the “Lady of the Rosary” or Virgin Mary on May 13, 1917. According to the source, the children witnessed the vision on five more occasions and were told that God would perform a miracle on October 13 so that others would believe.
On that day, around 70,000 people gathered in Fatima and witnessed the sun falling to the earth. This event, reported in newspapers at the time, is sometimes called the “miracle of the sun.” According to Britannica, after that day, children no longer claimed to have seen the Lady of the Rosary.
The statue was on display Friday at the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist in Canton, Ohio. WJW reporters spoke with a woman who claimed to have witnessed what she described as a “miracle.”
“I knew it was a miracle because I had been looking at them all morning,” Connie Liptak told WJW. “They’re really closed. I mean, you can really see her eyelashes drooping.”
“As the sun danced in the sky, everyone looked up, and then suddenly it started to fall to the earth,” said Katie Moran.
Moran, the president of the Fatima World Apostolate in the U.S., also told WJW that she witnessed the phenomena, which she captured on camera. The images obtained by WJW appear to show the statue of Our Lady of Fatima opening and closing its eyes.
Speaking to WJW reporters, Moran said she has advocated for bringing more versions of the Our Lady of Fatima statue to the area, but said the “international” statue is special in many ways.
According to the broadcaster, the international statue is considered to be the most faithful representation of the being that the children claim to have seen in 1917. The statue was also blessed by the Bishop of Fatima and the venerable Pope Pius XII.
Some told WJW that reports of miraculous healings, such as those from infertility and cancer, follow the statue wherever it goes and are one reason it tours the world.
“We know she cried 15 times,” Larry Maginot, the statue’s keeper, told the broadcaster.
Maginot told WJW that a three-year-old boy in Vietnam suffering from incurable malaria miraculously recovered after his father brought him to the statue.
“According to theologians, her presence is mystically with the statue,” Moran told WJW.
Moran told the outlet that she was taking photos of the statue for social media while it was on display at St. Andrews in Parma, Ohio, when she noticed an anomaly.
“I took it and thought, ‘This is really beautiful,’ and I took another one just to make sure, and when I looked at it, the eyes were closed and I thought, ‘Wow!'” Moran told the outlet.
Moran told WJW that she believes the Virgin Mary is once again sending a message to the world.
“If you believe, you don’t need proof. If you don’t believe, you can’t provide proof. It’s faith and I believe,” Moran said, according to the outlet.
To view the tour schedule you can click HERE.
