I SAW MY (LURGAN) LADY WEEP

The Rosa Mystica (not the Lurgan one, mind!)

The release of previously confidential state papers has put the “Drumcree crisis” back in the news. I’m not even going to try to explain Drumcree (if you must know, try Wikipedia). It’s enough to say that in 1995 and 1996, it was responsible for some of the ugliest moments in Northern Ireland’s history - and Fort knows we’ve had a few.

In 1997, however, in addition to the violence, Drumcree was believed to have been responsible for a very unusual - and very Fortean - event.

On 5 July 1997, the Sunday Life newspaper reported that in a house on Lurgan’s Kilwilkee estate, a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary had begun weeping tears of blood.

According to one witness: “I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Our Lady is crying tears of blood and people are saying it’s because of Drumcree.”

Another witness said: “It’s a miracle. The blood is clear to be seen coming from her eyes. People have been coming from all over. They can’t believe what they are seeing. It can be no coincidence that this has happened just as everybody is worrying about what is going to take place over Drumcree.

“Our Lady is expressing sadness at the trouble there could be.”

Unfortunately, the woman who had the statue - interestingly, she didn’t actually own it; she had just borrowed it - was reluctant to talk to the press. So we had to wait until 27 September to hear her story. By this time, in addition to tears of blood, the statue was producing rose petals, miniature roses and beams of light; its hair had turned grey; and on one occasion, the statue’s face had been replaced with a “real” one - which then smiled.

“I got the loan of the statue of the Rose of Mystica on June 21 to do a nine-day Novena,” explained the borrower, who didn’t want her name published. “It is a pilgrim statue and has been in 103 homes before it came here.

“It was on the ninth day at about five to six when a friend had just left the house after doing the rosary that I noticed two trickles of blood coming out of her eyes. I wiped them away with my fingers and there was nothing on my fingers or on the statue.

“I went to the kitchen to tell my husband and my daughter called us in to the living room because it was coming out again, this time really thick.”

She called the priest and her friends, some of whom asked if they could hold an overnight vigil.

“I came down the next morning and they said there was oil coming out of her feet. I had some scented oil sitting on the hearth and I thought they had done it to try to scare me.

“But there was no scent on the oil on the statue and when I went to look there were two rose petals on her feet.”

In that three month period, it’s believed that 10,000 people had visited the house to see the statue - some coming from as far away as Australia and the USA. 

“Some people are sceptical and I have taken some stick, but as far as I’m concerned a miracle has happened in my home.

“I believe it is a sign from Our Lady for prayer, penance and sacrifice, you’ve just got to look at the state of the world today.”

Sources:

Sunday Life, 5 July & 21 September 1997