Virgin Mary miracle? Ohio woman claims Mother Mary statue opened and closed its eyes

A woman in Ohio claims that she saw a Virgin Mary statue blink its eyes. Connie Liptak says that during the statue's tour stop in Canton, she clicked a photograph of the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima closing and opening its eyes. Talking to Cleveland FOX affiliate WJW, Connie said "You can really see her lashes are down.”

“I knew it was a miracle because I’d been looking at her all morning. They’re really closed. I mean, you can really see her lashes are down," Connie told the station.

However, USA Today reported Rev. David Misbrener, the pastor at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist, as saying that he has doubts about what happened. The so-called miracle was witnessed by Connie at this Basilica.

"I'm a little bit sceptical of such things, and the church is very cautious with such things," Misbrener told the Canton Repository.

Notably, the statue in question has been associated with several miracles earlier as well. People claim to have been healed by the statue and to have taken a spiritual journey upon seeing the Virgin Mary statue. In fact, the statue's custodian, Larry Maginot told WJW that the statue has "wept 15 times".

What is the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima?

The story of the statue is also linked to a miraculous appearance by Mother Mary over 100 years ago. Three peasant children reportedly saw the Virgin Mary between May 13, 1917, and Oct. 13, 1917.

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The statue was commissioned in 1947 in Fatima, Portugal, in view of the reported appearances to Lucia dos Santos, and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto.dos Santos, the oldest child, later became a Carmelite nun. She had claimed to have spoken to Mother Mary, who revealed three secret messages to her about the future.

Francisco and Jacinta Marto died at the age of 10 and 11, while dos Santos passed away in 2005 at the age of 97.

Other miracles linked to International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima

People have claimed to have been cured of physical ailments in the presence of the statue. It has often also been reported to have changed its expression, colour and even pose. During the tour of New Orleans diocese in 1972, it was reported that the statue shed tears on numerous occasions. The miracle tears were widely reported by the media at the time. Archbishop Hanann had the statue investigated and the moisture was confirmed to be human tears at the time.