Every third of the month, for years, hundreds of faithful have flocked near Rome to pray to the Madonna of Trevignano who, they want to believe, cries tears of blood.
On a large plot overlooking Lake Bracciano stands a statue of the Virgin protected by a showcase surrounded by a large cross painted blue, an altar and wooden benches.
The faithful attribute miraculous virtues to him.
It all started in 2016 when Gisella Cardia, a 53-year-old Sicilian, returned from a pilgrimage to Bosnia with a statuette in her suitcases.
Since returning to Trevignano Romano, 50 km northwest of the capital, she says she has seen her cry and multiply pizzas and gnocchi – as in the “miracle of the multiplication of loaves” described in the Gospel.
The one pilgrims nicknamed “The Seer”, a blonde woman with the allure of Madame-everyone, also claims to have skin marked by stigmata, predicts the Covid-19 pandemic or the war in Ukraine.
In Trevignano, a small and upscale tourist town, this woman and her alleged miracles annoy the inhabitants who say they are tainted by a “giant scam” and exasperated by the comings and goings of the faithful.
“What scares me is that if this isn’t true – which I consider quite likely – people’s weakness will have been abused at a time when so many people are more fragile. It irritates me,” Maria-Alessandra Conti, a 72-year-old retiree, told AFP.
It is the financial purpose of the case that is first pointed out: thanks to the success born of word of mouth, Gisella Cardia, ex-entrepreneur sentenced in 2013 for fraudulent bankruptcy, founded an association officially dedicated to helping the sick.
The structure has garnered a lucrative business fueled by individual donations – one man donated 123,000 euros. But some of these donors have since felt wronged.
The affair took off in March. The media then reports that the secreted blood is that of a pig, citing a mysterious private detective. In the process, justice opens an investigation into Gisella Cardia. The site is now at risk of demolition.
Caught up by the magnitude of the case, the diocese created a commission of inquiry. Pending his conclusions, the bishop asked the faithful to avoid participating in gatherings and priests not to speak on the subject.
“Trevignano should not be counted among the apparitions,” said Father Salvatore Perrella, theologian and president of the Mariological Association of Rome, to AFP. “We’ve known for a while that this so-called seer is completely unreliable.”
Since the lacrimation of the Virgin of Tears in Syracuse (Sicily) in 1953, the only one officially recognized as miraculous by a pope with a message from Pius XII, there are countless phenomena of the same type around statues of the Virgin, Christ or saints in Italy.
One of the most famous cases in the country – where 74.5% of the 59 million inhabitants are Catholic – concerns the liquefaction of the blood of San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples, which according to popular belief takes place three times a year.
The phenomenon of the Virgins with Tears of Blood was even brought to the screen in 2018 by Niccolò Ammaniti’s hit mystical series, “Il Miracolo” (“The Miracle”).
Beyond the Italian borders, from Naju in South Korea to the French island of Reunion, many similar cases have been reported of statues secreting water, oil or perfume.
The Church claims that some are “scientifically inexplicable”.
Scientists provide rational explanations: air condensation, oozing varnish, difference in density, chemical reaction of paint to humidity…
However, “science is not enough to challenge beliefs”, emphasizes Romy Sauvayre, sociologist of science and beliefs at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).
“As soon as some have the feeling of having felt, of having seen, for them it is irrefutable proof. The scientist can tell them anything he wants, they will not believe it.”
If Pope Francis himself warned, during a television interview on the Rai set in June, against certain “apparitions”, in a barely veiled allusion to the Virgin of Trevignano, John Paul II had been sensitive to a Madonna with similar characteristics.
That of Civitavecchia, where in 1995 a family claimed that their plaster statuette was shedding tears of blood.
Here, analyzes showed that the secretions came from human blood. The statuette’s male owners have consistently refused to submit to DNA testing.
But the unprecedented fervor aroused by this affair, never officially recognized by the Vatican, remained intact.
On the stone walls of the church nestled in a wooded area on the fringes of this port city north of Rome, visitors discover photos of the Madonnina (little Virgin) with cheeks flushed with blood.
Tents were erected to accommodate more worshippers. A traveling trade sells rosaries, images, icons and other devotional objects.
Civitavecchia is only an hour’s drive from Trevignano, but the main point in common between their two Madonnas is on the other side of the Adriatic Sea: the two statuettes come from Medjugorje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, famous for its Marian shrine welcoming two million pilgrims every year.
In this locality, where the faithful believe in the apparition of the Virgin since 1981, statuettes are made with stone powder mixed with synthetic resins renowned for their resistance.
In Ivan Perutina’s workshop, 20 workers make about 400 of them every day, some of which are exported to Croatia, Poland, Portugal and Italy.
The manager of this family business told AFP that he had heard “some things out of the ordinary”.
Like when one of his clients in Portugal told him that the smells of lavender and rose emanated from the statuette. “We didn’t put any additives in it,” he says.
A worker explains that the small-format statuettes have no interior cavity that could allow them to be rigged. Could it be made in a deceptive way to make it look like a miracle? “No! God save us from that!” exclaims Ivan Perutina.
In these matters, the Catholic Church remains very cautious and lets each diocese decide on a case-by-case basis.
“We absolutely cannot base faith on popular credulity,” warns Father Salvatore Perrella. “The Vatican, precisely because it has experience in these situations, is very rigorous.”
In April, an International Observatory of Mystical Phenomena Linked to Mary was created to analyze the various cases awaiting authentication.
This structure aims to help the bishops because “many do not know how to approach the subject”, explains to AFP its president, Father Stefano Cecchin.
There is a whole protocol to follow, underlines its director, Sister Daniela del Gaudio. Before voting, “the commission questions the various protagonists (seers, witnesses, etc.). It proceeds in a scientific way because there are doctors, lawyers, each with their own skills. It is also necessary to analyze the morality of the seers, their physical and psychological state. “
Periods of crisis, war, misinformation, conspiracy or platism foster fascination with this phenomenon, note the researchers.
There is in some “the perception of living in prophetic times”, notes Roberto Francesco Scalon, professor at the University of Turin and sociologist of religions.
“When we are in a situation of uncertainty, linked to a pandemic or an economic problem, people will seek answers, will want hope”, abounds the sociologist of science and beliefs Romy Sauvayre.
In Trevignano, despite the scandal, the association of the Madonna calls for new gatherings even if the last one, on July 3, was less crowded. “Don’t listen to rumours,” an official urged over the phone. “Today, fake news is everywhere.”
20/07/2023 05:44:35 – Civitavecchia (Italy) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
