Scientists Can’t Explain this Miracle of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Historians and scientists are at a loss to explain a spectacular image of Our Lady found on the wall of a South American cave. They say the image was painted by angels from heaven . The miracle of the image is that it is not painted, but mysteriously imprinted in the rock.
The events began In 1754, when an Indian woman named Maria Mueces and her deaf-mute daughter Rosa were surrounded by a violent storm in a river valley in Colombia.
Desperate to get shelter from the storm, they sought protection between a collection of large stones. As they shivered from cold rain, Rosa (who, as a mute, didn’t talk) cried out, “The Mestiza is calling me!”
Her mother looked up and saw her daughter pointing towards a beautiful image on a rock of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus
At first Maria was beside herself with the fright since this was the first time she had heard her daughter speak
After the villagers heard the news, a crowd gathered at the cave, where they found on the wall of the grotto the miraculous image that is still there to this day—Our Lady, holding the Child Jesus, with Saints Francis and Dominic on either side.
Then came the incredible miracle: In one version of the story, Rosa became very sick and died soon after they found the image, but was brought back to life after her mother brought her to the miraculous image in the rock.
Apart from appearing miraculously in the first place, the image has other incredible properties. Geologists from Germany bored core samples from several spots in the image. There is no paint, no dye, nor any other pigment on the surface of the rock. The colors are the colors of the rock itself. Even more incredible, the rock is perfectly colored to a depth of several feet!”
Catholic Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira describes this image as having “the singular characteristic of having been made by Angels. It is not painted, but mysteriously imprinted in the rock. The colors are not applied in a surface layer of paint or other material, but penetrate deep into the rock. No one knows how the work was done.”
Several shrines have been built on the site, with the most recent one built in the early 20th century. The shrine is the second most visited shrine in the world behind Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
