PARMA, Ohio (WJW) – Did the eyes on a blessed statue come to life and then close? Some who witnessed the event, which was captured on camera, are calling it a miracle.
“I knew it was a miracle because I’d been looking at her all morning,” said Connie Liptak, who witnessed the phenomena. “They’re really closed. I mean, you can really see her lashes are down.”
It happened Friday at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Canton.
The International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima is currently making stops across Northeast Ohio and was on display there that day.
The statue travels the world spreading the message of Our Lady of Fatima.
The sculpture was commissioned in 1947 following specifications of Venerable Sister Lucia, one of three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, who reported seeing apparitions of Jesus’s mother Mary in 1917, revealing secrets of hell and prophecies of war and the need for mankind to stop offending God.
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There was also “the miracle of the sun,” which they say was foretold by Mary and witnessed by 70,000 people and reported in newspapers at that time.
“When the sun was dancing in the sky, everyone was looking up and then suddenly it started plummeting to the earth,” said Katie Moran, who is the president of the World Apostolate of Fatima USA.
Katie captured the pictures of the eyes opening and closing. In the past, she’s worked to bring other versions of the statue to the area. She says the “international” statue is different and special in many ways.
The sculpture is believed to be the closest likeness of who the children saw and was blessed by the bishop of Fatima and Venerable Pope Pius 12th.
It’s been traveling ever since and they say reports of healings and miracles follow her wherever she goes — from cancer to infertility.
“We know that she’s wept 15 times,” said Larry Maginot, the statues custodian.
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Larry travels with the statue and says he’s heard numerous miraculous claims and cures, including a 3-year-old in Vietnam who suffered from incurable malaria.
“He said, ‘the doctors had given up on me,’” said Maginot, but his father took him to the statue, “and he ended up recovering.”
Now, there is this latest miraculous development.
“According to theologians, mystically her presence is there with the statue,” said Moran.
On Monday, she shared the pictures with FOX 8 as the sculpture was on display at St. Andrews in Parma. Katie said she was taking pictures to post on social media when she saw the eyes.
“I took it and thought, ‘that’s really nice,’ and I took one more to be sure and when I looked at it, the eyes were closed and I go, ‘wow!’” she said.
Katie believes Mary is again sending a warning to the world, and as for skeptics, she has a message.
“For those who believe, no proof is necessary. for those who don’t, no proof is possible,” she said. “It’s faith and I believe.”
“I just say, ‘I don’t lie, I know what I’ve seen and I believe what I’ve seen,’” added Liptak.
The statue will remain on tour in Northeast Ohio through August 21.
The next stop is Tuesday at St. Michaels at 463 Robinson Road in Campbell, Ohio.
You can see the complete schedule here.
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