By Emily Malia

Copyright irishmirror

Thousands of pilgrims from across the globe embarked on the lengthy trek south of Perth, hoping to witness the remarkable 70-centimetre Madonna statue at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Rockingham, all for one extraordinary reason.

The statue was installed in 2003 and quickly caught the attention of devoted religious followers who observed what they believed to be a miraculous phenomenon. Within months of being put on display, visitors claimed to witness her shedding oily tears.

A Madonna statue serves as an emblem of the Virgin Mary, embodying concepts of purity, motherly devotion, faith, hope, and redemption within Christianity. The word itself stems from the Italian expression ‘ma donna’, meaning ‘my lady’.

Before long, the archbishop initiated an inquiry into what believers were describing as a supposed miracle, seeking to address the rumours and conjecture that the oily tears were nothing more than a fraud. Whilst he professed to “believe in miracles,” Archbishop Hickey also declared at the time that they could not yet determine if this was “definitely one of them,” The Age reported.

Notably, the church maintains a collection of formal criteria that must be satisfied before they can proclaim anything as miraculous. In this instance, there were no established guidelines regarding a weeping statue, yet no explanation existed beyond supernatural intervention, reports the Mirror US.

He said: “I’m not saying it wasn’t a miracle, by the way; I’m saying we haven’t sufficient proof. I don’t know how it happened; all I can say is other interpretations are possible.”

Following thorough examination by a doctor, priest, and even a microbiologist, no evidence of tampering was discovered after detailed scrutiny of the statue.

The hollow figure underwent magnification, X-ray, and CT scan over four days, the archbishop maintained.

According to him, there were no “hidden channels for the passing of liquids outside the statues.”

The analysis revealed the oil was indeed vegetable oil containing droplets of rose oil, believed to result from human interference.

The detailed examination also tracked the patterns of when the statue would weep, which allegedly started on March 19 during the feast of St. Joseph.

It persisted over the four days of Easter that year, and during the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven, it shed tears almost non-stop until mid-January.

The archbishop revealed there were several occasions when the statue remained dry.

“One was the four days during which they examined the statue,” he said.

“And one was the month I asked for the statue to be isolated in the office of the parish priest of Rockingham.”

After the puzzling weeping incidents and thorough investigation, the statue was subsequently returned to its rightful owner, parishioner Patty Powell.

The weeping Madonna was never put on display in church ever again.