The Weeping Irish Madonna: A Miracle in Hungary

• History of the Weeping Irish Madonna
• The Miracle of the Weeping Irish Madonna
• Celebrations and Pilgrimages
• JPII’s Visit to the Gyor Cathedral

On March 17, 1697, during the same year when penal laws were implemented in Ireland that forbade Catholic bishops and priests from the country, an image of the Virgin Mary known as the Weeping Irish Madonna shed tears of blood for three hours.

The painting, which was originally called Our Lady Consoler of the Afflicted, is now kept in the cathedral of Gyor, Hungary, where it was brought by the bishop of Clonfert, Walter Lynch, when he fled from Ireland due to the English persecution of the Catholic Church led by Oliver Cromwell.

The image of the Weeping Irish Madonna shows the Mother of God with her hands folded in prayer as she looks down upon the Infant Jesus, who is lying in a little bed.

Bishop Lynch removed the image from the Clonfert cathedral to keep it out of impious hands and fled with it to Vienna, Austria, where he met the bishop of Gyor, Hungary, who invited him to serve as his auxiliary bishop there.

The Irish prelate accepted the invitation and remained in Hungary until his death in 1663.

More than 30 years after Lynch’s death, on March 17, 1697, the image, which was in the Gyor cathedral, began to weep blood during the 6 a.m. Mass, which was attested to by many.

The image was removed from its frame and examined, but no explanation could be given as to what had happened. The linen cloth used to wipe the Virgin’s face is kept in a glass and silver case in the Gyor cathedral, where it can be seen and venerated to this day.

Great celebrations commemorating the miraculous occurrence took place in 1797 on the 100th anniversary and again in 1897. In 1947, on the 250th anniversary of the prodigy, about 100,000 pilgrims came to venerate the image.

This year, the Diocese of Gyor has scheduled a series of celebrations and pilgrimages from March 17 to 19.

St. John Paul II elevated the Gyor cathedral to a basilica and visited it on Sept. 7, 1996, in an encounter with representatives of the local diocese.

During the visit, he acknowledged the miraculous image of the Mother of God and the venerated relic of the holy king Ladislaus, as well as the tomb of the Servant of God, Bishop Vilmos Apor.

He encouraged everyone to become “builders of hope” and stressed that Christ the Redeemer is with them. The Holy Father also asked for the assistance of the “Magna Domina Hungarorum,” Our Lady of Gyor, the holy king Ladislaus, the martyrs of Kassa, and all the Hungarian saints.