OUR LADY OF CLEMENCY
Feast Day --- January
9
Rosina’s mother thought it was an omen of trouble. The parish priest, on the contrary, felt that Our Lady’s blessing must rest on the house. He asked her to let him have the picture for the Church. Here it soon became a popular shrine.
This Shrine is probably the only one
in the world where Our Lady’s shrine is enclosed in glass. It dates from the
late 18th century.
The story begins on a dark snowy afternoon in 1797, a young girl, Rosina Bucher, of the village of Absam near Innsbruck, was sitting by the window
sewing. It was between three and four in the afternoon and the light was just
beginning to fade. Rosina looked up and saw a face in the window pane. She
looked closely, not sure that she saw right, and finally called her mother.
Other people were called, even the parish priest, to observe the strange happening. All agreed that it was a face,
the face of the Mother of Sorrows. It was turned slightly and there was a strange
expression on it.
The window was made up of several
small panes of glass quite dark in colour. They removed the pane of glass with
the picture on it, which was on the inside of the double window. After they had
examined the glass, it was sent to experts in painting and glasswork. Here it
was discovered that the face disappeared when water was put on the glass, but
came back as soon as the glass was dry. They analyzed it chemically, and could
not discover by what process the picture had been placed there.
Rosina’s mother thought it was an omen of trouble. The parish priest, on the contrary, felt that Our Lady’s blessing must rest on the house. He asked her to let him have the picture for the Church. Here it soon became a popular shrine.
Our Lady of Clemency of Absam has
since become a place of pilgrimage. Many miracles have been recorded from the
pilgrims who prayed there.
The picture is quite small, the size
of a small pane of glass. It is not at all pretty, and popularly known as Our
Lady of Mercy and Clemency of Absam – clemency, because Mary’s heart is filled
with love and kindness to those who pray at this shrine and implore her help.
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