Defiling A Virgin
The Virgin Mary Windows In Clearwater, FL Vandalized

Do You See Her?
Optical Illusions Tell Us People See What The Want or Expect To See...

A lot of people are really upset
even if the apparition was a real miracle
albeit a decidedly pointless or arbitrary one
and not a fake, or freak coincidence of dirty windows
what's the big deal?
an apparition would merely be the shadow of god
who laments the loss of a shadow?
what kind of person gets spiritually invested in a window, a tree, a statue?
 

Office building windows that thousands of visitors believed bore the 60-foot tall image of the Virgin Mary were discovered broken Monday, police said.

The three top panes that showed what appeared to be the Virgin Mary's veiled head were destroyed, with just shards of glass remaining in the window frames. The damage was discovered Monday morning, and it is believed that it was done overnight.

Investigators were trying to determine how the windows were broken, and planned to look at a security video later Monday.

Rosie Reed, who heads a team of six that monitors the site for Shepherds of Christ Ministries, said the damage was discovered at about 7 a.m. by someone who came to pray.

"My heart just sank, and I just started praying, praying for whoever did this," Reed said.

The image first appeared a week before Christmas in 1996 in what was then a home finance office, drawing almost 500,000 visitors within weeks. The site still draws several hundred visitors every day who come to pray, leave flowers and light one of the many candles that have been left on and around a makeshift altar.

Reed said there was no damage to the large, wooden crucifix that now towers in front of the windows or anything else at the site.

Stretching almost 60 feet high and more than 20 feet across on nine bronze-colored glass panels, the image was evocative of a stained glass portrait of Mary. Shades of purple, blue, yellow and green washed across the mirrored surface and swirled into a robe-draped figure with downcast head.

Glass experts believe the image was created by a chemical reaction and corrosion of the metallic elements in the glass coating, but they could not explain why it took the shape it did.

So many pilgrims came to the site that extra police patrols were in place for a time. The office building later became the property of Cincinnati-based Shepherds of Christ.

Visitors Monday were surprised to see the broken windows and police activity at the normally peaceful site just off busy U.S. 19. Others heard about the damage and came to see for themselves, including students from a St. Petersburg Roman Catholic school, who came to pray.

"This is a big loss," said Mary Pardy, a Largo resident who visited the site with some out-of-town friends Monday morning. "I bring a lot of people here who come to visit. It almost makes me sick to my stomach to think about it."

Her reaction was typical.

"Who would do this?" said Arlene Livingston, 69, who lives in Largo and brought a relative visiting from Canada. "I hope they catch whoever it is. I hope God forgives them."

"I had trouble catching my breath," said Janet Solomon of the moment she saw the broken windows. "There's something wrong with the world. I'm not a Christian, but it was an amazing thing to see."

Six months after the apparition first drew worldwide attention, someone threw an undetermined liquid on the shape, marring it. But after two days of heavy thunderstorms, the blemishes were no longer visible. Reed said the altar area has been vandalized in the past.

The property was also the scene of a 1997 scuffle between Clearwater police and a Polish immigrant that ended with the man's death. Wieslaw Skowronek, 44, struggled with police after he was seen acting strangely outside the building and died when an officer kneed him in the abdomen, rupturing his pancreas.

The man's widow accepted a $325,000 settlement from the city.

Reed, 60, said members of the ministry and others pray at the site for several hours each night. The last visitors left at about 9 p.m. Sunday, so the damage occurred after that.

She said the ministry will continue to maintain the site for visitors, and she thinks they'll still come.

"Only God can replace the (image)," she said. "If he wants it replaced, it will happen. We can replace the windows, we can't replace the image."

The owner of the building is a religious organization - how come these things never happen on something like, say, the Empire State Building or the Golden Gate Bridge?

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