{"id":969,"date":"2008-10-01T17:33:18","date_gmt":"2008-10-01T17:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2008\/10\/faithful-see-virgin-in-springf.php"},"modified":"2008-10-01T17:33:18","modified_gmt":"2008-10-01T17:33:18","slug":"faithful-see-virgin-in-springf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/10\/faithful-see-virgin-in-springf","title":{"rendered":"Faithful See Virgin in Springfield Hospital Window"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of devout Catholics and curious onlookers have gathered to pray, weep and chant outside a Catholic hospital window in Springfield, Mass., where an image that some say looks like the Virgin Mary has appeared.
\nKevin Leeman, a maintenance worker at the nearby Sacred Heart Catholic church, was moved to say a Hail Mary when he saw the apparition yesterday at Mercy Medical Center.
\n“I was amazed that she was there, but she was,” said Leeman, 53, of Springfield. “I have never seen anything like it. It was a spiritual experience.”
\nLeeman said he believes the image is still there this morning.
\nSacred Heart church secretary Marie Lapolice was also skeptical when she went to the hospital yesterday.
\n“I saw it. I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I had to get at the right angle and as soon as I saw it, it was very clear. I couldn’t believe it. When I looked at it, I said, ‘It’s very clearly the picture of the Virgin.”‘
\nLeeman and Lapolice said that when they viewed the image there were about 40 people staring up at the window, some praying and chanting the rosary. About 100 people gathered outside the hospital this morning.
\nThe image appeared late yesterday morning in a vacant, second-floor window at Mercy Medical Center, said hospital spokesman Mark Fulco.
\n“Some people believe it does look like the Virgin Mary,” he said. “A lot of the faithful are coming out and observing it.”
\nFulco said the hospital has added extra security to accommodate the crowds that have formed since the discovery.
\n“We have taken measures to ensure the safety of patients, visitors and staff,” he said.
\nMark Dupont, spokesman for the Springfield Diocese, said that when he saw the image yesterday it was a “clearly, well-defined outline.”
\n“The way the colors cascade would give the outline of a very common artistic impression of the Blessed Virgin,” he said. “It’s understandable how people would see an image in it.”
\nHe said about 100 people had gathered this morning to see the image — and that is what has moved him.
\n“You may debate the image, but you can’t debate the faces of the people who are gathered there,” he said. “That’s what is inspiring right now.”
\nHe said the bishop is monitoring the situation and the church could decide to investigate further. But, he added: “The church is very, very cautious and careful in situations like this.”
\n
\nKnight Ridder\/Tribune Business News – October 1, 2008
\njfargen@bostonherald.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of devout Catholics and curious onlookers have gathered to pray, weep and chant outside a Catholic hospital window in Springfield, Mass., where an image that some say looks like the Virgin Mary has appeared. Kevin Leeman, a maintenance worker at the nearby Sacred Heart Catholic church, was moved to say a Hail Mary when…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFaithful See Virgin in Springfield Hospital Window<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/10\/faithful-see-virgin-in-springf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Faithful See Virgin in Springfield Hospital Window\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hundreds of devout Catholics and curious onlookers have gathered to pray, weep and chant outside a Catholic hospital window in Springfield, Mass., where an image that some say looks like the Virgin Mary has appeared. Kevin Leeman, a maintenance worker at the nearby Sacred Heart Catholic church, was moved to say a Hail Mary when…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/10\/faithful-see-virgin-in-springf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-10-01T17:33:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"nsymmonds\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Faithful See Virgin in Springfield Hospital Window","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/10\/faithful-see-virgin-in-springf","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Faithful See Virgin in Springfield Hospital Window","og_description":"Hundreds of devout Catholics and curious onlookers have gathered to pray, weep and chant outside a Catholic hospital window in Springfield, Mass., where an image that some say looks like the Virgin Mary has appeared. Kevin Leeman, a maintenance worker at the nearby Sacred Heart Catholic church, was moved to say a Hail Mary when…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/10\/faithful-see-virgin-in-springf","og_site_name":"Beliefnet News","article_published_time":"2008-10-01T17:33:18+00:00","author":"nsymmonds","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/10\/faithful-see-virgin-in-springf","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/10\/faithful-see-virgin-in-springf","name":"Faithful See Virgin in Springfield Hospital Window","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-10-01T17:33:18+00:00","dateModified":"2008-10-01T17:33:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f960b23e9c3a51222269c557a209b4f2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/10\/faithful-see-virgin-in-springf#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/10\/faithful-see-virgin-in-springf"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/10\/faithful-see-virgin-in-springf#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Faithful See Virgin in Springfield Hospital Window"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/","name":"Beliefnet News","description":"Top Religious News From Around the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f960b23e9c3a51222269c557a209b4f2","name":"nsymmonds","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/13d\/13ddfa3407d6847bc2fbd32a13b67708x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/13d\/13ddfa3407d6847bc2fbd32a13b67708x96.jpg","caption":"nsymmonds"},"description":"Nicole Symmonds is Beliefnet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Prayer editor and also covers Christianity. A New Yorker by birth but a Floridian by tenure, Nicole graduated from Florida A&M University with a B.S. in Public Relations and a minor in Sociology. She moved to NY to pursue a career in journalism which started at In Style magazine. There she learned the ropes of magazine reporting, researching, and writing\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand became exponentially more stylish. But what seemed like a deep interest in fashion and entertainment would soon be revealed as merely the vehicle that moved her closer to discovering her purpose, writing and covering matters of the Christian faith. While in her purpose-driven vehicle she can be found traveling between Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens for life, work and worship, respectively. From fashion to faith and the journey isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t over yet\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/author\/nsymmonds"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}