Saints and Sinners: Trickery, science or blind faith?

Apparitions of the Virgin Mary are not that rare. One such phenomenon took place in November on the grounds of the Vietnamese Catholic Martyrs Church in Sacramento, Calif.

A vision in front of a church may be plausible enough ? but a vision a stone’s throw from a gas station?

That, at any rate, was the story of two mechanics working in Zeitoun, outside Cairo, Egypt. They were greasing a car in April 1968, across the street from the Church of St. Mary, when they saw what appeared to be a nun in white on top of the large dome of the church.

One of the mechanics hurried to get the pastor of the church while the other summoned the police emergency squad. The priest agreed that the cumulus configuration in the heavens resembled the outlines of the Virgin Mary getting ready to jump from the dome of the church.

But the story didn’t end there. The vision continued to appear on succeeding days and was seen by thousands of people who came from miles around to see the apparition.

A committee of priests and bishops was formed by Pope Kyrillos of the Coptic Orthodox Church to investigate the phenomenon. In his report to Pope Kyrillos, one clergyman said, “There she was above the dome of St. Mary’s Church, full figure, like a phosphorous statue, but not so stiff as a statue. There was movement of the body and of the clothing. She would wave her hand. She would bless the people. Her garments swayed in the wind …” The apparition, said the bishop, appeared at 3:55 a.m. on the night he saw the vision and remained until 4:55.

Of the thousands of apparitions reported around the world every year, many turn out to be hoaxes or natural phenomena.

Father Jerome Palmer, a Benedictine monk in Indiana, made several trips to Egypt to investigate the story. He said the apparition varied in its manifestations but “when seen by the multitudes, it has been seen in exactly the same way by all.”

Sometimes, the priest reported, the Virgin appeared with a brilliant crown of light above her head “but the crown is not always there.” On occasions, he said, she is seen in full form but at other times only the upper half appears.

Do most people in this country believe Father Palmer’s story?

Many, he said, “dismiss the whole thing. With some people, anything supernatural conflicts with their idea of how a rational world operates.”

There are others who are willing to concede that witnesses of the vision are indeed seeing something strange and unusual but they refuse to believe it is anything supernatural.

Others believe a hoax is at work. The lights and moving figure of the apparition are said to be produced by a light projector hidden somewhere.

Some contend the whole thing was arranged by the Egyptian ministry of tourism in the case of the Cairo sightings in 1968. Others speculate that the Russians are doing it by means of a satellite. (But this raises the question, “Why would the Russians want to deepen faith in the Virgin Mary?”)

It is the view of some Christian believers that the visions are sent to strengthen the world’s waning belief in God in order to convert the non-Christian world to Christianity.

One non-believer in Father Palmer’s story, a TV interviewer, said, nevertheless, after his interview with the priest, “It was the most fascinating interview I’ve ever done.”

Maybe we will have to leave it at that.

George Plagenz is an ordained minister and veteran newsman based in Columbus, Ohio.