More on the Virgin of the Underpass
A slide show of over fifty pictures relating to the supposed apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the wall of the Kennedy Expressway's Fullerton Avenue underpass in Chicago can be seen here.
As far as I know, no indulgence is offered for viewing it.
As far as I know, no indulgence is offered for viewing it.
Comments
It was painted by a Danish artist in exchange for room and board during the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, a copy of an original work by a German artist named Hoffmann.
There was a bit of oral tradition the congregation that "a face" was there, somewhere, in the painting. I have to admit that I was one of many who studied that painting with great devotion trying to find that face.
Eventually, I did. The artist had done his own face in lacquer in one corner of the painting as a kind of humble "signature;" the light had to strike it at a particular angle in order for it to be seen. But I had identified another face months before, and one much more obvious, if one knew exactly where to look: a Byzantine-style face of Christ, which in fact was completely and totally a figment of my own imagination.
But the local Catholic priest saw it, too... once I pointed it out to him. And as he knelt there at the altar, studying it, the eyes seemed to open and close...
And to his eternal credit, he shook his head as if to clear it of the cobwebs, and said, "Oh, my goodness! My imagination is getting the better of me!? :)
As indeed it was. As mine had, as well. There was no face there- unless one wanted badly enough to find one.
Note: I said religious fanatic, not religious person.