santuario, mariano, Madonna delle Lacrime

In the Chiesa Madre of Chiusa Sclafani, a painting of the Holy Family holds an extraordinary story. On 7 November 1835, from the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, depicted with Saint Joseph and the infant Jesus, miraculous tears began to flow. The phenomenon repeated five times within a few days, witnessed by people from every walk of life: doctors, professors, lawyers, cobblers, carpenters, and clergy alike. One priest, Don Domenico Gendusa, watched the tears stream down the glass; the following day, the archpriest and many others saw the same.

This was the Baroque period, when religious art often aimed to inspire devotion through vivid emotion and drama. Here, that drama became startlingly literal. The site was elevated to a Marian sanctuary in 1986, on the 150th anniversary of the weeping, by Bishop Salvatore Cassisa. The Santuario Madonna delle Lacrime now honours that prodigy, a quiet town church touched by a mystery that still draws the faithful.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.