Image of Virgin Mary Appears on New York City Window

September 27, 2000

Source: The New York Times

On September 27, 2000, The New York Times reported that "not every pedestrian on Washington Street here sees an apparition of the Virgin Mary in the smudgy colored streaks of the thermal pane window. But just as in the miracles frequently reported in small Southern towns, or the one that played out for months in a suburban yard in Marlboro, N.J., a few years back, none of the faithful here are demanding unanimity. The streaks in the window, in Ramona and Marcelino Collado's second-floor apartment, started changing colors and producing an image last week, family members said, and the Collados' apartment was transformed into a religious shrine. Today, hundreds of people came to their working-class, Hispanic neighborhood and stood in the rain, peering up at the window. Some squinted, struggling to discern an image that others, their lips moving in apparent prayer, had already perceived. Others climbed the stairs to the apartment and trooped through the Collados' kitchen and living room in soggy shoes to pay homage at the window. Some knelt in the living room to pray beneath a large framed picture of Christ. Some said the rosary. Others walked to the window and pressed their hands to the glass. One elderly man rubbed a candle against it... Two teachers' aides on their lunch break from a local elementary school pressed their hands to the window and came away in silence. 'I think most want to believe, that's why we're here,' said one, Maria Tirado. 'It's very mystical. You just have to believe.'

"...For now, the Roman Catholic Church is saying nothing about the window. Rayanne Damiano, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Metuchen, which includes Perth Amboy, said the diocese had no official comment. She said the bishop, Vincent D. P. Breen and all diocesan priests were at a three-day retreat and not available for questions. They had left instructions, she said, not to discuss the window."