It has been 14 years since her last major apparition in Ireland but the Virgin Mary is back and this time in the lowly form of a tree stump in Limerick. To the dismay of local Catholic church leaders, the freshly severed stump, with its supposed image of Our Lady, is rapidly becoming the focus of pilgrims. The last time that Ireland experienced anything similar was during its last recession in 1985, when a "moving" statue drew tens of thousands to Ballinspittle, Co Cork. This time almost 2,000 people have signed a petition to prevent the stump's removal and hundreds of worshippers have been gathering to recite decades of the rosary and light candles. Labourers at the Holy Mary Parish Church in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, made the discovery of the supposed image.
It has been 14 years since her last major apparition in Ireland but the Virgin Mary is back and this time in the lowly form of a tree stump in Limerick.
To the dismay of local Catholic church leaders, the freshly severed stump, with its supposed image of Our Lady, is rapidly becoming the focus of pilgrims. The last time that Ireland experienced anything similar was during its last recession in 1985, when a "moving" statue drew tens of thousands to Ballinspittle, Co Cork.
This time almost 2,000 people have signed a petition to prevent the stump's removal and hundreds of worshippers have been gathering to recite decades of the rosary and light candles.
Labourers at the Holy Mary Parish Church in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, made the discovery of the supposed image.
