Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

The face that appeared in Absam's glass

Absam (Austria) (1797)

On January 17, 1797, in the Tyrolean village of Absam, an eighteen-year-old girl named Rosina Bucher was sewing by her window. Her heart was troubled: her father and brother worked in the salt mines, and she prayed for them. Suddenly, she felt a sudden fear, stood up, and, looking at the windowpane, saw a young, smiling female face appear in the glass.

He called his mother; the neighbors and the parish priest came, and all recognized the Virgin Mary in that face. What followed has something of a meticulous and heartfelt test about it: the glass was disassembled and submitted to the examination of the glassmakers. The chronicles recount that the image disappeared when the glass was submerged in water and reappeared when it dried, and that it could not be erased by rubbing it, using sand, or applying acids. After these tests, the parish priest and the bishop considered the image miraculous. The glass was returned on June 24, 1797, but the townspeople insisted that it be placed in the Church of San Miguel, where it has been venerated ever since.

Let us distinguish between certainty and piety. The date, the place, the people involved, and, above all, the current existence of the crystal with the Marian face, preserved in a metal reliquary on a side altar of the parish church, along with its crowns and ornaments, are all documented with consistency. This is verifiable and can be seen today. However, the strictly miraculous nature of the physical phenomenon belongs to tradition: the sources describe 18th-century artisanal tests, not a modern scientific finding; the Church refers to it as a mystery. And the interpretation of Rosina's initial fear for her family as a "warning" or a "consolation" forms part of the spiritual interpretation of the Marian devotion, popularly known as "Frau Liebe," Our Beloved Lady, and celebrated on January 9th as Our Lady of Clemency.

Since the crystal was placed in the church, pilgrimages began, and testimonies of favors and healings multiplied. In the Chapel of Ex-Votos, numerous figurines and votive objects are preserved, depicting the sick in their beds and in perilous situations, offered in gratitude for graces received. These are devotional testimonies and ex-votos, not medically verified events, and should be presented as such. The sanctuary maintains its monthly Mass on the 17th, commemorating the date of the apparition.

Regarding the Rosary, the sources describe pilgrimages, Masses, and general Marian devotion, but they do not mention a historical Rosary confraternity or a miracle explicitly originating from its recitation. It is reasonable that the Rosary is prayed during pilgrimages to Absam, as in any popular Marian devotion, but there is no record of a distinctive Rosary-related feature of this sanctuary.