The mystery of a Virgin Mary statue in Italy that ‘wept tears of blood’ has been solved.
Gisella Cardia proclaimed in 2016 that the Madonna di Trevignano was crying blood and giving her revelations to share with believers who flocked to receive its blessing and hand over tens of thousands of dollars in donations.
Prosecutors in the port city of Civitavecchia opened a fraud investigation in 2023, ordering swab tests of the blood-stained porcelain cheeks that were previously speculated to have been pig’s blood.
The lab results surfaced last week, showing the blood matched the owner Cardia’s genetic profile.
However, her lawyer, Solange Marchignoli, said the DNA analysis must also show if it was a single-profile or mixed.
‘If the profile is single, it means that it is only Cardia’s and she put it there, so in this case we would go to trial,’ Marchignoli told Italian news outlet Corriere della Sera.
‘But if, as expected, the profile is mixed, it means that the DNA found on the statue also contains Cardia’s DNA, which we expect because she used, kissed it and handled it.
Cardia has reportedly left her home in Trevignano and no one, not even her lawyer, knows where she is.
Hundreds of people flocked to a town in Italy to see a statue of the Virgin Mary that its owner claimed cried tears of blood
Gisella Cardia proclaimed in 2016 that the Madonna di Trevignano was crying blood and giving her revelations to share with believers. She also took tens of thousands dollars in donations
Cardia, who was previously convicted of bank fraud, arranged visits to see the ‘weeping’ statue every third day of the month.
She tucked the small statue inside a large blue case, positioned in front of a giant statue of Mary.
Cardia boasted about experiencing supernatural phenomena, including an occasion where she fed 15 people seemingly never-ending portions of pizza, gnocchi and rabbit – thanks to the alleged powers of the statue.
Duped followers believed she brought messages from Mary and some said she’d even predicted the Covid pandemic.
In 2022, locals from the town of Trevignano Romano who were skeptical of the bleeding Madonna called in a private investigator who met with the Italian military police.
The suspicious locals reportedly presented evidence suggesting the red liquid appearing from the statue’s eyes was pig’s blood.
Last year, the Catholic Church deemed the ‘miracle’ a fake. Their Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued its first decree according to a new set of rules for vetting alleged Marian apparitions and spiritual phenomena.
It referred to a preliminary report from an investigation by the Diocese of Civita Castellana that found nothing supernatural about the statue.
It stated: ‘It is clear that it is not supernatural.
A DNA test of the blood-stained cheeks matched Cardia’s genetic profile
She tucked the small statue inside a large blue case, positioned in front of a giant statue of Mary
‘May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, Mother of the Church and our Mother, restore peace and serenity in view of the spiritual good of the faithful of the parish of Trevignano Romano and of the people of God who are throughout the Diocese of Civita Castellana.’
The lab test was conducted by forensic geneticist Emiliano Giardina, who worked on the well-known case in Italy of a murdered teen in 2010, Corriere della Sera reported.
‘I am sorry to learn that sudden and very superficial gossip is being created that, however, misleads journalists,’ said Marchignoli in a translated statement.
‘Anyone who takes it for granted that the DNA found on the statue of the Madonna corresponds to that of Gisella Cardia is seriously mistaken.
Another Virgin Mary in Argentina was seen ‘weeping’ tears of blood for the 38th time back in 2018. The statue was linked to several ‘miracles’ including a woman who had a three-inch tumour that allegedly disappeared after she visited the effigy
‘I invite everyone to be cautious – because, on the contrary, extremes of a crime would be detected – and I await the official outcome of the expert report, hoping that it will be favorable to our defense.’
The Catholic Church had its eye on the curious case of the Madonna di Trevignano before it was squashed, but this was not the first example of a case of this nature.
Back in 2018, a New Mexico church found a Madonna which was leaking olive oil, sparking excitement that there was a supernatural force behind it.
Bishop Oscar Cantú of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Hobbs, US, said the church would determine whether or not the sign was a good one or an evil one.
Later that year, another Virgin Mary, this time in Argentina, was seen ‘weeping’ tears of blood for what was reputed to be the 38th time.
The statue of the Virgin of the Mystic Rose has been linked to several ‘miracles’, such as a woman who had a three-inch tumor that reportedly disappeared after she visited it.
A year prior, Catholic miracle investigators studied a Virgin Mary in Acapulco in southwestern Mexico which began to ‘shed tears’ in front of its owners.
The saint was a Mexican version of the Virgin Mary, nicknamed la Morenita, or the brunette. Devout followers were astonished when images and videos surfaced of tears seemingly streaming down its cheeks.
