Clearwater windows bearing image of Virgin Mary broken

St Petersburg Times ^ | March 1 2004 | MITCH STACY , AP

[I still care]

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) -- Office building windows that thousands of visitors believed bore the image of the Virgin Mary were discovered broken Monday, police said.

The three top panes that showed what appeared to be the Virgin Mary's veiled head were destroyed, with just shards of glass remaining in the window frames. The damage was discovered when a ministry worker arrived Monday morning and it is believed the damage was done overnight, police spokesman Wayne Shelor said.

Investigators were trying to determine how the windows were broken.

The image first appeared a week before Christmas in 1996 in what was then a home finance office, drawing almost 500,000 visitors within weeks.

Stretching almost 60 feet high and more than 20 feet across on nine bronze-colored glass panels, the image was evocative of a stained glass portrait of Mary. Shades of purple, blue, yellow and green washed across the mirrored surface and swirled into a robe-draped figure with downcast head.

Glass experts believe the image was created by a chemical reaction and corrosion of the metallic elements in the glass coating, but they could not explain why it took the shape it did.

So many pilgrims came to the site that extra police patrols were in place for a time. The office building later became the home of Ohio-based Shepherds of Christ Ministries.

Six months after the apparition first drew worldwide attention, someone threw an undetermined liquid on the shape, marring it. But after two days of heavy thunderstorms, the blemishes were no longer visible.

The property was also the scene of a 1997 scuffle between Clearwater police and a Polish immigrant that ended with the man's death. Wieslaw Skowronek, 44, struggled with police after he was seen acting strangely outside the building and died when an officer kneed him in the abdomen, rupturing his pancreas.

The man's widow accepted a $325,000 settlement from the city.

[I still care]

This is interesting to me as perhaps an illustration of the culture war that has been racheted up lately by the "Passion".

[I still care]

Here is a small picture of the window.

[BenLurkin]

Guess these creeps couldn't find an SUV to vandalize.

[Gunslingr3]

Just reminds me of the folks who see Elvis in the mold growing on the fridge, or come across a potato with a mug like Nixon's. Rorshach isn't reality.

[GraceCoolidge]

Well, as long as this wasn't anti-Semitism, I guess no one will care, right? Funny, the whole uproar over "The Passion" seems to have brought out more anti-Catholic and anti-Christian bigotry than anti-Semitism. I've already read of one theater getting a threatening telephone call for showing the film. But, of course, anti-Christian attacks aren't "hate crimes" and aren't very newsworthy.

[aShepard]

What did Jeb know, and when did he know it??

[azcap]

If that is the Virgin Mary then I guess you see her every weekend when the Jet Ski drips oil in the lake.

[TBall]

I see Homer Simpson in that picture.

[2banana]

No hate crime here, just move along...

[Sacajaweau]

Considering that the dude that played Jesus in the Passion got hit by lightening, maybe this is just a second message...it's called Pay attention!! Courtesy of God!

[Joe Brower]

I see a chalk outline of a window-breaker in that picture.

[My2Cents]

It looks more like a close-up of W giving a thumbs-up.

[I still care]

I am not a big fan of miraculous images. But it is interesting that it was attacked once before, and that after all the notice given the movie it has been destroyed.

Even though I don't regard the image as anything special, I would venture a guess to say the people who destroyed it are on the anti Christian side of the culture war. DU must be happy.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Ten points for the "inverse double subtle Catholic bash with a half twist".

Well executed.

[bondjamesbond]

It kind of looks like Admiral Akbar to me.

[MineralMan]

Looks a lot like the glass is stressed there. Maybe too much, which could cause breakage.

I've seen stress patterns like this in glass fronted buildings all over the place. Sometimes the light reveals the stress patterns.

[Grut]

No sweat, the Virgin's image will shortly be discovered in a casting flaw in a beer bottle in Minnesota. And twice as rust patches on the sides of refrigerators in California.

[gdani]

It amazes me how otherwise rational people can look at that window & automatically think "Oh, that's the Virgin Mary".

[Aliska]

ping. Of interest to catholics.