Case file · Apparition / miracle
The weeping icon of Máriapócs
In November 1696 an icon of the Virgin in the Greek Catholic church of Pócs in eastern Hungary was reported to weep for weeks, witnessed by crowds and examined by Habsburg officials.
1696 CE · 47.88, 22.02 · status: account
The account
Emperor Leopold I had the icon brought to Vienna, where it is still in St Stephen's Cathedral. A copy left at Pócs is said to have wept again in the 18th century and in 1905. Máriapócs became Hungary's main Greek Catholic pilgrimage and was visited by Pope John Paul II in 1991.
The sceptical view
Weeping icons are often explained by condensation, deliberate fraud or misperception; the 1696 inquiry relied on witness statements.