Blanco, Texas - Miracle Weeping Icon of the Virgin Mary - Gone

This attraction is gone due to a monk and sexual problems. The authorities have taken the weeping mary. [Michael West, 11/05/2006]

[RA: November 2006: Police raided the monastery in July 2006, seized records and computers, and arrested several monks on charges of conspiracy to have sex with young boys. The miracle icon was also seized as evidence of an alleged scheme to commit fraud. The Christ of the Hills Monastery is closed.]

Russian Orthodox Monastery in the Texas hill country displays an icon of the Virgin Mary reputed to weep real tears. [Randall McKee, 08/15/2005]

[RA: A monk noticed the icon of Our Lady of New Sarov weeping "tears of Myrrh" in a chapel at Christ of the Hills Monastery in May 1985. Cotton balls along the bottom edge of the image collect the tears, which a Russian Orthodox priest uses to rub blessings on visitors.]