In Las Lajas, Colombia there is a picture which is a rock.
In 1754, Maria Mueses de Quiñones was overrought by a storm on her way home to the village of Ipiales. She then sought refuge with her deaf-mute daughter Rosa in a cave. All of a sudden, for the first time, her daughter spoke and told her that she saw a beautiful woman calling her. Mary saw no woman but was amazed that her daughter could speak. A few days later, Rosa disappeared from the village and her mother realized that she had gone to the cave. There she found her daughter playing with a child while the child’s mother watched. Mary understood that it was the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus. Maria Mueses chose to keep the cave a secret but returned there to pray occasionally. After a few months, Rosa fell ill and died. Mary then took her dead daughter to the cave and asked the Virgin Mary for intercession, so that her daughter might live. Miraculously, Rosa came alive again. When they returned to the village, the villagers were surprised and asked how she had come alive. Mary then took them to the cave.
The image is simply the stone itself. After drilling in several places, this has been established. The picture is over a meter deep!
Someone noted that there was a picture in the cave that no one had seen before. In the picture, the Virgin Mary holds the Baby Jesus in her arms and he hands a rosary to St. Dominic and a rope to St. Francis.
Computer reconstruction: The image continue into the rock
FACTS
After the civil authorities investigated the painting, it was concluded that it was not a painting, the image is simply the stone itself. After drilling in several places, this has been established. The “picture” is over a meter deep!
Source: Our Lady of Las lajas Colombia 1754
Closeup: The crowns are added afterwards
The only handmade is the two crowns that someone added. One interesting thing is that St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi are on the stone, the founders of the two orders that first evangelized Colombia and for whom Colombians have always had a special devotion. A Gothic-style church has since been built around the cave to house the miraculous image.
