The Vision on the Window Glass

by Zsolt Aradi

On January 17, 1797, Rosina Bucher, an eighteen-year-old Tyrolean girl, sat at the family table performing some household chores. The family table is always the largest table of the spacious two-story Tyrolean houses, and the daily life of the family centers there. After meals, people remain seated around the table, the women sewing and the men discussing their work or some local news. The Bucher family lived a simple life. Both father and son worked in the salt mines which are common in this part of Austria and which provide a hazardous occupation at best.

Rosina Bucher, working quietly, was seized by a sudden fear. Her first thought was of her father and she felt a premonition that he had had an accident. The girl gazed out of the window into the wintry afternoon; it was four o'clock, and while thinking of her father, she suddenly cried out: "Mother, Mother, I see something on the window. It is the image of Our Lady." They looked at the window and recognized the face.

Most of the houses in the Alps have double windows, with the glass divided into four and sometimes eight smaller panels. The image appeared in the frame of one of the upper panels, on the inside window, which could be opened only from the room. It was about seven inches long and five inches in width. As the family became aware of the extraordinary apparition, the girl's apprehensions grew, because there seemed to be no explanation for the vision. Therefore, when father and son arrived home the same night and related that they had had a miraculous escape from an accident in the salt mines the family's joy was great and they gave thanks.

The image never disappeared from the small window panel although a very careful investigation by local ecclesiastical authorities resulted in an order to remove the panel. The Tyrolean village and townsfolk are deeply religious. Although they live in dark valleys surrounded by massive mountains, in their religious life they never deviate into those superstitious practices which are often the characteristics of mountaineers. The Tyrolean, who works hard, lives in a world of reality. His soil is meager, and a strenuous daily effort is required to extract the fruit of the soil; nevertheless, here is one of the most balanced, one of the gayest folk in Europe. The Tyroleans are a self-respecting people, always ready to fight for their beliefs and independence. The Tyrolean has no need of miracles to confirm his solid faith, nor would he easily be given to hysteria.

The investigation, which was carried out with the participation of the people was, therefore, a thorough one. The glass panel was washed and scratched. Sometimes, as it was washed, the design would fade out. But as soon as the washing was finished it reappeared radiant again. Finally, the ecclesiastical authorities declared that they could find no natural causes for the image, whereupon it was returned to the family. However, the villagers insisted that the image should be brought into the church, because, as they explained it: "Where the Son stays, there must be a place for the Mother too." It is almost the same wording as that of the Chinese who say: "One cannot venerate the Son, without venerating the Mother."

Some years later, the image was placed in a small chapel, close to the cottage where it had first appeared. The German language had some beautiful expressions for Our Lady. Throughout Germany and Austria, and generally in the whole German-speaking part of Europe, Mary is called "Unsere liebe Frau" (Our Beloved Lady)…The people never fail to use the adjective "liebe."

Six candles burn unceasingly before the shrine. The thoughtful face of this Beloved Lady, however, has a more brilliant radiance and it grows more visible when darkness sets in. The veneration of the Beloved Lady of Absam is as quiet as the surrounding mountains in the pre-dawn air, as deep as the night of the valleys.

This item 3056 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org