The Virgin of Guadalupe has appeared in central Colombia, cunningly disguised as a fish shop floor stain.
The Catholic icon was discovered on Thursday morning by 10-year-old Kelly Pacheco, while she was cleaning her grandparents’ business premises.
According to El Universal, the strange stain was not removed “despite scrubbing several times.”
“She stopped to watch the stain for a few minutes, after which she was surprised to note that it was the image of the Virgin,” said Mercedes Mozo, the girl’s grandmother.
As luck would have it, Pacheco’s absent mother is a devotee of the holy figure, aka the “Empress of Latin America” and had left a picture with the child before a trip to Venezuela.
So with both the image and her mother’s devotion fresh in her mind, the youngster knew, after several minutes of staring at a tiled floor, that she had indeed discovered “a miracle.”
While not recognised as such, it has been suggested the Virgin could be the patron saint of advertising, because within a day “hundreds” had gathered at the shop to light candles and worship the image (and buy some fish?).
One neighbor said, ” The sick, children, the elderly, fishermen and travellers have come here to ask favors of the Virgin and others have touched the image to invoke the chance to win.”
Some fishermen are said to have had their wishes answered when the shop bought their stocks due to unprecedented demand.
The Catholic church has yet to rule on the appearance of the image.