The Weeping Madonna of Civitavecchia: Blood Matched to a Local Man's DNA
Would be extraordinary if real — but it has been positively shown false.
The account
An Italian statue of the Virgin Mary reported to weep blood in 1995 was investigated by forensic scientists; the blood was typed as male, the statue's owner refused DNA testing, and a subsequent Italian trial established a church custodian had applied blood to a different statue using his own blood.
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In February 1995, a small plaster Madonna statuette in the home of Fabio Gregori in Civitavecchia, Italy, was reported by approximately 60 witnesses to have wept blood on multiple occasions. The statue, bought as a souvenir at the Medjugorje shrine in Bosnia, was only 16 inches tall. News of the phenomenon spread rapidly, drawing pilgrims and international attention.
The local bishop, Girolamo Grillo, had the statue removed to his residence for safekeeping and notified police, who had the blood substance tested. Results established it was human blood typed as male. When investigators requested DNA samples from Fabio Gregori and the male members of his household to determine whether the blood originated from within the family, the family declined.
The diocesan commission appointed to investigate included no chemist, physician, or scientist, only theologians. It concluded there was no evidence of fraud but made no positive finding of supernatural activity. Chemist Luigi Garlaschelli at the University of Pavia demonstrated that capillary attraction through a fault in the glaze of a porous plaster statue can draw internal moisture to the surface, producing apparent 'weeping' without any external intervention.
In 2008 a related Italian criminal case concerned the Civitavecchia statue: church custodian Vincenzo Di Costanzo was tried for faking blood on a statue of the Virgin Mary. Forensic experts matched the blood's DNA to Di Costanzo's own saliva sample. The Civitavecchia case itself was never formally resolved by civil authorities.
Reviewer Notes
We weigh a claim on two things, kept separate from the story above.
Assessed by Miracles Jar AI
Not “low evidence” — positive proof it’s false: positive evidence shows the claimed facts are false.
Blood applied by human hand; male DNA; custodian convicted in separate adjacent case; natural capillary mechanism demonstrated.
Blood applied by human hand; male DNA; custodian convicted in separate adjacent case; natural capillary mechanism demonstrated. The case is almost certainly not authentic.
The blood was typed as male, which is inconsistent with a supernatural origin via the Madonna figure and points toward human application. This forensic blood typing — establishing the substance was human blood, typed as male — was established during the police investigation after the bishop called authorities.
The statue owner Fabio Gregori and the male members of his family declining to provide DNA samples was noted by investigators; it is not itself proof but is consistent with guilt.
The 2008 trial of Vincenzo Di Costanzo, in which a church custodian's DNA was matched to blood on a similar weeping statue, establishes a precedent for human application. Di Costanzo was convicted; the forensic match was made via a saliva sample.
Garlaschelli's demonstration that capillary action through a faulty glaze on porous plaster statues can produce apparent weeping provides a natural physical mechanism for apparent weeping in such statues.
The bishop was initially cautious. The 2008 case established a precedent directly relevant to the Civitavecchia statue. The combination of male blood DNA, the family's refusal to be tested, and the adjacent criminal conviction left the phenomenon with no credible supernatural account.
Evidence ledger — what the verdict rests on
Forensic blood typing confirmed the substance was human blood, typed as male — inconsistent with a supernatural origin via a female holy figure
Established during police investigation after bishop called authorities
Statue owner and male family members refused DNA testing when requested by investigators
Refusal noted by investigators; not itself proof but consistent with guilt
In a 2008 Italian trial, a church custodian's DNA was matched to blood on a similar weeping statue, establishing a precedent for human application
Vincenzo Di Costanzo convicted; forensic match via saliva sample
Capillary action through faulty glaze on porous plaster statues demonstrated as a natural mechanism for apparent weeping
Demonstrated by chemist Luigi Garlaschelli, University of Pavia
What would raise this score: Adversarial scrutiny with real power to expose deception — hostile investigators, controlled conditions — coming back clean would raise the evidence bar.
What would lower it: A confession, an exposed method, or a documented financial motive would drive the evidence bar toward zero.
How this works
We keep two questions apart on purpose — so a thin record can’t make an impossible thing look proven, and a strong record can’t dress up an ordinary one as a miracle. First: Could nature explain it? (taking the account as true for the moment.) The question is whether nature could produce this at all — assuming, for the moment, the events are true as described. Second: is there real evidence it happened? A claim only stands out when both hold up — and we never call anything certain either way. How ratings work →
The natural explanation
The leading natural account for this case is deception: hoaxes, cold reading & stagecraft. Read what it explains — and where it stops.
The same wonder, across traditions
This claim is one of many that make the same assertion across faiths. See it side by side in Images That Weep, Bleed, and Stir.
Sources
Tagged by proximity to the event. Primary sources are direct or contemporaneous; tertiary are downstream retellings.
- 1.Secondaryother
"Madonna of Civitavecchia — Wikipedia", 2024· no public link
Documents blood typing, DNA refusal, and commission findings
- 2.Primarynews
"Church custodian on trial in Italy for weeping statue hoax — Catholic News Agency", 2008· no public link
Reports forensic DNA match in Vincenzo Di Costanzo trial
- 3.Secondaryother
"Science or miracles? Why weeping religious statues cry — FlipScience", 2021· no public link
Describes Garlaschelli's capillary-action mechanism for porous statues
Cases like this
Nearest on the map — similar in how miraculous they’d be, and how strong the evidence is.