Oregon, Ohio - Three hundred and fifty years after she first wept in compassion for peasants in present-day Slovakia, the Blessed Virgin Mary of Klokočov is coming to Oregon.
St. Michael the Archangel Byzantine Catholic Church, 4001 Navarre Ave., Oregon, will display a copy of the weeping icon beginning Monday through Aug. 30. The local parish is the latest site on a regional pilgrimage that began in June under Ohio's Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma.
St. Michael Parish welcomes the public to view and venerate the icon each day between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.
A two-dimensional image of Mary, wearing a crown and holding a similarly crowned Jesus, the icon depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary of Klokočov is spiritually significant in a faith tradition that holds icons themselves as spiritually significant, as St. Michael's Rev. Robert Stash explained in an interview anticipating the arrival of the icon on Monday.