One of her servants did it, to be sure!
This is the icon of the Zhirovitsk Mother of God (the patronal Theotokos of the Basilian Order) which was found on a pear tree.
She is highly venerated by both Orthodox and Catholics. In Italy, she is called "Madonna del Pascuolo."
This icon-mosaic is situated at the front of a very old Irish cemetery of St Luke in Thornhill, just outside of Toronto. People of all backgrounds stop and pray before it.
Just down the street from where this icon is enshrined is "Annswell Park" named for the local Methodist saint, Holy Ann Preston who died in 1916 and was known and honoured by both Protestants and Catholics as a miracle-worker, in life and death.
Her prayers brought water back to a dry well and this well was capped by the municipality of Thornhill. The well is beside a prayer house that Ann's employer, Dr. Reid, had built to allow her a refuge to pray (and she would pray for hours) and also to allow her a place to meet the many people who came for her counsel and prayer.
Her biography and picture are online and I venerate her privately. Her cottage is situated across the street from the park and has an historical plaque near it.
She once waited for a ride on a Sunday morning in winter. A man with a horse-drawn carriage came by and Ann shouted to him, "My Father said that you would take me to church this morning!"
The man stopped and said to her, "I'm an RC priest - I don't drive with women."
Ann insisted, "But my Father told me you would take me to church today." "And who is your Father?" the bewildered priest asked. "The Heavenly Father," Ann replied. "Oh, then you better come aboard!" the priest said.
The Irish know how to stick together!
God bless you, Our Lady's Slave!
Alex
Slav to the Slave
