Hospital to remove, study 'Virgin Mary' window

(David Molnar/The Republican/AP)

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A Springfield hospital plans to remove the office building window where some people thought they saw the image of the Virgin Mary. But hospital officials said they would continue to study the window over the next several months and would consider the possibility of putting it on display.

After the image was first spotted on Sept. 30, crowds flocked to Mercy Medical Center, with 200 to 300 people sometimes standing outside the doctor’s office window on Stafford Street. The crowds have dwindled in recent days, said a hospital spokeswoman, Mary Orr.

Hospital officials said the institution needed to get back to its job of caring for patients.

“Mercy Medical Center is a busy hospital and medical center. While Mercy respects the cultural and religious beliefs of the community, our primary focus is on caring for patients and maintaining a safe and appropriate healing environment. Removal of the window is not only a prudent decision at this point but is necessary for returning to normal operations,” a hospital spokesman, Mark Fulco, said in a statement.

Fulco said that the image in the glass was “unique” but experts who had studied the glass had found the image was “an unusual but not unknown occurrence.”

“There has been a tremendous outpouring of prayer and attention focused on the window. We ask, as [Springfield Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell] has requested, that attention now be placed on prayers for the people in the hospital as well as the sick and infirmed throughout our world,” said Fulco.

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