In 1984 he claimed to be experiencing sightings of the Virgin Mary.

They were spontaneous and random, just like the sightings of the Virgin Mary.

Mrs. Lueken claimed more than 300 sightings of the Virgin Mary, whom she said proclaimed the evils of television, rock and roll, and the taking of communion by the hand.

The shrine has become the centre of a healing ministry; it has been the venue of several claimed sightings of the Virgin Mary and several photos of the Madonna in the church.

IT'S not every day that there are sightings of the Virgin Mary, the Easter Bunny and an overstuffed pink pig sporting a black leather jacket and a strand of rainbow-colored beads.

She said that the fast-changing world of the last two centuries had produced hundreds of claimed sightings of the Virgin Mary, but the church has deemed only seven, including the one at Lourdes, worthy of faith.

MYSTICAL manifestations seem to be in the news at the moment, what with the imminent publication of a book about recent sightings of the Virgin Mary in a London tower block.

According to some tabulations, there have been 20,000 assorted sightings of the Virgin Mary over the last 2,000 years - twice as many as the number of people who have been venerated, at one time or another, as saints.

Sightings of the Virgin Mary at the Church of the Nativity in Ternopol have given a surge of energy to the Eastern Rite Catholics, a church that, officially, no longer exists in the Soviet Union.

Some supporters, who compare Elian to Moses and the baby Jesus, have reported sightings of the Virgin Mary at a nearby bank and, most recently, a vision of the Virgin of Guadalupe on a mirror inside the house.

This fall, the visitation theme will be featured in at least two books about sightings of the Virgin Mary: "Meetings with Mary" (Ballantine) by Janice T. Connell and "Miracles of Mary" (Harper San Francisco) by Michael S. Durham.