An Italian woman given the moniker “The Saint” mysteriously left a lakeside town near Rome after a private investigator opened a judicial investigation against her after claiming that the Virgin Mary statue she brought shed tears of blood.

‘The Saint’ leaves Italian town after case opened into statue’s ‘tears of blood’ https://t.co/L43YZZaXOi

— The Guardian (@guardian) April 11, 2023

Originally from Sicily, Maria Giuseppe Scarpulla and her husband left the town of Trevignano Romano around two weeks ago after an investigator allegedly found the blood stains on the Virgin Mary statue she brought from Bosnia came from pig’s blood.

The strange story began in 2016 when Scarpulla, known to her followers as Gisella Cardia, purchased the Virgin Mary statue at a Catholic pilgrimage site in Medjugorje, Bosnia. After returning to Italy, Scarpulla claimed the Madonna statue was weeping tears of blood and communicating messages to her.

Lol, imagine believing this

— All.Hail.Lord.Revan. (@AllRevan) April 11, 2023

The Virgin Mary statue was then enclosed in a glass case and placed in a park overlooking Lake Bracciano. Every third day of each month, hundreds of devotees would flock to Trevignano Romano to pray before the statue and receive “divine” messages from Scarpulla. Many of these pilgrims were searching for cures for their illnesses.

Being accused of bankruptcy fraud in the past, Scarpulla created a foundation where she collected donations. She claimed the donations would go to setting up a center for sick children.

With locals complaining over the monthly surge of devotees and an area in the park reportedly purchased with the collected donations, the Virgin Mary statue generated considerable interest from the media. This attention pushed the town’s local bishop, Marco Salvi, to announce last March that the church would investigate the phenomenon surrounding the blood-weeping Madonna statue.

Growing suspicions over Scarpulla’s claims did not stop an estimated 300 pilgrims across Italy gathered on the site last April 3rd for a monthly ceremony, where they heard another message Scarpulla claimed came from the Virgin Mary.

“Beloved children, this is the moment and time for choice,” Scarpulla said. “I ask you as a grieving mother: choose God. Children, the threads of darkness are gripping you.”

Andrea Cacciotti, a private investigator, filed a complaint to the local police and prosecutors two days later in the nearby town of Civitavecchia because “too many people felt they’d been scammed.”

Although his claims that the blood from the Madonna statue coming from a pig are yet to be confirmed, he would ask the judiciary to freeze Scarpulla’s bank accounts.

Reports of people claiming that Scarpulla scammed them increasingly began to surface, including a story where one man who met her in 2016 donated €123,000 (equivalent to $134,402) to her foundation. 

Scarpulla’s whereabouts since reportedly packing her car and leaving Trevignano Romano remains unknown. Her website posted a message saying meetings with the devotees were “temporarily suspended.”

Anna Orlando, Scarpulla’s lawyer, claimed she simply went on holiday.

“This is sensationalism at all costs,” Orlando told the local newspaper Corriere della Sera. “The witch-hunt is galloping, and nobody seems willing to ascertain facts. I can only say that we will defend ourselves.”