March 8, 2010 - Reported in [telegraph.co.uk]. Virgin Mary icon crying tears of oil, France. An image of the Virgin Mary has been crying tears of oil, its owner has claimed, in a story that has drawn hundreds of visitors to the man's home in France. Esat Altindagoglu has been inundated with more than 50 visitors a day hoping to see the "miracle" at his house near Paris. An orthodox icon representing the Virgin Mary is pictured weeping tears of oil at a resident's home in Garges-les-Gonesse, France. The one-foot high painting was given to his wife Sevin by a Lebanese priest on her birthday in 2006, the Turkish-born salesman said.

It began weeping oil on February 12 this year, and had been "crying" every day since, he claimed. He said: "As word spread, people started arriving from France, then from all over Europe. "I've been having between 50 and 60 people a day turning up for more than three weeks now." An Orthodox priest had now agreed to say mass at his home in Garges-les-Gonesse this week to thank the Virgin Mary, Mr Altindagoglu said. He added: "Apparently the next step is to have to weeping witnessed by a bishop so the miracle can be officially recognised by the church." Over the centuries there have been hundreds of incidents of statues said to have wept blood, oil or water. But the only one ever approved as a miracle by the Pope was Our Lady of Akita in Japan, in 1973, with all the others ruled out as hoaxes.

July 3, 2010 - Reported in [france24.com]. 'Miracle' in Paris suburb. Hundreds of people have been flocking to a house in a Paris suburb over recent weeks to see an icon of the Virgin Mary "shed tears of oil", according to the owner. Esat Altindagoglu said the tears began flowing from the icon hanging in the hallway of his house in Garges-les-Gonesse on February 12 and that some 50 people have been showing up at his door daily since word spread of the "miracle".

"It's a small miracle," he said on Sunday. "This is a message sent by the Virgin and her son." Esat's wife Sevim, also a fervent believer, said she was praying before the icon when "I noticed that she was crying. I said to myself' this is not normal'." Visitors who come from as far away as Belgium and Germany often bring a small wad of cotton to collect some of the oil from the icon that they believe holds healing powers. A woman came in mid-February and explained that she was unable to have a child. She took a bit of oil with a hankerchief and placed it on her belly. Two days ago she called me and said that she could now have child," said Sevim.