About 1,000 pilgrims gathered in Unterflossing, Bavaria, on Sunday to witness what was said to be the second apparition of the Virgin Mary in the village of 112 inhabitants.

Salvatore Caputa, a self-proclaimed sayer and former policeman from Sicily, drew pilgrims from Germany, Austria and Italy, some on crutches and in wheelchairs. Observers reported that at 4.30pm on the dot, he fell to his knees as a strong smell of rose scent wafted through the air. He then entered the chapel.

While the Catholic church does not recognise Caputa, who has been claiming to have seen visitations by Mary since 1986 and to have had conversations with her, the archdiocese of Munich took the events seriously enough to send an observer to report back to church leaders.



Manyin attendance copied Caputa as he held a rosary in an outstretched hand, while others held up mobile phones and filmed the spectacle.

Pilgrims said they had “felt a presence”. Anna Maria Schwarz, 75, who prayed at the chapel, told German media: “Salvatore has the grace of God, he has been chosen by the Mother of God.”

She described smelling the perfume, saying the smell was only reserved for those “in a state of grace”. She added: “You feel a vibration and you know the mother of God is there.”

Returning from the chapel about half an hour later with a page full of writing, Caputa said: “Mary wants you to pray to her. She is greatly troubled.”

He urged those present to “bring peace into your hearts” and added that she had pronounced her love for Austria and Germany, and would return on 19 March at 4.30pm.

Otto Masszi, the owner of the private chapel and an environmentalist in Munich’s administrative district office, said it was a “fantastic message” to hear that the Virgin Mary was to return. “That tells me that (until then) nothing will happen to our beautiful world. No asteroid will destroy the earth, there’ll be no world war three, no epidemic,” he said.



The mayor, Lorenz Kronberger, was focused more on practical than pastoral details, saying he had struggled to deal with issues such as parking and road safety amid the influx of so many visitors. “My main concern is the traffic management rather than that the Mother of God will appear in the flesh,” he said.

Some pilgrims gathered water from the village well, which Caputa said had been blessed by Mary, filling up bottles and jerry cans.