Updated Wednesday at 10:15 a.m.

By SUZANNE McLAUGHLIN

smclaughlin@repub.com



SPRINGFIELD - Early Wednesday morning, a crowd of hundreds again gathered outside a Mercy Medical Center office on Stafford Street to view what some believed to be an apparition of the Virgin Mary appearing in a second story window.

Crowd first gathered Tuesday afternoon, taking photographs of the shadow outlined on the window with their cell phones and saying the rosary.

"I think it's Our Lady of Guadalupe," said Olga Romero who lives in the nearby Saab Court Apartments, referring to the apparition of the Virgin Mary reported in 1531 in Mexico.

Sister Kathleen Sullivan, senior vice president at Mercy, said an image was observed on the window of a vacant office at the 300 Stafford St. medical building late this morning.



"What it is I don't know, but it was certainly humbling to see the faith of the people. It was so beautiful," she said.



Word spread, bringing possibly as many as 300 hundred people into the parking lot at one time.



The crowd was extremely orderly. Elderly women led others in reciting the rosary and singing. Others were overcome with emotion and crying.



Romero said she came to pray for her health. She brought her daughter and granddaughter with her.



Deirdre Gogel, of West Springfield, said she found it comforting that the apparition occurred when the United States is going through such trying economic times and people are frightened.



Mark E. Dupont, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, said the diocese was informed of the situation by officials at Mercy Medical Center.



Dupont said he went to the medical center and saw a clearly defined outline as sunlight shone through a window.



"Certainly it was inspiring people, and Catholics throughout their history have a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin," Dupont said.



He said it would take years for the church to investigate an apparition. "We want to be careful not to mislead people, but what we can't debate is the faith of the people," he said.



Sister Margaret McCleary, of the Sisters of Providence, said she stopped by after she heard news of the apparition. Mercy is part of the Sisters of Providence Health System.



"I am a photographer, and I know about the illusions which light and shadows can cause," she said, adding that she did not want to denigrate the faith of the people who gathered.



Sullivan said extra security guards were brought on to make sure the crowd was orderly, but the people caused no problems in the hospital parking lot.





