The Virgin Mary makes an appearance… on a pebble

Hands up who believes in miracles. I know you’re out there.

Miracles have an allure, even for some non-believers. We know there’s no way to dis

prove them. We want the impossible to happen. And there’s something compelling about the idea that a divine entity is manifesting itself in the mundane.

Newsworthy? Maybe. Intriguing? Definitely. That the ‘Virgin Mary pebble’ made the news is great – isn’t it brilliant to have some positive news from the doom ‘n gloom merchants?

Christchurch woman Lisa-Marie Corlet hit the headlines with her tiny icon-on-a-stone. The Virgin Mary pebble was found at Kaikoura Beach with an image etched on its surface, seemingly of the Virgin Mary. Without any religious scruples, Corlet put the pebble up for sale on TradeMe with a buy now price of $50,000. After a fake bid or two and a second Virgin Mary pebble auction underway, the pebble sits at $26,900 (while you’re there, check out the ‘Pebble that doesn’t look like the Virgin Mary’ and the ‘Virgin Mary on a surfboard pebble’). Internationally, there are precedents – a decade-old toasted cheese sandwich bearing the image of the Virgin sold on eBay for $28,000. Apparently the buyer, a casino, took the sacred sandwich on tour before donating the money to charity.

When online readers were asked to give their feedback on the miraculous stone from Kaikoura Beach, one astute reader noted that the image resembled “a greedy woman rubbing her hands together in glee.” Hmm, you don’t say.