From the Virgin Mary to a Housewife in Queens

Every June 18 for more than 25 years, Veronica Lueken—a Catholic housewife from Bayside, Queens—gathered followers for an all-night vigil beside the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. In a trance, Lueken transmitted apocalyptic messages from the Virgin Mary, whose visitations were labeled ”Our Lady of the Roses.” Lueken died in 1995, and her followers split into factions that feuded over control. — New York Times, July 26, 1998