Virgin Mary weeps oil
An image of the Virgin Mary is seen in the chapel of "Las tres gracias" during Holy Week in Pontevedra, northern Spain. A Virgin Mary statue in an Israeli house is said to be weeping oil. Reuters

A statue of the Virgin Mary in a small town in northern Israel weeps tears of oil, the family which owns the statue has claimed.

The statue is owned by a Christian family from Tarshiha, near the Lebanon border.

A family member, Osama Khoury, said his wife Amira discovered the "striking" phenomenon after she found the statue "covered with oil" recently.

"My wife (Amira) came closer to the statue and found it was covered with oil," Khoury told the Sky News.

"She then wiped the oil, she was scared. She called our neighbour and told her to come and see what she saw."

"The neighbour came and looked at it and found that it was real oil, and then she held my wife's hands and told her not to be afraid, that it was a blessing that had come into your house," he added.

According to the Associated Press, Amira said that the Virgin Mary statue "spoke to her." It told her not to be afraid, she said, adding that the weeping statue made her want to pray.

"I felt a strange feeling that something was pulling me to pray," Amira said.

Ever since the word spread about the weeping statue, Thousands of people have flocked to the family's living room to witness the miracle. Eye witnesses said some parts of the statue appeared to be smooth with moisture. Those areas appeared moist even after being wiped.