Word of Apparition Draws Hundreds to Church : Religion: Crowds flock to Santa Ana after reported sightings of the image of the Virgin Mary. Catholic diocese officials downplay claims.

To the fog-shrouded church they came, seeking a miracle.

From throughout Orange County, hundreds were drawn by word that the Virgin Mary appears each morning at 7:30 as the faithful recite the Rosary in Our Lady of the Pillar Church in Santa Ana. Real or imagined, the sightings have captured the imagination of everyone from fervent parishioners who see a vision of the Madonna to television news producers who see visions of higher ratings.

On Friday morning, sunshine failed to slant through a stained-glass window and cast the usual warm morning glow on a 30-foot mosaic of the Virgin Mary behind the altar. But many of the 500 people who jammed the pews reported seeing faint details of a face in various spots on the tiled portrait of Mary appearing as a vision to St. James in AD 42.

Vincent Aguilar couldn’t make out an image. But the 71-year-old Seal Beach resident sobbed anyway because, he said, “Our Blessed Virgin told me she was in my heart.”

The apparition has drawn hundreds more people each day to the church on West 6th Street to witness the early morning spectacle.

Irma Villegas claims to be one of the first to have seen the apparition three weeks ago, a glowing form just below the word Gratia. The vision, she said, first appeared as she and about 20 other women recited the Rosary after the 7 a.m. Mass.

On Friday morning, the 48-year-old Santa Ana woman wiped away a tear with the sleeve of her sweat shirt, then pointed out the spot for another of the strangers who approached her.

“She is right there,” Villegas said, pointing to a gold-flecked area near the head of an angel. “But when the sun comes, it reflects her very well. . . . She is telling us she wants us to pray the Rosary more every day . . . to save the world.”

Officials of the Diocese of Orange declined to speculate on the authenticity of the visions, but urged parishioners to use caution.

“If such an alleged vision is taking place, that would have to be what we commonly call a miracle, and miracles do happen,” said Msgr. Lawrence J. Baird, a spokesman for the diocese, which includes 750,000 Roman Catholics. “But in something like this--and there have been many, many such cases reported--we try to explain things first through natural causes. And in this case, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to suggest it is more than that.”

Baird added that church officials often worry that reports of such sightings can “trivialize” the Catholics’ fundamental belief in the Virgin Mary as the mother of Christ.

Father James D. McGuire, assistant pastor at Our Lady of the Pillar, first learned of the apparition in his church through a local newspaper report. With a crowd of 500--the size normally seen on Sundays--plus assorted groups of television reporters and camera crews recording the morning experiences of the faithful, McGuire worried about the impact on regular parishioners.

“A lot of commotion like this is not conducive to a spirit of prayer and reflection,” he said.

Mila Grant is one who plans to be back today. The 38-year-old office manager from Santa Ana was one of thousands who trekked to the Northern California town of Colfax last winter to see what some believed to be an apparition of the Virgin Mary at St. Dominic’s Roman Catholic Church.

“I was able to see her six times in three days when she was appearing there in Colfax,” said Grant. “I haven’t seen her today, but I believe she is here. . . . And I hope to be fortunate enough to see her again. If I do, it would be icing on the cake.”