She was always just the Rosary ghost to me, until last week. I found myself lured into one of those religious megastores, crammed with books and crucifixes and holy figurines, and there she was, in a stash of wallet-sized cards of virgins and saints. There was no mistaking the blue sash, undulating veil and long string of prayer beads – this ethereal beauty is none other than the Virgin of Lourdes. It simply hadn’t occurred to me before that she was someone.

It seems the Virgin Mary appeared to a 14-year-old girl in Lourdes back in 1858 (I’ve been doing a bit of research now, you see). What I find rather uncanny is that she showed herself to me in this Recoleta Cemetery window with a now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t quality, slipping away through the reflected stone.