The 1796 miraculous wave of moving-eyed Madonnas in Rome and Ancona

1796. Napoleon's Italian campaign had begun in March. On 20 June, Pius VI signed the Armistice of Bologna. It let the French occupy Ancona, Bologna and Ferrara.

25 June 1796, or 26 June in some accounts. In the left transept of the Cathedral of San Ciriaco hangs a humble half-length Madonna, about 37 by 45 centimetres. Her face is inclined, with eyes painted semi-closed and turned toward the faithful. News that the French were arriving brought many citizens before her to pray for the city to be spared. According to the cathedral canons, the Madonna then "began to move her eyes".

Women praying at the altar said the eyes moved and she smiled. Pilgrimages spread through the city. The next day the image was carried in procession. The sign of the opening eyes lasted until early February 1797. Notaries took statements. Thousands of witnesses were questioned.

Saturday 9 July 1796. In an arched alley of Palazzo Muti, a passer-by saw the Madonna dell'Archetto "move its eyes repeatedly." Rumours went round the city. Antonio Ambrosini, a 37-year-old maestro di cappella, came to see. Like others before him, he saw the Virgin's eyes close and reopen at short intervals.

The parish priest, Bonaventura Carenzi, asked Fra Giovenale Bonaventura Goani to measure it with a compass and record the changing "portion of white" of the eye. The prodigy, he testified, was "not only certain to me by inspection with my own eyes, but moreover most evident". Through July, dozens of images across Rome were said to move their eyes. Crucifixes and statues of saints were reported too. At Frosinone, from 10 July, witnesses saw the Virgin open her eyes as her face took on a reddish hue and her left eye appeared veiled with tears.

Pius VI ordered a canonical process that opened in October 1796 under Cardinal Vicar Giulio Maria della Somaglia and closed on 28 February 1797. 26 Roman images were examined. Sources disagree on how many were authenticated, giving 5, 11 or all 26. Abate Giovanni Marchetti compiled the official account, published in 1797. The notary Francesco Cecconi authenticated each copy. One later count claims at least 122 documented cases across the wave, and about half a million witnesses.

In February 1797, Napoleon arrived in Ancona and summoned the canons. He accused them of "imposture and deceit aimed at inciting the people to rise against the French." On 12 February, or 11 February in the diocesan account, the painting was brought to him for a private examination. When he removed its pearl crown and said he would give it to a poor girl as a dowry, observers noted a visible disturbance in his expression. He let the image return only if it was veiled, while some claimed he had seen the miracle.

Newspapers of the period ran articles denying the miracles. They drew on Francesco Salfi's Saggio di fenomeni antropologici, and Salfi probably wrote several of them. For radical republicans, the wave was an obstacle to the new Republic. No finding of fraud is recorded for any image. Devout observers saw an ill omen instead. In 1798, the French took Rome.