The story explained how on Sept. 18, three 14-year-old girls — Margaret Keville, Mary Hagerty and Roseann Pinto — while walking along Parkside Avenue at the edge of Fairmount Park on their way home from St. Gregory Parochial School at 52nd Street and Lancaster Avenue in West Philadelphia had stopped and sat on a bench near 51st Street to chat.
According to the girls, the Virgin Mary had suddenly appeared to them standing in a nearby privet bush — she was wearing a blue veil and white gown — and then simply vanished.
Returning home, the girls told their parents and other relatives what they believed they had seen.
The following day, according to the Life article, the three girls returned to the site with two friends, Mary and Carol Burns. All five girls claimed they could see a face in the bushes and all reported they had detected the scent of roses coming from the bush.
