Banneux, 1933

(Credits)

God sent many graces to Belgium in the dark years leading up to World War II. Only 12 days after her last apparition at Beauraing, Our Lady visited Banneux, another Walloon village. Like Beauraing, Banneux was poor, socialist, and secularist. Like the Dégeimbre and Voisin children, 11-year-old Mariette Beco, the young girl chosen as Our Lady's instrument, came from a lapsed Catholic family. Mariette had ceased attending catechism classes and had never made her First Communion.

On the night of January 15, 1933, Mariette looked out the window for her younger brother, Julien, and saw a beautiful, luminous young lady beckoning to her. The figure was dressed in a long, white gown, with a deep blue sash and a white, transparent veil. Her right foot was visible, with a golden rose between the toes. On her right arm, the lady carried a Rosary with diamond-like beads and a golden chain and cross.

Mariette eagerly called her mother over to look, but Mrs. Beco saw only a mysterious light, and, fearing witchcraft, forbad her daughter to follow the figure outside. On the evening of the 18th, however, the beautiful lady re-appeared to Mariette, as she was leaving the garden, where she had been praying. Mariette knelt beside a nearby stream. "Put your hands in the water," the lady told her. Mariette obeyed and the lady continued: "This stream is reserved for me. Good evening, au revoir ('see you again')."

The next day, amidst terrible weather, Mariette prayed outside on her knees. The mysterious figure re-appeared and the little girl asked: "Who are you, my beautiful lady?" "I am the Virgin of the Poor," was the response (especially touching, in a poverty-stricken region!) Mariette persisted: "Yesterday, beautiful lady, you said: 'this stream is reserved for me,' why 'for me'?" She pointed at herself, thinking it was for her. Smiling, the Blessed Virgin replied: "this stream is reserved for all nations...to relieve the sick." Mariette thanked Our Lady, who added: "I will pray for you. Au revoir."

Mariette slept badly that night and had to rest for most of the next day. In the evening, she awoke and returned to the garden, and the Virgin appeared, yet again. "What do you wish, beautiful lady?" Mariette asked. Smiling, Our Lady replied: "I would like a little chapel." She then gave Mariette a blessing, and departed. For several weeks, no further apparitions occurred, but, every evening, Mariette prayed faithfully in the garden. On February 11, the Blessed Virgin returned and told her: "I come to relieve suffering" (1).

The visions were initially met with skepticism and disbelief, and, Mariette was accused of inventing fanciful tales to imitate Beauraing. The local priest urged her to ask the Virgin for a sign, to confirm the truth of the apparitions. At Our Lady's sixth visit, on February 15, Mariette told her: "Blessed Virgin, the chaplain told me to ask for a sign." Yet, Our Lady only answered: "Believe in me, I will believe in you." She entrusted Mariette with a secret and added: "Pray much. Au revoir."

At the last two apparitions, on February 20 and March 2, in striking contrast to her previous smiling demeanor, Our Lady was grave and sorrowful. "My dear child, pray much," she urged Mariette, and, finally: "I am the Mother of the Savior, Mother of God. Pray much." In parting, she blessed Mariette and bid her adieu ('until we meet in God').

In 1935, the Church began investigating the Banneux apparitions, and, by 1949, they had been officially approved by Rome. The cult of the Virgin of the Poor spread widely, both in Belgium and abroad, renewing people's faith. Today, pilgrims still flock to the shrine of Banneux and many cures have been attributed to its healing waters.

Here is a short video on the shrine:

(1) Mariette did not initially understand the meaning of the word "relieve" but she knew it must be something good, as the Blessed Virgin had smiled!

Beauraing, 1932-1933

Yesterday, I linked to an article on the infamous Belgian child-murderer, Marc Dutroux, and his horrific career of kidnapping, rape and murder of young girls in the 1990's. Today I want to talk about God's grace to children....the apparitions of Our Lady of the Golden Heart to five children in Beauraing, Belgium, from 1932-1933.

The 1930's were a dark period. Communism, fascism and Nazism were on the rise in Europe, the Great Depression spread misery through many countries and humanity spiraled towards a new world holocaust. In Belgium, the tragic and untimely deaths of two beloved monarchs- King Albert I and Queen Astrid- brought further grief. Yet, the decade had begun with a message of grace and hope.

Beauraing was a farming village, home to around 2000 souls, near Namur. By 1932, the influence of the Marxist labor party had eroded the inhabitants' once vibrant Catholic faith, and the churches were almost empty. Even the five young visionaries- Andrée and Gilberte Dégeimbre, and Fernande, Gilberte and Albert Voisin, came from respected but not particularly devout families.
Yet, it was here that over 30 Marian apparitions occurred, between November 29, 1932, and January 3, 1933, rekindling people's religious fervor. At the convent of the sisters of Christian Doctrine, in a rose bush near a replica of the Lourdes grotto, the children saw a beautiful, luminous lady dressed in white, looking like an 18-year-old girl, with deep blue eyes. She wore a belt, her dress radiated a blue light and she carried a Rosary on her arm.

During the apparitions, the visionaries were struck to their knees by an unseen force, but suffered no harm. They prayed in high voices and appeared to be in total ecstasy. Doctors experimented by pricking, slapping and pinching them, and shining bright lights in their eyes, but the children made no response and were impervious to pain and injury.

Questioned by Albert Voisin, the beautiful lady indicated: "I am the Immaculate Virgin." She showed the children her shining, Golden and Immaculate Heart. Here are some of her simple, yet touching messages:

"Always be good."

"Pray, pray very much."

"Pray always"

"Goodbye." (to Gilberte Degeimbre)

"I will convert sinners. Goodbye." (to Gilberte Voisin)

"Goodbye." (to Albert Voisin)

"I am the Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven. Pray always, Goodbye." (to Andrée Degeimbre)

Our Lady requested that a chapel be built at the site of the apparitions and that Beauraing become a place of pilgrimage. She also entrusted each child with a secret, none of which have ever been revealed. At the last apparition, the Blessed Virgin asked 15-year-old Fernande, who was weeping at the thought of never seeing her again: "Do you love my Son? Do you love me?" Fernande replied, "yes," and Our Lady answered, "then sacrifice yourself for me." At this point, spectators reported, thunder crashed and a ball of fire appeared above Fernande. As the young girl attempted to ask, "what sacrifices shall I make?" Our Lady opened her arms in farewell, and bid her, one last time, adieu.

The visions were subjected to great skepticism and scrutiny (both ecclesiastical and secular). In 1935, the church began a formal investigation of the apparitions. In 1943, the local Bishop authorized public devotion to Our Lady of Beauraing. In 1949, the visions were officially approved by Rome. In obedience to Our Lady's request, a chapel was built at Beauraing and consecrated in 1954. Many cures and graces have been attributed to the intercession of the Virgin of the Golden Heart, and her cult, to this day, remains a focal point of Belgian Catholicism.

The Dutroux Affair

Belgium's most infamous scandal (warning: graphic content). It is appalling to think this could happen in a once Catholic country.

Romantic Marie-José

I came across some excerpts from the youthful journal of Marie-José, daughter of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. She kept a special "diary of the heart" under lock and key where she recorded her innermost thoughts and emotions. At 18, under the title "Impression," she spoke of her longing for her future husband, Prince Umberto ("Beppo") of Savoy. Marie-José and Umberto are often described as a couple united merely by reasons of state, completely opposed in character. Yet, they had alot in common- inner dignity, concern for social justice, sympathy for art and literature. Raised to love Umberto, Marie-José came to view him as the perfection of a young man...As she confided to her diary:

I do not know why life sometimes seems boring, tiring, empty. Yet there are so many things that are interesting, beautiful, entertaining, good and useful. We meet so many people who are intelligent, good and sincere. But, in spite of this, we are always seeking something else. How stupid we are. Beppo, it's you I want, perhaps this is why everything seems boring, when you are not here. Come, come to me, and let me come to you, and let's always remain together. I don't want to live without you, I cannot, I love you. There's the reason for all my ill-humor. Only you can give me the true joy of this world.

When I see black eyes in the street, an impulse of some sort, an inexplicable energy passes through me. A second's excitement. There's an elegant man walking swiftly by, and I gaze at him. All this because of a distant resemblance to Beppo. I will never love anyone as I love you.

(cited in Italian by Luciano Regolo in Il re signore, 1998, p. 126)

What a romantic young lady! Sadly, she was rarely able to find the conjugal intimacy and happiness she desired, but that's a story for another day...

"Glory and Charm..."

A mini-fashion show today...I always love these old photos of Queen Elisabeth in lace dresses. In her memoirs, Princess Louise-Marie, eldest daughter of King Leopold II, recalled the "fairy-tale lace which is the glory and charm of Belgium." Some of these pictures seem almost like an advertisement for the national art! They also illustrate Elisabeth's elegance and refinement.

I especially like her grave, dignified expression in the photo above. And the hat is incredible! She often wore large hats. It was probably very fashionable but, I suppose, it also lent her extra height? Being a very petite woman, she must have needed to compensate...especially considering she had to look imposing (and balance her very tall husband) on official occasions.
A striking contrast, here, between the white dresses of Elisabeth and Marie-José and the black suits of Leopold and Charles.

This one is so tender!

Equestrian Portrait of Leopold I

A striking (and quite romanticized) painting of the young Leopold. I love the colors, especially the shades of blue.

Leopold's Tribute to Louise-Marie

I have posted before on the holy death of Louise-Marie of Orléans, first Queen of the Belgians. Here is a speech delivered by her husband, King Leopold I, on this occasion. The Belgian Senate and Chamber of Representatives had presented their condolences to the monarch. He answered the Chamber in a voice full of emotion:

From the bottom of my heart I thank the Chamber of Representatives for this address, wherein it expresses in so touching, exalted, and tender a manner its regret for the queen, and its feelings towards me. The country has shared my sorrow as if it had lost all I have lost myself. I cannot tell you how this feeling on the part of the country has touched me, and how deeply grateful I am for it. You are right, gentlemen, to speak of the queen as you do. She was attached heart and soul to her new country; in you she found to love those qualities which she herself possessed in the highest degree—steadiness and constancy in your affections. I look to you, gentlemen, and to the country, its happiness and progress, for the consolation I have need of. The ideas I expressed even before my arrival in Belgium with respect to the future have been realized. The country has lived, and has grown. It now offers to our sight no longer the uncertain promise of infancy, but the florid and robust health of youth. All the most ardent desires of my heart are for your future prosperity. My children, who will be with you when I shall be so no more, will continue my task, and your interests will be their only thought. There will be between them and you the same sympathy which exists between us, gentlemen, and which every year as it rolls away renders still stronger and still deeper.

(Memoirs of Leopold I, King of the Belgians, 1868, Theodore Juste, pp. 242-243)

A Belgian Enigma

The theft of the Just Judges.

Paul Claudel on Albert I

The King laughing with the Burgomaster of Brussels- I thought this photo captured Albert's spirit as described in this passage

The French Catholic poet, dramatist, and diplomat, Paul Claudel, was a close friend of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. I came across Claudel's beautiful tribute to Albert, dated February 18, 1934. The previous day, the King had died tragically while climbing the cliffs of Marche-les-Dames. His death was a terrible shock to Claudel.

Informé ce matin de l'accident, j'ai cru d'abord qu'il s'était produit loin d'ici, en Suisse. Le roi, grand alpiniste, faisait souvent des ascensions très perilleuses. Le site ou il devait trouver la mort, hélas! avait été récemment classé. Le souverain, qui le connaissait bien, a voulu le revoir à cette occasion. On suppose qu'un quartier de roche a cédé sous lui.

Je ne puis vous dire toute l'étendue de ma tristesse. Dans ma longue carrière, il m'a été donné d'approcher bien des hommes, il m'est rarement arrivé d'en trouver de cette qualité. Le roi était simple dans la grandeur. Il aimait les humbles. Il cherchait l'occasion de les approcher et trouvait pour chacun le mot gentil, la reflexion intelligente qui touche et qui frappe. Malgré tous les lourds devoirs de sa charge, il s'empressait à faire plaisir. Il y a une quinzaine de jours encore, il avait tenu à assister en personne à une representation de "l'Annonce faite à Marie," au Palais des Beaux-Arts, et m'avait parlé de ma pièce de la façon la plus fine et la plus simple, avec la plus grande bienvieillance.

Esprit très noble, très élevé, il avait cependant un sens très juste des réalités, trouvant et définissant parfaitement le sens concret de toutes choses.

...(J'ai vu le roi pour la dernière fois) à la dernière fête donnée à la cour. Je me rappelle aujourd'hui avec mélancolie combien le roi et la reine paraissaient heureux de la brillante réussite de cette soirée. Le roi souriait en me parlant et il semble que la Providence lui ait donné alors une dernière occasion de toucher le coeur de tous ceux qui l'aimaient et qu'il aimait, de prendre en quelque sort congé de ses amis et de son peuple.

Sa mort est une perte terrible, non seulement pour la Belgique mais pour l'Europe entière...

Translation:

Informed, this morning, of the accident, I thought at first that it had happened far from here, in Switzerland. The king, a great alpinist, often did very dangerous climbs. The place where he would meet his death, alas! had recently been classified. The sovereign, who knew it well, wanted to see it again on this occasion. They suppose that part of the cliff collapsed under him.

I cannot tell you the full extent of my sorrow. In my long career, it has been granted to me to become close to many men, but it has rarely happened that I have found men of this quality. The king was simple in greatness. He loved humble people. He sought opportunities to become close to them and found, for each, the kind word, the intelligent reflection that touches and strikes. Despite all the heavy duties of his charge, he made strenuous efforts to please. Only fifteen days or so ago, he had insisted on attending, in person, a performance of "The Tidings Brought to Mary", at the Palace of Fine Arts, and he had spoken to me of my piece in the finest, simplest fashion, with the greatest kindness.

A very noble, very elevated spirit, he possessed, nonetheless, a very accurate sense of realities, finding and defining perfectly the concrete meaning of all things.

...(I saw the king for the last time) at the last celebration held at court. Today, I remember with sadness how happy the king and queen seemed with the brilliant success of that evening. The king smiled as he spoke to me, and it seems that Providence had given him, on that occasion, a last opportunity to touch the hearts of all those who loved him and whom he loved, to take his leave, as it were, of his friends and his people.

His death is a terrible loss, not only for Belgium but for all of Europe.

(Supplément aux oeuvres complètes, vol. II, by Paul Claudel, Maryse Bazaud, 1991, pp. 219-220)

Marie-José's Birthday

On August 4, 1906, the future Italian queen, Marie-José, youngest child and only daughter of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, was born in Ostend. After two boys, Albert was delighted to have a little girl. Elisabeth, on the other hand, used to repeat, (partly in jest), "I would have preferred another boy." Yet, Marie-José was always a beloved daughter and princess.

Tragically, Marie-José's eighth birthday coincided with the German invasion of Belgium during World War I. It was the beginning of a wartime childhood which painfully marked this brave, yet sensitive young girl.