Notre Dame au Coeur d'Or (Our Lady of the Golden Heart)
Beauraing, Belgium (1932)

Commemorated on November 29, August 22
Notre Dame au Coeur d'Or (Our Lady of the Golden Heart) From November 29, 1932 to January 3, 1933, Mary appeared 33 times to the playground of a convent school to five children. The children belonged to two families: the Voisins (Fernande, 15 years; Berthe, 13 years; and Albert 11 years) and the Degeimbres (Andre, 14 years, and Gilberte, 9 years old). Identifying herself as "the Immaculate Virgin" and "Mother of God, Queen of Heaven," she called for prayer for the conversion of sinners.

History

On the evening of November 29, 1932, a group of children aged 9 to 15 saw a luminous woman floating above the railroad bridge near their Catholic school. Afraid, they ran home. On the next night, they saw her there again, but she vanished, reappearing on a hawthorn bush by the school's garden gate. Glowing in white robes with blue highlights and a crown of rays, the woman didn't speak until December 2, when the children asked what she wanted of them. "To be very good," she said. She later asked for a chapel, for pilgrimages and prayers, and identified herself: "Je suis la Vierge Immaculée." From December 29 until the last apparition, a golden heart showed on the Virgin's breast. On January 3, 1933, witnesses saw a ball of fire crackle at the bush right before the children dropped to their knees in Our Lady's presence. She spoke individually to each child; they all heard her say "Adieu." 
 
Unlike many apparitions, those of Beauraing did not occur in a gorgeous rural setting or leave untutored seers speaking in theological tongues. In this homeliest of miracle stories, the Immaculate appeared above an overpass and spoke tersely, in language the youngest child could understand.
 
The Virgin with the Heart of Gold got her wishes. In 1933, two million pilgrims arrived in the small town.

Description

The Virgin Mary appeared as a beautiful lady in white walking above the bridge and the grotto by the convent with clouds covering her feet. The Virgin, with hands joined and turned toward the sky, carried a rosary hanging from her right arm. During the five last apparitions, she showed a heart of gold, surrounded by rays, on her chest.

Approval

Ten years later, the Bishop of Namur approved devotion to Our Lady of Beauraing, ratified by the Vatican in 1949. Two years later a statue of her was installed beneath the hawthorn, by then a tree. The chapel, begun soon after the war, was consecrated in 1954. Now some 400,000 pilgrims visit annually. The feast day of Notre Dame de Beauraing is celebrated August 22, formerly the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (now moved to June). The shrine also celebrates the anniversary of the apparitions November 29.

Prayers

O virgin of the Poor, May you ever be blessed ! And blessed be He who deigned to send you to us. What you have been and are to us now, you will always be to those who, like us, and better then us, offer their faith and their prayer. You will be all for us, as you revealed yourself at Banneux : Mediatrix of all graces, the Mother of theSaviour, Mother of God. A compassionate and powerfull Mother who loves the poor and all Peaople, who alleviates suffering, who saves individuals and all humanity, Queen and Mother of all Nations, who came to lead all those who allow themselves to be guided by you, to Jesus the true and only Source of eternal life.
Amen.

Shrines

Les Santuaires de Notre Dame de Beauraing

Les Santuaires de Notre Dame de Beauraing (Beauraing, Belgium)

The Shrine of our Lady of Beauraing had its beginning between November 1932 and January 1933 when Our Lady appeared 33 times to five local children ranging in age from 9 ...

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