Now this village is truly Mary’s home

Long before the apparitions of Lourdes, someone ventured to say that if Mary ever wished to appear somewhere, Lourdes was among the most indicated places, since it was already her "home."

Something similar can be said of the Belgian village which officially changed its name to Banneux-Notre-Dame in 1914.

During the tragic days of the German invasion, at the beginning of WWI, all the populated areas of the region were destroyed and burned down. Seeing fires everywhere in the distance, the population of the small town of Banneux gathered in the church and vowed to consider their territory as "Mary’s land" and add the name of “Notre-Dame” to that of Banneux if it was spared from destruction.

The Germans rapidly by-passed their village and headed towards France. No harm came to any of the inhabitants for the rest of the war. When it was over, the village asked and obtained to change its name to Banneux-Notre-Dame. Now it is truly Mary’s home.

Vittorio Messori,

L'enigma di Banneux - in Ipotesi su Maria, Edizioni Ares, Milano (Italia)