Banneaux: The Virgin of the Poor

Banneux is a small village southeast of Liège in French-speaking Belgium. In the winter of 1933, a young girl named Mariette reported that the Virgin Mary had appeared to her on eight separate occasions. Mariette was 11 years old at the time and came from a poor family of lapsed Catholics.

Mariette first saw Our Lady of Banneux through her kitchen window before supper on Sunday, January 15, 1933. She saw a glowing figure standing motionless near the vegetable garden, dressed in white with a bright blue sash. The figure held a rosary and was smiling at Mariette. The young girl asked to go outside, but her mother feared the girl's vision might be a ghost and refused to allow it. When Mariette returned to the window, the lady had vanished.

Three days later, on January 18th, Mariette knelt on the frozen ground where she had seen the figure and began praying the Rosary. A figure appeared in the distant sky, then came closer and closer until she was only a few feet away. The lady led Mariette to a spring, then spoke for the first time, saying: "Dip your hands into the water. This spring is reserved for me." Then she withdrew, promising to return.

The next day, the lady appeared for a third time. Mariette asked her who she was, and she replied, "I am the Virgin of the Poor." The Virgin again led Mariette to the spring, and said, "This is reserved for all nations… for the sick."

During the fourth apparition, on January 20th, Mariette asked, "What do you want, beautiful Lady?" The Virgin replied that she would like a little chapel built and made the sign of the cross. At the fifth apparition (February 11th), the Virgin took Mariette to the spring once more and said, "I come to heal the sick."

The sixth time she appeared (February 15th), the Virgin said, "Believe in me, I will believe in you," and the seventh time (February 20th) she said, "Pray hard."

The eighth and final apparition occurred on Thursday, March 2, 1933. The Virgin said, "I am the Mother of the Savior, Mother of God," and she repeated, "Pray hard."

After the apparitions, miraculous healing associated with the spring at Banneux was reported in increasingly large numbers. The site of the apparitions at Banneux was officially approved by the Catholic Church in 1949.

The Shrine of the Virgin of the Poor includes the Sacred Spring, the Chapel of the Apparitions, a large church, several small chapels scattered throughout the forest, the Stations of the Cross, a hospital for the sick who come for healing, and a pilgrim's information office.

Adapted from Sacred Destinations