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Our Lady of Banneux

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Our Lady of the Poor
Reported event Eight reported appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Mariette Beco
Place Banneux, Liège, Belgium
Dates associated with the event 15 January–2 March 1933
Witnesses Mariette Beco
Ecclesial status Favorable supernatural judgment
Public devotion Authorized
Competent authority Louis-Joseph Kerkhofs, Bishop of Liège
Judgment date 1949-08-22

Our Lady of Banneux is a Catholic Marian title and manifestation tradition associated with Banneux, Liège, Belgium. Its exact ecclesial status is favorable supernatural judgment; that status governs what may truthfully be said about the reported event and the devotion connected with it.[1][2]

Devotional status: Approved devotion

Overview

Our Lady of Banneux (French: Notre-Dame de Banneux), or Our Lady of the Poor, is the Catholic title given to the eight apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Mariette Beco, an adolescent girl living in Banneux, Liège Province, Belgium, between 15 January and 2 March 1933. Beco told her family and parish priest of seeing a Lady in white who declared herself to be the "Virgin of the Poor", saying "I come to relieve suffering" and "Believe in me and I will believe in you".

Reported event

Eight reported appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Mariette Beco. The tradition locates the event at Banneux, Liège, Belgium and associates it with 15 January–2 March 1933.[1][3]

The identified witness or witnesses are Mariette Beco (visionary). The tradition is presented according to its competent ecclesial sources; later devotional embellishments, attributed messages, and anecdotes outside the authoritative judgment remain distinct from the approved material.[1]

Ecclesiastical judgment

The Bishop recognized without reserve the reality of the eight appearances of the Blessed Virgin to Mariette Beco. The competent authority was Louis-Joseph Kerkhofs, Bishop of Liège, acting with respect to Diocese of Liège. The recorded judgment date is 1949-08-22, and its defined scope is Exactly the eight Banneux appearances reported between 15 January and 2 March 1933.[1][2]

The cited competent authority made an affirmative judgment concerning the reported event's supernatural character under the discipline then in force. The historical act remains a real favorable judgment, although it neither adds to Public Revelation nor imposes belief as a dogma. The final 1949 recognition followed earlier reserved recognitions in 1942 and 1947.[2][4]

Devotion and reception

Public devotion connected with Our Lady of the Poor is authorized within the scope expressed by the competent acts. This permits Catholic prayer, pilgrimage, liturgical or shrine life, and pastoral reception only as those acts actually provide; local and universal observance remain distinct.[1][2]

A devotional permission is not a blank authorization for commercial exploitation, sensational predictions, disobedience, novel doctrine, or every text circulated under an apparition's name. Pastors retain responsibility for sound catechesis, the Sacraments, protection of the faithful, and any qualifications or restrictions attached to the judgment.[1][2]

Relation to Catholic faith

Public Revelation is complete in Jesus Christ and transmitted in Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. A Marian apparition cannot add to the Deposit of Faith, correct the Gospel, or create an alternate teaching office. At most, an authentic private revelation helps the faithful live Christ's definitive Revelation more fully in a particular historical setting.[5][6]

No Catholic is obliged to accept a private revelation as an article of divine and Catholic faith, even when competent authority has made a favorable judgment. Catholics must, however, respect the Church's actual permissions, cautions, and prohibitions. Exact terminology safeguards both legitimate Marian devotion and the primacy of Christ, whose grace alone gives every authentic apparition its meaning.[5][4]

History

Background

Mariette Beco was 11 and a half years old when she reported eight Marian apparitions in 1933 in Banneux, Belgium, a hamlet about 15 kilometres (10 mi) southeast of the city of Liège.[7] She was the eldest of seven children and her family's living conditions were difficult. They lived in a modest working-class house on the outskirts of the village, near a large pine forest.[8]

The apparitions

According to Mariette, she first saw the Blessed Virgin on the evening of Sunday 15 January 1933, as she was looking out the kitchen window. A woman in white stood in the garden of their house and called to her to come out with a wave of her hand. But her mother forbade her to go out.[9] She is described as a young lady in the yard smiling at her. The woman was bent slightly forward and wearing a long white gown with a blue sash, and a transparent white veil.

Three days later, on Wednesday 18 January 1933 around 7 p.m., Mariette had been praying on her knees in the garden of her house. Suddenly, the Lady appeared again and called her to leave the garden and head for the road. At some point, Mariette kneeled by a ditch, in front of a puddle of water coming from a spring. The Lady then told her: "Push your hands into the water" and "This spring is reserved for me".[8]

The next day, on 19 January 1933, the Lady appeared to Mariette while she was kneeling on the path in a bad weather. Mariette then asked her: "Who are you, beautiful Lady?" The Lady answered: "I am the Virgin of the Poor". Then, after having led Mariette along the path to the spring, the Virgin told her: “ This spring is reserved for all nations... to relieve the sick”.[7]

On 20 January 1933, Mariette went out around 6.45 p.m. and the Virgin appeared to her again. Mariette asked her: “What would you like, my beautiful Lady?" Smiling, the Virgin replied: "I would like a little chapel." The Virgin stretched out her hands, and with her right hand blessed Mariette.

On 11 February 1933, Mariette has once again been dragged to the spring by the Virgin. Three days later, on 15 February 1933, the Virgin appeared for the sixth time. That time, Mariette passed on Abbé Jamin's request for The Virgin to show them a sign. The lady replied: "Believe in me, I will believe in you." She also added for Mariette: "Pray a lot." The Virgin then gave her a secret and left.

On February 20, the Virgin told Mariette at the spring: "My dear child, pray a lot". Mariette then waited ten days before seeing the Virgin for the last time. On 2 March 1933, during a rainy day, Mariette was praying her third rosary when, around 7 p.m., it suddenly stopped raining and the Virgin appeared. That day, according to Mariette, Mary told her: "I am the Mother of the Savior, Mother of God. Pray much."[8]

The seer

Mariette became at the time the object of local derision, with even her grandmother and aunt making fun of her. Boys followed her around, calling her "Bernadette", kneeling and asking for her blessing.[10]

After the apparitions, Mariette decided to remain a private person, married and led a quiet family life.[11] Mariette died on 2 December 2011, at the age of 90.[12] In 2008 she made a final statement about her role in the apparitions: "I was no more than a postman who delivers the mail. Once this has been done, the postman is of no importance any more".[11]

Church approval

The claims of Mariette Beco were subject to an official investigation from 1935 to 1937 by an episcopal commission. The evidence collected was submitted to Rome for further analysis. Meanwhile, a hospital was built in 1938.[10]

In May 1942, Bishop Kerkhofs of Belgium's Diocese of Liege approved the veneration of Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Poor[13] and approved the apparitions themselves in 1949.[14][15] Although the Holy See gave the bishop permission to approve the apparition, the Holy See itself did not approve it.[16]

The sanctuary

A small chapel stands where the Virgin of the Poor is said to have requested it to be built.

Over time the site drew pilgrims. Today, the small spring yields about 2,000 gallons of water a day with many reports of miraculous healings.[17]

On 21 May 1985, during his trip to Belgium, Pope John Paul II visited the Sanctuary of Banneux and presided over a mass.[18]

Veneration

As Our Lady of Banneux she has two titles: Our Lady of the Poor and Queen of Nations.[19] Her feast day under these titles is January 15.[20]

See also

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Back to citation occurrence 1.3 Back to citation occurrence 1.4 Back to citation occurrence 1.5 Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Poor at Banneux: Recognition of the apparitions — Official Catholic source supporting judgment, authority, date, scope.
  2. Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Back to citation occurrence 2.2 Back to citation occurrence 2.3 Back to citation occurrence 2.4 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1978 norms on presumed apparitions and revelations — The earlier procedural norms under which many historical favorable judgments and permissions of public devotion were made.
  3. Back to citation Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Poor at Banneux: The Apparitions — Official Catholic source supporting event, eventDates, witness.
  4. Back to citation occurrence 4.0 Back to citation occurrence 4.1 Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena — The current law governing investigation and the six possible prudential conclusions, including the exact limits of a nihil obstat.
  5. Back to citation occurrence 5.0 Back to citation occurrence 5.1 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 65–67 — Catholic doctrine on the definitive fullness of Revelation in Christ and the subordinate role of private revelations.
  6. Back to citation Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum — The dogmatic constitution on Revelation in Christ and its transmission in Scripture and Apostolic Tradition.
  7. Back to citation occurrence 7.0 Back to citation occurrence 7.1 "Apparitions after Beauraing", Catholic Herald, 15 November 1957
  8. Back to citation occurrence 8.0 Back to citation occurrence 8.1 Back to citation occurrence 8.2 "Les apparitions (1933)". Banneux Notre-Dame (in French). Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  9. Back to citation "Apparitions after Beauraing", Catholic Herald, 15 November 1957; "Les apparitions (1933)". Banneux Notre-Dame (in French). Retrieved 2024-10-08; "Teahan, Madeleine. "Visionary who reported eight apparitions of Mary dies aged 90", Catholic Herald, 7 December 2011". Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  10. Back to citation occurrence 10.0 Back to citation occurrence 10.1 West, Ed. "Healing for all nations", Catholic Herald, 11 January 2008
  11. Back to citation occurrence 11.0 Back to citation occurrence 11.1 "Teahan, Madeleine. "Visionary who reported eight apparitions of Mary dies aged 90", Catholic Herald, 7 December 2011". Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  12. Back to citation KIPa News
  13. Back to citation van Houtryve, La Vierge des Pauvres, Banneux, 1947
  14. Back to citation Ann Ball, 2003 Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices ISBN 0-87973-910-X page 641
  15. Back to citation Matthew Bunson, 2008, The Catholic Almanac, ISBN 978-1-59276-441-9 page 123
  16. Back to citation Rahner, Karl (1995). Visioni e profezie: mistica ed esperienza della trascendenza (in Italian). Translated by Dell'Oro, Roberto. p. 109. ISBN 9788834338766. “è sorprendente che la Santa Sede abbia evitato nei casi di Beauraing e Banneaux di concedere l'autorizzazione come i vescovi volevano; per questo però diede il permesso, a che essi facessero ciò con la loro autorità episcopale”
  17. Back to citation Peter Stravinskas, 1998, Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia ISBN 0-87973-669-0 page 124
  18. Back to citation "Letter to the Bishop of Liège (Belgium) (July 31, 1999) | John Paul II". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  19. Back to citation "Coronation At Banneux - from the Catholic Herald Archive". archive.is. 2014-08-16. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  20. Back to citation Staff, Women of Grace (12 May 2012). "Virgin of the Poor – Our Lady of Banneux – Feast Day January 15 | Women of Grace". Retrieved 2019-01-15.

50°32′19.4″N 05°45′02.6″E / 50.538722°N 5.750722°E

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