Bois-Seigneur-Isaac Abbey

Bois-Seigneur-Isaac Abbey is a former Augustinian abbey in Wallonia, then a Premonstratensian priory, dependent on Averbode Abbey and now occupied by the Lebanese Maronite Order. It is located in Ophain-Bois-Seigneur-Isaac, Belgium .In the 11th century Lord Isaac set out on Crusade and was taken prisoner by the Saracens, but was miraculously freed following a vision of the Virgin Mary. On returning to his lands he built a wooden chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Grace and Consolation, with a statue venerated for nearly two centuries. In 1336 the neighbouring village of Ittre, suffering the Black Death, won permission from the bishop of Cambrai to carry the statue in procession through their village. It was found that the plague abated wherever the statue passed and so the villagers refused to hand back the statue which had protected them so well, finally winning the bishop's agreement to keep it and place a new statue in the chapel of Bois-Seigneur-Isaac.

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