Chapelle N.D. de Beauraing

From November 29, 1932 to January 3, 1933, five of Beauraing's children witnessed about thirty Marian apparitions.

On November 29, 1932, around 6 pm, Father Voisin asks his children, Fernande (15 years) and Albert (11 years), to pick up their sister Gilberte (13 years) at the boarding school of the Sisters of Christian Doctrine in Nancy.

Along the way, they ask their friends Andrée Degeimbre (14 years old) and Gilberte (9 years old) to accompany them.

When Albert rings the bell at the boarding school and turns around, he sees the Virgin walking on the railway bridge. His sister and friends didn't believe him at first, but when they turned around, they saw the "beautiful lady" too.

Sister Valeria came to open the door. The children tell him that the Virgin is appearing. The nun does not believe in this "stupidity" and goes to the office to look for Gilberte. When she arrives at the front door, she also sees the Virgin, oblivious to what is going on, walking back and forth across the sky on the bridge.

The children run home shocked, but promise to look for Gilberte the next evening.

On December 1, she also appears to them, but then disappears and reappears at the holly bush to the right of the stage. She disappears again, only to reappear under the branches of the hawthorn at the entrance to the garden.

There Marie will appear to them thirty more times until January 3, 1933.

She wears a long white dress with blue undertones. His head is covered with a white veil that falls over his shoulders. From his head come fine rays of light, which form a crown. She usually appears with her hands folded and smiling. From December 29, children see his heart in his open arms, which shines like a heart of gold.

Hence the name "Notre-Dame de Beauraing, the Virgin with the heart of gold".

On December 2, she spoke for the first time in response to the children's question:

"What do you expect from us?" "That you will always be good".

And in the evening, during another apparition: "Is it true that you will always be good?"

On December 8, the children remain in ecstasy for fifteen minutes:

"She was even more beautiful than usual!"

On the 17th, Marie asked for "a chapel".

On December 21, at the request of the children, she called herself "I am the Immaculate Virgin".

December 23: “Why are you here?” So that people can come here on pilgrimage.”

From December 30, Marie will convey the essence of her message.

The 30th: "Pray, pray a lot."

January 1: "Pray always."

3rd: Marie entrusts a secret to the three youngest.

She promises, "I will convert sinners."

She calls herself, "I am the Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven."

She asks, “Do you love my Son? Do you love me?

During and after “the apparitions” these events lead to a strong polemic among the population between the adherents of “the veracity of the statements of the seers” and their opponents. This controversy takes place inside and outside the Catholic Church. After several canonical investigations, the diocesan authority decides to recognize the apparitions. Adoration of the Virgin was approved in 1943 and the supernatural nature of the events was officially recognized in 1949.

This Marian apparition, officially recognized by the Catholic Church in 1949, led to a devotion to the Virgin Mary under the name “de Beauraing” or “au coeur d'Or” (because of a vision reported by the seers).

After the cult was approved in 1943 and the apparitions were officially recognized in 1949, a first chapel was built on the site of the apparitions in Beauraing.

In the Catholic Church, the Virgin under this denomination is celebrated on November 29, the anniversary of the first apparition.

This relatively recent devotion (less than a century) is still little known (if we compare it with other great Marian apparitions such as Lourdes or Fátima). Yet we find his performance and his cult in various places, such as here in Warnant.

At the top of the chapel is a stone engraved with the following text: (in bold):

Thank you virgin with a heart of gold

Convert your Warnantais

Watch over us all

Willem Vandenameele