Apparitions of Mary
Beauraing, Belgium
Index
Mary Approaches Us As A Loving Mother
When Mary appeared at Fatima in 1917, she gave an urgent message that the world be devoted to her Immaculate Heart, and obey the commands of her Divine Son. While some did change their lives, many did not. Communism was established in Russia and began to spread throughout the world. The dictator Mussolini in Italy, Adolf Hitler in Germany, and the Emperor of Japan were leading their countries toward the events which would cause the beginning of World War II.
Fifteen
years after Fatima, Mary appeared in 1932 in the town of Beauraing, Belgium.
Five children between the ages of 9 and 15 who lived in this town of about two
thousand were the instruments Mary used to bring her message to the world.
After their evening meal, four of the children would accompany the fifth,
Gilberte home, who was studying at the school which was run by the Sisters of
Christian Doctrine. Of this group, the four attended the state run school.
Religion had little meaning to Gilberte's parents who, long before, had stopped
attending Mass and receiving the sacraments. Gilberte was sent to the
sisters because they provided meals and Gilberte did not eat well at home.
On
the evening of November 29th, the four children had just rung the doorbell to
the convent to get Gilberte, when Albert happened to look toward the railroad
viaduct beside the
convent.
Look, he said, the Blessed Virgin dressed in white is walking above the bridge.
The others looked and saw the lady. When Gilberte came out to go home, she
also saw the vision. All the children ran home to tell their parents who
dismissed their story as childish imaginings. But Mary's appearance was
repeated the next day. The parents could no longer ignore the children,
and so on the third day, several adults accompanied them with the intention of
finding the person who was playing the tricks. Again the children saw the
lady in the convent yard, while the adults searched among the bushes, finding
nothing. Then the lady appeared to them again, but this time she stood
over a small Hawthorn tree inside the convent fence. The children
fell to their knees as they began to pray the Hail Mary.
The Lady seemed to be about 18 years old; her smile lighting up her features. Her eyes were a beautiful deep blue. Rays of light came from her head. She wore a long, white heavily pleated gown without a belt, which seemed to reflect a blue colored light. Her hands were held together as if in prayer. In later visions, she held a rosary.
The
parents decided to seek the advice of the parish priest, but he advised them to
do nothing. However, the sister superior of the convent school was
determined to end the affair. She locked the gates to the garden, put two
fierce dogs in the yard, and told the children to stay away. The next day
when she did this again, someone from the crowd of about 150 persons who had
gathered in the street remarked out loud, "What a Socialist we have in this
woman, she has less belief in this affair than we have." With this, she
relented and allowed the children to come again.
On the evening of December the 8th, more than 15,000 people had gathered on the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The vision occurred to the children as usual, but this time, there were doctors present who tested the children by taking their pulses, shinning flashlights into their eyes, slapping them, and one even held a match to the hand of Gilberte; there was no reaction to any of these tests. When the vision was over, there was no evidence of any injury.
The
Mother of God appeared to the children a total of 33 times between November 29th
and January the 3rd of 1933. She asked them to always be good, she told
them that she was the Immaculate Virgin, and that she wished a chapel to be
built so that people from all over the world could come to pray. Near the
last of her appearances, Mary showed the children her heart. It was
of gold and surrounded by glittering rays. She said special things on her
last visit. A secret was told to one which was never to be revealed; never to be revealed; to another was
the promise, "I will convert sinners." To another
child she said, "I am the Mother of God, the Queen of
Heaven,
pray always." Her final message was, "If you love me - sacrifice yourself
for me."
The people of Beauraing knew that the apparitions were true and started again to practice their religion. In 1933, two million people visited the convent grounds. There were reports of miraculous physical cures which had no medical explanation which continue to this day. But more importantly, Mary's promise to convert sinners has caused spiritual miracles to occur in people's souls so they can love her Son.
The building Mary requested has been built, and is the center of pilgrimages to this day bringing more than one million persons to this shrine each year.
We have a powerful friend in heaven - the Queen herself. And she loves us with the same Immaculate Heart which was fashioned to give a Mother's love to the God-Man. God can refuse Mary nothing. As long as we stay close to her, we have nothing to fear.