Our Lady of Lourdes

The parishioners of Bhagyodya Nagar and Mithanagar came together to share the reflection on Our Lady of Beauring for the fifth day of the novena.

The First World War had ended and the entire world was going through the Great Depression. No one would have imagined then that another war, worse than the first, would soon come. November 1932, it is the periods between the Two World Wars, in several European countries. The Belgium people as in other places are strongly affected by the economic crisis. It was within this context that Mary appeared in Beauraing, Belgium. 

Beauraing was and continues to be a humble village in southeast Belgium, four miles from the French border. During the time of the apparitions of Our Lady, the population numbered around 2,000. They also suffered from the effects of the Great Depression, but they emerged from this period for the better, being simple people close to the land.

15 years after the apparitions of Fatima, Our Lady of Beauraing also known as the Virgin of the Golden Heart is the title of 33 apparitions reported there between 29 November 1932 and 3 January 1933 by five children whose ages ranged between 9 and 15. Mrs. Germaine Degeimbre, a strong, kind, and practical woman, knew how to provide for her daughters, alone after her husband passed away. She is the mother of two of the visionaries. The parents, as well as the oldest two daughters, were born in Beauraing, but the family had moved to Voneche where the father had gotten a job taking care of a farm. They lived there for 13 years. When the father died, the family returned to their native town. They had only been back in Beauraing for two years when the apparitions took place.

Hector and Marie Loose Voisin were the parents of the other three visionaries. Hector, employed by the railroad, opened a little shop with his wife on the main street of the town to increase his poor income. The Voisins were very involved in the Socialist party and had abandoned the practice of the Catholic faith; however, the apparitions led them to find their faith again.

On the evening of November 29 1932, Fernande Voisin, age 15, and Andree Degeimbre, age 14, and her sister Gilberte, 9, were with Albert Voisin, 11. They made their way to the local convent school to meet Albert’s sister, Gilberte, who was staying to study. 

While waiting for the front door bell to be answered, Albert looked towards the embankment over the grotto and cried out: “Look! The Blessed Virgin, dressed in white, is walking above the bridge!” The girls paid no attention to him. But then Fernandes turned around, partly because of the way Albert’s voice sounded, and partly because of the expression on his face. She looked up and froze in her tracks. The other girls, meanwhile, were still facing the door. “It’s only the light of an automobile, silly” they said. Albert insisted and made them turn around. As they looked up, they all went into shock. There she was, above the bridge. 

They all saw the greatly illuminated figure of a woman in white, wearing a long flowing gown. She seemed as though she were walking on a cloud. They were able to distinguish that she was bending her knees, walking on air. They didn’t know what to do. The girls began pounding on the door. They yelled and cried at the same time. Sister Valeria answered the door, and they said, “Look, sister, the Virgin is walking above the bridge – She’s all dressed in white – We’re afraid.”

The good nun tried to see what they were talking about. She looked in the direction to which they pointed, but she couldn’t make anything out. She thought perhaps they were referring to the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Grotto. She turned on a light so they could see better. “It’s only a branch in the wind.” she said. “Statues don’t walk.” The children insisted the Blessed Mother was walking above the bridge. The sister strained her eyes, but could see nothing. About this time, Gilberte V. walked out the door, and immediately saw the vision, exclaiming: “Oh, Look!” The children were in a state of panic. They wanted to get home.

The sister did not believe them but, she related the story to the other sisters at dinner that night. She met with strange looks, and a curt comment from Sister Theophile. “Oh sister”, she said, “How can you tell such a story? You sound as childish as those children.”

Meanwhile, the children ran home towards the Degeimbre house. They passed a man on the street. From their expressions, he thought there was a fire somewhere. “What’s happened?” he asked. Without skipping a beat, one of them yelled, “We saw something in white.” When they arrived at the Degeimbre house, their faces were flushed, and they were completely out of breath. All spoke excitedly at the same time: “I think we saw the Blessed Virgin!”; “I think it was the statue that moved!”; “The Blessed Virgin was walking!”

However, they told their parents everything. Our Lady continued appearing to the children, but for the first three days, she said absolutely nothing to them. The local people, the skeptics, and their parents asked them, “What did she say?” 

Their response was, “Nothing.”

Then, on Friday, December 2, in response to questions the people had prodded them to ask Our Lady, she replied to the question, “Are you the Immaculate Virgin?”, She nodded her head and opened her arms. “What do you want of us?”, she spoke for the first time. “ALWAYS BE GOOD.” They answered her, “Yes. We will always be good.” The response from the unbelievers when they heard this message was, “That’s it?”

The next day, Saturday, December 3, they repeated their questions and to the question, “What do you want of us?”, her response was, “Is it true that you will always be good?” Their response, in unison, was, “Yes! We will always be good.”

The children encountered great opposition from all sides, including from the village priest. No one was helping them discern these events, but rather, they were being mocked or accused of being liars. To the outsiders, what had happened was not enough. Throughout the apparitions, there was not enough sensationalism. Where were the miracles? Where were the signs? What was she saying that was momentous? “BE GOOD ALWAYS.” What was that?

A battle began that November of 1932. People that you would expect to come to the aid of the children became their greatest enemies. The hate and accusations that they faced was almost immediate and strong. They trusted in Our Lady alone. The majority of the time, she would just look at the children and smile. She followed them as they recited the rosary, but didn’t join in. If she said nothing, that meant there was nothing to report, and the children could go home.

In spite of everything, suddenly, the Church had more participants at Mass than before. Over the next several weeks, they saw the lady thirty-three more times, generally in the garden of the convent-school. The final apparition was on 3 January 1933.

In the final vision, the Lady asked one of the children, Fernande, “Do you love My Son?” and she replied, “Yes”. She then asked her “Do you love Me?” and Fernande again answered, “Yes”. The Lady then stated, “Then sacrifice yourself for me” and bade them farewell before the child could reply.

The children reported that the lady requested that a chapel be built at the site and stated that “I am the Immaculate Virgin”. 

She also desired for pilgrims to come to the site and asked the children (and everyone) to “pray, pray, pray” and, in one of the last visions on December 29, she opened her arms to display and revealed her “Golden Heart”.

In 1935, Bishop Thomas-Louis Heylan of the Belgian regional diocese of Namur formed a commission to investigate the apparitions. Eight years later, in 1943, his successor, Bishop André-Marie Charue, authorized public devotion to the title “Our Lady of Beauraing,” and the apparition received recognition as authentic in 1949. Every year on Nov. 29, Mary is celebrated under the title “Our Lady of Beauraing,” also known as the “Virgin with the Golden Heart.” Pope John Paul II visited Beauraing on 18 May 1985.

Prayer: Our Lady of Beauraing, Immaculate Virgin, carry to Jesus, your Son, all the intentions which we confide to you this day. (Here mention your intentions.) Mother with the Golden Heart, mirror of the tenderness of the Father, look with love upon the men and women of our time and fill them with the joy of your presence.

The apparitions are a mark upon history, showing that Our Mother is never far from those who suffer, that she wants to prepare us so that we will be able to conquer all adversities and reach heaven.