- The sick
- From the beginning the sick have been at the center of Banneux. St. John Paul II came in 1985 to celebrate Mass for them, and in his 1999 letter he invoked Mary there as “Our Lady of the Poor, Health of the Sick,” adding: “In a very special way, God is tenderly and lovingly present to every person afflicted by illness.”
- The poor
- The Lady came to a modest family in a hamlet, to a child of no importance, and in eight apparitions spoke only a few short sentences: about eighty words in all, by the word counts the Sanctuary gives for each. Her title says whom she came for.
- The messenger
- Mariette never made anything of herself. Late in life she said: “I was only a messenger to whom the Virgin gave a message and I had to deliver my message and then it was over.” And: “I've said what I had to say. I haven't had a word to add, nor subtract.”
Pillar II · Apparitions · Belgium, 1933
Our Lady of Banneux
Less than two weeks after the last apparition at Beauraing, in a hamlet in the hills near Liège, an eleven-year-old girl from a poor working family saw a Lady of light in the garden of her home. Over eight apparitions the Lady led her to a little spring, called herself “the Virgin of the Poor,” and said: “I come to relieve suffering.”
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At a glance
| Place | Banneux, near Liège, in the Diocese of Liège, Belgium: the garden of the Beco family's small house and a spring by the road nearby |
|---|---|
| Dates | Eight apparitions, in the evening, on January 15, 18, 19 and 20, February 11, 15 and 20, and March 2, 1933 |
| Seer | Mariette Beco (11), born March 25, 1921, the daughter of a working family living in hard conditions in a small, isolated house. She married in 1942 and lived a hidden, ordinary and often hard life, avoiding all publicity. She died on December 2, 2011, at 90. |
| Church judgment | Recognized by the Bishop of Liège, Louis-Joseph Kerkhofs. He recognized the apparitions officially “with some reservations” in 1942 and again in 1947, and in his pastoral letter of August 22, 1949 he wrote that he could and must “recognize without reserve” the reality of the eight apparitions of the Blessed Virgin to Mariette Beco. His successors have confirmed it; Bishop Aloys Jousten wrote in 2008 that “the apparitions and the message of the Virgin of the Poor are worthy of faith.” St. John Paul II marked the fiftieth anniversary of the recognition with a letter in 1999. Recognized before the 2024 norms. |
| Feast | None in the universal calendar |
| Pilgrimage | The Sanctuary of Banneux Notre-Dame, with the spring and the chapel the Lady asked for, a place of pilgrimage above all for the sick. St. John Paul II celebrated Mass there for the sick on May 21, 1985. |
| Weight | Approved private revelation: Catholics may accept it with prudent devotion but are not bound to believe it (CCC 67). |
What happened
On the evening of Sunday, January 15, 1933, Mariette Beco saw a luminous, smiling Lady in the garden of the family's house. The Lady beckoned to her, but her mother would not let her go out. Three days later, on January 18, Mariette went out at about seven in the evening and knelt in the garden to pray. The Lady came again and led her out onto the road. Twice Mariette knelt on the way; the third time she knelt by the ditch, in front of a little pool fed by a spring. “Push your hands in the water,” the Lady said, and then: “This source is reserved for me. Good evening. Goodbye.”
The next evening Mariette asked the Lady who she was. The answer gave Banneux its name: “I am the Virgin of the Poor.” The Lady returned five more times, the last on March 2, 1933, on an evening of heavy rain that stopped when she appeared. She smiled often, spoke very little, and on the last evening laid her hands on the child before saying goodbye.
The words of the Lady are quoted from the English account published by the Sanctuary of Banneux, checked against its French text; the Sanctuary's English varies slightly from page to page. St. John Paul II recalled that she came “a few years before the Second World War … as a messenger of peace.”
What Our Lady asked
Come to the spring
On January 19, when Mariette asked why the spring was for her, the Lady answered: “This spring is reserved for all Nations… to relieve the sick. I will pray for you. Goodbye.”
Build a little chapel
On January 20: “I would like a little chapel.” She then blessed the child with her right hand.
Believe
On February 15, when Mariette asked for a sign, the Lady gave none, only a promise: “Believe in me, I will believe in you.”
Pray a lot
Again and again: “Pray a lot.” On February 20: “My dear child, pray very much.” And on March 2, her last words: “I am the Mother of the Saviour, Mother of God. Pray a lot.”
On February 11, the anniversary of the first apparition at Lourdes, she said why she had come: “I come to relieve suffering.”
The spring and the sick
The little spring of Banneux is not famous for its size. Its importance lies in what the Lady said of it: it is “reserved for all Nations,” and it is for the sick. The Church does not treat its water as magic. It is a sign of the mercy God shows to the suffering, received in faith and prayer.
Banneux and the Book of Revelation
Banneux does not interpret Scripture for us. It echoes it.
- Springs of life-giving water. “For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17). The Virgin of the Poor led a child to a spring and said: “I come to relieve suffering.”
- For all the nations. John saw “a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue” (Revelation 7:9), and the tree of life beside the river, whose leaves “serve as medicine for the nations” (Revelation 22:2). The spring of Banneux is “reserved for all Nations… to relieve the sick.”
- The Mother of the Savior. The woman of Revelation 12 “gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod” (Revelation 12:5). At Banneux she named herself in the same way, by her Son: “I am the Mother of the Saviour, Mother of God.” In the Magnificat she says it herself: “my spirit rejoices in God my savior” (Luke 1:47).
- The Virgin of the Poor. Mary's song is the charter of her title: “He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things” (Luke 1:52–53). Revelation promises the same to the redeemed: “They will not hunger or thirst anymore” (Revelation 7:16).
- Let the one who thirsts come. “Let the one who thirsts come forward, and the one who wants it receive the gift of life-giving water” (Revelation 22:17).
Read with careBanneux has no secret, no warning and nothing about the end of the world. Many apparitions were claimed in Belgium in 1933; the Church recognized Beauraing and Banneux, and here the bishop waited sixteen years before speaking without reserve. Healings are hoped for at Banneux, but no one is promised one, and the water is not a remedy in itself. Like every approved apparition, Banneux adds nothing to the faith (CCC 67); it sends us back to the Gospel, where the poor and the sick come first.
For reflection
“Believe in me, I will believe in you.”
Mariette asked for a sign and was given trust instead. Is there someone poor, sick or alone near me whom I could visit this week, as the Virgin of the Poor came to a poor child?
Sources
- Sanctuary of Banneux Notre-Dame (official site), The apparitions, Message, Mariette and Recognition of apparitions; French texts: Les apparitions and Reconnaissance des apparitions
- Louis-Joseph Kerkhofs, Bishop of Liège, pastoral letter of August 22, 1949, as quoted by the Sanctuary
- Aloys Jousten, Bishop of Liège, statement in La Vierge des Pauvres (January–March 2008), as quoted by the Sanctuary
- St. John Paul II, Letter to the Bishop of Liège on the 50th anniversary of the recognition of the apparitions of Our Lady at Banneux (July 31, 1999)
- St. John Paul II, Mass for the sick at Banneux (May 21, 1985, in French)
- Catechism of the Catholic Church 67