OUR LADY OF THE GOLDEN HEART

Day 201: November 29

Our Lady of the Golden Heart, Beauraing, Namur, Belgium

Beauraing is a small town in the south of Belgium. It is here that starting from November 29, 1932 , Our Lady appears to five children 33 times, until January 3, 1933. The visionaries are: Fernande Voisin, 15 years old, Andrée Degeimbre, 14 years old, his sister Gilberte 9 years old, Albert Voisin 11 years old and his sister Gilberte.

On the evening of November 29, Albert went with Fernande, Andrée and Gilberte to the convent of the Sisters where his sister Gilberte usually stayed until 6:30 pm to study. After passing the small grotto of Lourdes, in front of the railway that runs along the convent garden, they headed towards the door of the convent and rang the bell. While the boys waited for someone to come and open the door, Albert turned to look towards the railway embankment. And there he saw something that left him astonished; pointing the others in the direction with his hand, he shouted: "Look! Our Lady walks on the bridge."

At first the children could not believe but then they too saw the luminous figure of a woman dressed in white who walked slowly, with her hands joined and supported by a cloud that hid her feet. When Albert's sister, Gilberte, went to open the door of the convent she had not yet noticed what was happening but almost immediately she too noticed that wonderful Lady dressed in white.

The children at first felt attracted by the prodigious vision but then they were overwhelmed by fear and fled without even looking back.

In the following days they would go every evening to the place of the apparition, next to a hawthorn tree near the grotto, to recite the Rosary and await the coming of the Lady. But Our Lady would not appear every evening.

As the days went by, the little visionaries were accompanied to their appointment with the Virgin by a crowd of people that became more and more numerous from time to time.

When the apparition began, all five fall to their knees simultaneously on the hard cobblestones of the street, with such force that it astounded those present. Yet it seemed the children never suffered any injuries or bruises. Those watching were also amazed by the children's unusual tone of voice when they prayed, much higher than usual.

When asked to describe Our Lady, the children agreed that the "beautiful Lady" was dressed in a white robe and held her hands clasped as if in prayer, with rays of light around her head.

During the apparition of December 5th, Albert asked Our Lady: "Are you the Immaculate Virgin?" The Lady, smiling, nodded; then Albert asked her: "What do you ask of us?" and Our Lady replied: "To be very good"; "On what day should we return?" Albert then asked, "The day of the Immaculate Conception," Our Lady replied.

On December 13th the children asked Our Lady once again: "What do you want us to do for you?", "A chapel" Our Lady replied.

In the apparition of December 21, Mary revealed her name to the children: "I am the Immaculate Virgin." On Tuesday, December 23, Fernande asked her, "Why do you come here?"; Our Lady replied, "So that people come here on pilgrimage."

On the 27th, the Blessed Virgin appeared only to Fernande with a golden heart surrounded by rays; this heart was also seen by the other visionaries in the apparition of December 30th. The Virgin said to Fernande: "Pray, pray a lot!

On December 28, Our Lady announced to the children: "My last apparition will take place soon."

In the apparition of January 1, Mary said to the children: "Pray always!" and on January 2 she announced: "Tomorrow I will say something to each of you in particular."

On the day of the last apparition, the influx of people was enormous: 25,000-30,000. For miles and miles, the road leading to the site of the apparitions was packed with visitors and lines of vehicles. The children began reciting the Rosary, and after the first two decades, four of them fell to their knees in ecstasy; Fernande then burst into tears because he couldn't see Our Lady like the others. Mary made a promise to Gilberte: "I will convert sinners." To Andrée, she said: "I am the Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven. Pray always," and then disappeared.

At the end of the apparition, while the four boys were being questioned, Fernande remained kneeling. Suddenly, the girl and others present heard a clap of thunder and saw a ball of fire on the hawthorn tree. The Virgin appeared to Fernande and asked her: "Do you love my Son? Do you love me?" The girl answers yes, and Our Lady then said: "Then sacrifice yourselves for me."

At that moment the Blessed Virgin began to shine with a very brilliant light, she extended her arms and the children could see her golden heart. Before disappearing, Our Lady greeted them with a "Goodbye," which signified the definitive end of the apparitions.

On May 18, 1985, John Paul II also went to Beauraing. He knelt before the Virgin of the "Golden Heart" and met Gilberte and Albert Voisin and Gilberte Degeimbre.

St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Glory to the Blessed Trinity in you, O Mary! Glory to you, O Mary, in the Blessed Trinity! Queen of Bethlehem, Our Lady of the Holy Name, Queen of Nazareth, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Queen of Calvary, Our Lady of the Most Precious Blood, Queen of the Cenacle, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, Queen of the Sacred Sciences, Our Lady of Good Studies."

(Ascension, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Father, Newark, 1997, p. 408)