Home | Links | Contact Us | Sitemap

Catholic Shrines

North American Catholics will find shrines in every corner of Belgium .

There is a complete separation of church and state together with freedom of worship in Belgium but traditionally the atmosphere of the country is Catholic, not less in the Dutch-speaking provinces of Flanders than in the French-speaking provinces of Wallonia.

As an area from which so many Crusaders set forth in the Middle Ages, Christian devotion and pageantry still flourish, especially in one of the oldest and most spectacular religious events – the Procession of the Holy Blood in Bruges every May. Another important religious manifestation, by no means limited in appeal to the purely devout or Christian adherents, is the Procession of the Penitents (brown robed and barefoot) every July at Veurne.

Religious practice is closely bound up with local patriotism, as is much else in Belgian life and religious “Pilgrimage” observances cover nearly every week of the Christian calendar. But there are also occasions for religious pilgrimage with broader appeal for the devout, and a few shrines draw pilgrims from beyond the borders of Belgium.

The most notable and historic of Belgian shrines are ‘Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel’ (or Montaigu in French) in the province of Brabant, ‘Our Lady of Hanswyck’ in the province of Antwerp, and ‘Our Lady of Foy’ in the province of Namur.

For more information about history and place you can take a look at www.marypages.com

Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel (Montaigu)

Scherpenheuvel is a place-name meaning sharp (or steep) hill which, since it falls within Dutch-speaking Brabant, is also known as Montaigu. Located just south of the river Demer between Diest and Aardschot, it is held in particular veneration by the inhabitants of the Kempen (provinces of Antwerp and Limburg) across the Demer to the north. However for the annual Candlelight Procession held outdoors at 2pm on the first Sunday after All Saints, thousands of pilgrims flock here from all over Belgium and from other countries as well.

This particular ceremony dates from 1629, when it occurred spontaneously as a special intercession to the Virgin for Relief from an epidemic. Veneration of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel, however goes back much earlier to a time when a statue of the Virgin was discovered in the boughs of an oak tree at the very top of the hill. It is one of the favorite pilgrimages of the students of the University of Leuven.

The early Baroque church which now houses the statue, draped in a rich Spanish cloak and wearing a crown, was built in 1609. Seven-sided square, out of the model of St. Peter’s Rome, the church stands on a seven-sided square, out of which streets lead to form a small community itself seven-sided in plan. The geometric perfection stems from the fact that Montaigu was constructed all of a piece to the order of Albert and Isabella, the Spanish Hapsburg rulers of the Low Countries after the death of Philip II.

Images of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel are to be found all over Belgium, perhaps the most attractive being small stained-glass panels two or three feet high which people insert in windows or rest on windows sills to catch the light. Scarcely less prized among devout Belgians are the candle-ends saved after the Candlelight Procession each year at Montaigu. They are lit again and allowed to burn out only at some moment of personal or family crisis such as the birth of a baby.

Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, Tourist Office
Ernest Claesstraat 152 - 3271 Zichem
Tel from US 011 32 13/77.20.81, - Fax 011 32 13/78.25.52

 

Our Lady of Hanswyck

 Mechelen (Malines in French) lies in the province of Antwerp, midway between the great port and Brussels. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Belgium, seat of the archdiocese since the sixteenth century. Here, in St. Rombaut’s Cathedral, lies buried one of the most famous Catholic churchmen of modern times: Cardinal Mercier, whose courage during World War 1 earned him the respect of the entire civilized world. And here between 1507 and 1530, at the close of the Burgundian epoch, Margaret of Austria kept a court frequented by such notable humanists as Erasmus and Thomas More, such painters as Mabuse and Van Orley, and such musician as Josquin des Pres.

Today incorporated with Mechelen, Hanswyck was once a hamlet on the river Dyle. Though the first reliable evidence for a special cult of the Virgin at Hanswyck comes to us from a Dominican who died in 1280, an older legend has it that around 988 a boat going down the Dyle suddenly stopped and nothing could make it go on.

Among the freight was a statue of the Virgin, and somebody had the idea of setting it on the bank. The boat was now suddenly able to move on, and the sailors and onlookers concluded that the Virgin Mary had chosen the site as a place of worship.

The statue was taken to an oratory nearby, and over the generations worshippers attributed prodigious powers to Our Lady of Hanswyck. Pilgrims began to make their way here in every-increasing numbers.

The present Basilica (for the sanctuary was raised to that dignity by his Holiness, Pope Pius XI, at the request of the late Cardinal Mercier) was designed by the architect and sculptor Luc Faid’herbe in the mid-seventeenth century. He was a disciple of Rubens, who designed other churches in this region and was responsible for the high altar of St. Rombaut’s Cathedral. There is a fine pulpit by another Mechelen craftsman, and the confessionals are also notable. The Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswyck is recognizable from afar by its Baroque dome.

Dienst Toerisme Stad Mechelen
Hallestraat 2-4 - 2800 MECHELEN - toerisme@mechelen.be
Tel from US: 011 32 15/29 76 55 - Fax: 011 32 15/29 76 53


Saint Dymphna

 A less well-known but extremely interesting Belgian Saint is Saint Dymphna, virgin and martyr, whose tomb is at Geel in the province of Antwerp in the church dedicated to her.

It is under her patronage that the citizens of Geel care for mentally disturbed persons, taking them into their homes and helping them to recover under normal conditions, without restraint. It is on May 19 that the people of the region surrounding Geel come to pay tribute to her every year, an occasion with special appeal in our troubled century.

Toerisme Geel
Markt 33 - 2440 Geel - toerisme@geel.be
Tel from US: 011 32 14/ 57 09 50 - Fax from US: 011 32 14/ 59 15 57