Sanctuary of Our Lady of Beauraing
Visited by thousands of pilgrims every year, the small town in the heart of Famenne, in the province of Namur, owes its fame to the apparitions of the Virgin Mary. From 29 November 1932 to 3 January 1933, she appeared to the five children of Beauraing 33 times. Fernande, Gilberte and Albert of the Voisin family, and Andrée and Gilberte of the Degeimbre family described the Virgin Mary as a Beautiful Lady who gave them a message, asking in particular for a chapel, and for much prayer and pilgrimage. She also promised the conversion of sinners.
In 1943 the church authorities issued permission to worship the Virgin Mary, and in 1949 the Vatican officially recognized the supernatural nature of the apparitions. The sanctuary was built in the place where the Virgin Mary appeared to the children. In 1947 the votive chapel was built, designed by the architect Claes of Beauraing. Then the Rosary Crypt and the Upper Church were built. In 1985 the Pope John Paul II visited the sanctuary, celebrating mass and meeting people who had witnessed the apparitions. A statue of the Virgin Mary was placed at the place of the apparitions, making it a concentrate point for pilgrims. In 2013 the Vatican raised the church of the sanctuary to the rank of a minor basilica.
