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| Banneux, Belgium |
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| Banneux, Belgium |
feast day: January 15
about:
- also known as Virgin of the Poor, Our Lady of the Poor and Queen of Nations
- From 15 January to 2 March 1933, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared eight times to Mariette Béco, a young girl aged 11 years.
- "Our Lady of Banneux" is the sobriquet given to the apparition of the Virgin Mary to Mariette Beco, an adolescent girl living in Banneux, province of Liège (Belgium). Between January 15 and March 2, 1933, Beco told her family and parish priest of seeing a Lady in white who declared herself to be the "Virgin of the Poor", saying I come to relieve suffering and believe in me and I will believe in you.
- The Apparitions and the Message were declared authentic by Mgr. KERKHOFS, Bishop of Liège, on the 22nd of August 1949.
the apparitions:
In January 1933, Mariette Beco was eleven years old. She was born on the 25th March, 1921 and was the eldest of a family of seven children. Her family who was quite poor, lived in a simple working-class house, isolated and set back from the road, at the edge of the forest.
In the evening of Sunday January 15th, Mary appeared for the first time in the garden of the little house. The lady beckoned her. Mariette wanted to go out, but her mother stopped her and locked the door.
On Wednesday, 18th January, at 7.pm., Mariette was in the garden on her knees, and her hands joined in prayer. Suddenly she left the garden and started walking up the road where the lady was calling her. Twice she fell to her knees on the frozen ground. A third time she knelt near the ditch in front of a pool of water coming from a spring.
The lady spoke to her. "Push your hands into the water." Mariette does it. She repeated what the Lady had just said to her, "This spring is reserved for Me, Goodnight, good-bye."
On Thursday,
January 19th, the weather was severe. Mariette was kneeling on the
path. It was 7.pm. The Lady appeared. Mariette asked her "who are you,
beautiful Lady ?" "I
am the Virgin of the Poor."
The Virgin then led the child to the spring. Mariette asked another
question : "beautiful Lady, yesterday you said 'this spring is
reserved for me' why for me ?" Mariette pointed to herself. Smiling
even more, the Virgin answered "this
spring is reserved for all nations... for the sick."
Mariette replied "Thank you, thank you." Then the Virgin said
"I will pray for
you - goodbye."
Then there followed three weeks of total silence. The Virgin interrupted her visits. Mariette however remained faithful : each day at 7.pm. she prayed in the garden.
On Saturday, February 11th, Mariette was on the road, she knelt twice, dipped her hands into the spring and made the sign of the cross. Suddenly she stood up, ran towards the house and wept. She did not understand what the Virgin had told her. "I come to relieve suffering." She did not understand the meaning of the words "to relieve."
Three days elapsed. On Wednesday evening, 15th February, the Virgin appeared for the sixth time. Mariette passed on Father Jamin's request to the Virgin : "the chaplain asks you for a sign." The Virgin answered, "Believe in me, I will believe in you." "Pray a lot : goodbye." The Virgin confided a secret to the child.
On February 20th, Mariette knelt again in the snow, braving the cold. Suddenly she prayed the rosary louder and faster. She left the garden and knelt twice on the road, then again at the spring where she prayed and wept, "because she left too quickly." Mary told her "My dear child, pray hard."
Mariette waited ten days before seeing the Virgin for the last time. She appeared on Thursday, March 2nd. Torrential rain had been pouring down since three p.m. Mariette went out, it was 7. pm. She was reciting her third rosary when the rain suddenly stopped. She remained silent, stretched out her arms, got up, took a step forward and knelt down. At home, Mariette revealed the message entrusted to her by Mary. "I am the Mother of the Saviour Mother of God. Pray a lot." The Virgin then laid her hands on her and said : "Adieu."
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INVOCATIONS TO OUR LADY OF BANNEUX
source: http://www.catholicdoors.com/prayers/litanies/p03583.htm
Blessed Virgin of the Poor,
Lead us to Jesus, Source of grace.
Blessed Virgin of the Poor,
Save all nations.
Blessed Virgin of the Poor,
Relieve the sick.
Blessed Virgin of the Poor,
Alleviate suffering.
Blessed Virgin of the Poor,
Pray for each one of us.
Blessed Virgin of the Poor,
We believe in thee.
Blessed Virgin of the Poor,
Believe in us.
Blessed Virgin of the Poor,
We will pray hard.
Blessed Virgin of the Poor,
Bless us.
Blessed Virgin of the Poor,
Mother of the Saviour,
Mother of God,
We thank thee.
Let Us Pray
Our Lady of Banneux,
Mother of Our Saviour,
Mother of God,
Virgin of the Poor,
since thou hast promised to believe in us
if we believe in thee,
I put all my trust in thee.
Deign to listen to the prayers
that thou hast asked be addressed to thee;
have pity on all our spiritual and temporal miseries.
Restore to sinners the treasure of Faith,
and give to the poor their daily bread.
Deign to relieve suffering,
to heal the sick and to pray for us,
so that thus through thy intercession,
the reign of Christ the King
may extend over all nations.
Amen.
--------links/ sources:
- Our Lady of Banneux official website:
http://www.banneux-nd.be/gb/accueil.gb.htm
- "Our Lady of Banneux" (source: Wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Banneux
- "Our Lady of Banneux" (source: Roman Catholic Saints):
http://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/our-lady-of-banneux.html
- "Invocations to Our Lady of Banneux" (prayer) (source: Catholic Doors):
http://www.catholicdoors.com/prayers/litanies/p03583.htm
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this year, 2015, is the Year of the Poor.
thank you dear Lady for spiritually preparing me and for protecting me on my spiritual battle. i still can't comprehend why my unseen oppressors somehow became heavier as this battle prolongs... specially those days when i posted images of your Queenship and Our Lady of Loreto/Our Lady of Guadalupe on this blog... i do hope and pray that this spiritual battle will be over soon. we're on ceasefire at the moment. thank you for giving me the Personal Spiritual Warfare Prayers through a total stranger who was connected with a congregation which promotes the devotion to our guardian angels whom you sent to our parish. the readings (your messages given to Fr. Gobbi for priests) from the Blue/MMP book during the novena in our home are as follows:
day 1 (Fri. 062014) = #255: "God Is with You" (122482- The Holy Night)
day 2 (Sat. 062114- Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, religious) = #204: "Mediatrix of Graces" (071680- Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel)
day 3 (Sun. 062214- ) = #74: "Your Heaviest Cross" (070975)
day 4 (Mon. 062314) = #519: "The Hour of Calvary" (050194- Rome
day 5 (Tue. 062414- Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist) = #463: "Prostrate Yourselves with Me" (123191- Last night of the year, Vicenza)
day 6 (Wed. 062514) = #242: "The New Jerusalem" (030582- 1st Fri. of the month, Jerusalem)
day 7 (Thurs. 062614) = #249: "Instruments of My Mercy" (081382- Anniversary of the 4th Apparition at Fatima)
day 8 (Fri. 062714- Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus...i think this was the day i confirmed to be an intercessor for a spiritual formation...) = #259: "Love One Another" (021183- Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes)
day 9 (Sat. 062814- Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary / Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help) (i woke up at 3am as i heard a bass drum beat about 1-3 feet away from my ear. it was then followed by a couple more bass drum beats...at first i thought it was a thief outside our house. a thief won't try to make such a noise... i suddenly felt like a negative entity purposely woke me up...sort of felt like something was trying to wage war on me...weird...first day as an intercessor for the spiritual formation) = #417: "Mother of the Second Advent" (010190- Feast of Mary, the Most Holy Mother of God)
day 10 (Sun. 062914- Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles) (the day i got attacked by some spirit/s via an increase in my body temperature which almost escalated to a fever when i got closer to where the spiritual activity/talks were but never became a fever as i immediately got prayed-over by an elder...the 500mg paracetamol that i took didn't help at lowering my body temperature...felt an invisible shield during the holy mass...second day as an intercessor...third day of spiritual formation) = #276: "Leader of a Single Cohort" (110183- Feast of All Saints)
day 11 (Mon. 063014) - Memorial of the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome) = #296 "Do Battle, Beloved Sons" (102484- Spiritual Exercises in the Form of a Cenacle with the Priests of the M.M.P. of the English language, England)
day 12 (Tue. 070114- day when Our Lady of the Poor left our home) = #298 "My Urgent Invitation" (111484- Spiritual Exercises in the form of a Cenacle with the priests of the M.M.P. of the Slovenian and Croatian languages, Yugoslavia)
