Our Lady of Kevelaer

The call on the land: Hendrick Busman's mystical experience

The history of Kevelaer begins in the darkest years of the Thirty-Year War (1618- 1648), when Central Europe was bleeding from the wounds of the conflict between Catholics and Protestants. In December 1641, a fabric merchant from the nearby city of Weeze, named Hendrick Busman, walked through the Kevelaer land to Geldern. As it reached a crossroads of roads where a humble crucifix of stone was raised - a Hail cross- Busman knelt to pray. It was then that, according to his own testimony, he heard a clear and different voice that said to him, "Contricate me a chapel in this place."

Busman, a simple man with few resources, hesitated. But the voice was repeated twice over the following days, always in the same place. Convinced that it was a message from the Virgin Mary, she began to set aside money for construction, although she feared that her wife Mechel would not approve of the expenditure.

Shortly after, towards Pentecost in 1642, Mechel Busman had a vision while praying. In it he saw a small chapel bathed in light, and within it an image of the Virgin. Days before, two soldiers returning from the war had offered to buy two small copper engraving that represented Our Lady of Luxembourg (Consolador de los Afligidos). Mechel had rejected them for considering them too expensive. After the vision, he understood that that was the image that was to preside over the chapel. He looked for the soldiers, bought the engraving and handed it over to her husband. The Kevelaer parish priest, Johannes Schink, supported the initiative.

The birth of the pilgrimage

On Sunday, June 1, 1642, parish priest Johannes Schink placed the small engraving - measuring only 11 by 8 centimeters - in the humble brick capillite that Busman had built next to the road crossing. The image represents the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus, following the iconography of Our Lady of Luxembourg. On the same day, the first pilgrims began to arrive.

The first documented miracle occurred within a few months. On September 8, 1642, the feast of the birth of the Virgin, a child named Peter, who had been paralyzed for five years without being able to walk, was taken by his parents Reinier and Margaretha van Volbroek to the chapel. After two days of prayer to the image, the child recovered mobility and began to walk. The news of the miracle quickly spread throughout the Lower Rhine region. The following year, in 1643, a large group of pilgrims left Rees, near Emmerich, singing and praying the Rosary all the way. It was the first organized pilgrimage to Kevelaer.

On October 14, 1647, the Synod of Venlo - the ecclesiastical court of the diocese - examined the testimonies of Hendrick Busman, his wife and other witnesses. After verifying the miracles and the orthodoxy of veneration, the Synod officially recognized the pilgrimage. The speed of this recognition - just five years after the events - was exceptional for the time.

The Chapel of Grace: the hexagonal heart

The original humble chaplite was replaced in 1654 by the present Gnadenkapelle (Chapel of Grace), an elegant hexagonal building built according to the model of the Scherpenheuvel Basilica in Brabante. The hexagonal form symbolizes the six letters of Mary's name and recalls the six-point star, symbol of the sea star (Stella Maris).

The chapel, with its characteristic bulbous dome and its upper flashlight, is one of the most photographed buildings in Renania. Inside, the original small engraving is kept on a richly decorated altar. The pilgrims can see the image through a glass; when looking at it, they see their own face overlaid with that of the Virgin, reminding them that they themselves are called to be a living image of Mary.

The Basilica of Saint Mary

The growing number of pilgrims made it necessary to build a larger church. Between 1858 and 1864 the Marienbasilika (Basilica of Santa Maria) was built, an imposing Neogotic temple designed by Vincenz Statz, diocesan architect of Cologne. The model was the pre-monstrate church of San Yves, in Braine, France. The first stone was placed on August 15, 1858, and the church was consecrated on July 3, 1864 in the presence of seven bishops, including Emmanuel von Ketteler, the famous "social bishop" of Mainz.

Pope Pius IX donated to the new church a stone from the catacombs of Domitila (1863). The basilica, of three ships with cruise and polygonal apse, can house thousands of faithful. Its main facade, richly decorated, features a great rosette and statues of saints. In 1923, Pope Pius XI raised the church to the rank of lower basilica. The official proclamation was delayed one year because of the Belgian occupation of the region and the inflationary crisis in Germany, which was finally held on 29 June 1924.

The pontifical coronation and the seal of the Church

On June 1, 1892 - 250 anniversary of the placing of the first engraving - Pope Leo XIII granted the canonical coronation of the image. The pontifical crown, of solid gold, was placed on the head of the Virgin in a solemn ceremony that brought together tens of thousands of faithful. On 2 May 1987, Pope John Paul II personally visited the sanctuary during his trip to Germany, and donated a rosary that is still preserved by the image.

Kevelaer in culture and history

The pilgrimage to Kevelaer inspired the German poet Heinrich Heine, one of the largest in German literature, the ballad The Pilgrimage to Kevlaar (The pilgrimage to Kevelaer, 1822), in which he tells the story of a young man who pilgrims to the sanctuary to ask for the health of his mother. The ballad, one of Heine's most well-known, helped spread the sanctuary's fame beyond the German borders.

The pilgrimage today

With more than 800,000 pilgrims per year, Kevelaer is the largest Marian pilgrimage centre in northwestern Europe. The majority of pilgrims come from Germany and the Netherlands - the Dutch border is only 20 kilometres away - but they also come from Belgium, France, Poland and other European countries.

The city of Kevelaer, which has grown around the sanctuary, has a large host infrastructure for pilgrims. The Plaza de la Capilla (Chapellenplatz) is the heart of religious and social life. The devotion to Our Lady of Kevelaer - "Consolador de los Afligidos" (Comforter of the Sorrowful) - is especially loved by the sick and those who suffer, who come to the sanctuary in search of comfort and hope.

In 2006, the complex of the Chapel of Grace and basilica was declared a monumental ensemble protected by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The original small engraving remains in place, protected after a glass, as a testimony to the simple faith of a marriage of merchants who heard Mary's voice in the midst of a war that tore Europe apart.

Prayer to Our Lady of Kevelaer