Los emptyes de Beauraing

The five children and the Virgin of the Golden Heart (Belgium, 1932-1933)

Five children from a Belgian people saw the Virgin thirty-three times by a thorn in the garden of a convent; in the end she showed them her heart of gold and asked them, above all, "pray much."

Who were they?

There were five children and adolescents from the humble families of Beauraing in the province of Namur: the brothers Fernande, Gilberte and Albert Voisin, and Andrée and Gilberte Degeimbre. No one then sought notoriety: they married and led a discreet and normal life.

The Apparition

Between November 29, 1932 and January 3, 1933, the children saw the Virgin about thirty-three times, next to a thorn in the garden of the convent of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. The authenticity of the apparitions was recognized by the Bishop of Namur on July 2, 1949.

The words of the Virgin

Beauraing's message is of great simplicity. The Lady presented herself as the "Immaculate Virgin" and, in one of the last apparitions, she showed her heart shining with gold, so she is called the Virgin of the Golden Heart. His words, short, insisted on prayer and trust: "Pray, pray much," "Believe in me, I will believe in you." He also asked for a chapel to be built and for people to come on pilgrimage.

Anecdotes and afterlife

Andrée Degeimbre continued for over forty-four years to pray the rosary every afternoon before the thorn of the apparitions. Gilberte Degeimbre, the last survivor, died in 2015 at the age of 92. The five kept the faithful memory of what happened, without public protagonism.

Fruit

In the exact place of the apparition a statue of the Virgin of the Golden Heart was placed and a sanctuary was erected that became a great pilgrimage center of Belgium.