Our Lady of Foy

Marian Advocation of Foy-Notre-Dame (Namur)

La devoción a Our Lady of Foy (Notre-Dame de Foy) is linked to the small town of Foy-Notre-Damenear Dinant, in the current province of Namur (Belgium). According to the local tradition, 1609 a inhabitant of the place would have found in the trunk of an oak a small statue of the Virgin, made considered as a providential sign and origin of the Marian sanctuary. This tradition also speaks of favors and cures attributed to the intercession of the Virgin venerated in that image, which would have soon driven the influx of pilgrims. [CLEARS] These accounts belong to the tradition / pious legendwithout contemporary documents that describe the finding in detail.

Main data

Origin and history

La devoción a Our Lady of Foy (Notre-Dame de Foy) is linked to the small town of Foy-Notre-Damenear Dinant, in the current province of Namur (Belgium). According to the local tradition, 1609 a inhabitant of the place would have found in the trunk of an oak a small statue of the Virgin, made considered as a providential sign and origin of the Marian sanctuary. This tradition also speaks of favors and cures attributed to the intercession of the Virgin venerated in that image, which would have soon driven the influx of pilgrims. [CLEARS] These accounts belong to the tradition / pious legendwithout contemporary documents that describe the finding in detail.

From the perspective of the documented historyit is noted that in the 17th century an important Marian pilgrimage centre was developed in Foy, ecclesiastically dependent on Dinant and very frequently in the 17th-18th centuries, in the broader context of the flowering of Marian shrines in the Catholic Netherlands. [♪] Various studies of regional religious history point out that the Foy shrine was one of the most popular in the area at that time, with a record of organized pilgrimages and devotees. The coronation of the image in 1912, official recognition of the historical and spiritual importance of this devotion. [CLEARS]

> Note: it is indicated for data presented in a co-incident manner in the sources consulted (pages on Belgian Marian shrines, local history studies, notes from the diocese and online encyclopedic articles); these sources do not always give more verifiable details than those collected here. When some data does not appear safely, it is expressly stated "does not contain."

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The image and the sanctuary

The image of Our Lady of Foy is described in the sources as a small statue of the Virgin with the Child, of a devotional type, linked to the trunk of an oak in the tradition of its finding. [CLEARS] The original material of the size is not indicated with certainty in the easily accessible sources; some reviews suggest that it would be a wood imagebut by not explicitly and coincidentally mentioned, is not safe the material. There are also no detailed descriptions of his iconography (hand positions, specific attributes, artistic style), beyond his Marian image character with the Child Jesus: therefore, does not contain a detailed and documented iconography in sources of general consultation.

The place of worship is known as church or sanctuary of Foy-Notre-Dame, in the core of Foy-Notre-Dame, near Dinant, at the province of Namur (Belgium). This is a temple that developed as pilgrimage sanctuary around the veneration of the image found in the early 17th century. [CLEARS] The sources consulted simply present it as Marian sanctuary o parish church-sanctuary; it is not explicitly declared as minor basilica, National sanctuary or with a higher canon title: no consta that it has such a special legal-liturgical range. It is generally mentioned that the current building is typical of the Baroque era of the Catholic Netherlands, but without a detailed architectural description in the accessible sources, so any more concrete details about style or artistic elements no consta with enough security.

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Sponsorship and coronation

Our Lady of Foy is closely linked to town of Foy-Notre-Dame y a la Dinant area. This is, first and foremost, a local or regional ownership, deeply rooted in the religious history of the region. The sources consulted highlight its importance as a Marian sanctuary of pilgrimage, but do not explicitly mention a official appointment as patron of the diocese, of the city of Dinant or of a particular civil entity; therefore, as to canonically proclaimed patronage, no consta a specific declaration beyond the traditional character of the protector of the town and its faithful.

On the coronationthe sources agree to point out that the image of Our Lady of Foy was coronada en 1912. [CLEARS] This is a canonical coronation which recognizes the antiquity of devotion and the importance of the sanctuary among the pilgrims of the 17th and 18th centuries. [CLEARS] However, in the general documentation consulted not clearly indicated the name of the Pope who authorized the coronation or that of the pontifical delegate or ecclesiastical authority who carried out the rite; these precise data no constan in easily accessible sources of a dissemination nature. Therefore, it can only be said with certainty that there was canonical coronation in 1912; other details, as they are not clearly documented, are not recorded.

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Party and devotion

The sources agree to place the main party of Our Lady of Foy en el September. Some local reviews suggest that it is celebrated around the birth of the Virgin (8 September) or on one of the Sundays of that month, following a custom extended in many European Marian shrines; however, the exact date (specific day or specific Sunday) is not sufficiently accurate in general sources consulted. What is clear is that the sanctuary organizes the great annual pilgrimage in Septemberin memory of the protection of the Virgin and the historical origin of devotion. [CLEARS]

In the centuries XVII y XVIII, Foy-Notre-Dame became an important focus of pilgrimages in the region of the Catholic Netherlands, with a remarkable influx of faithful who went in search of spiritual and material favors, leaving devotees and witness of graces received. [CLEARS] This influx decreased over time, but the sanctuary has remained a place of Marian devotion, especially at the local and diocesan levels. Between the Devotional features the sources of the prayer entrusted to the Virgin to the image, the custom of going in Thanksgiving and the practice of periodic pilgrimages organized by parishes or groups of faithful in the area. [CLEARS] They do not contain, in the published sources, unique popular traditions (very specific processions, unique rites) that can be described in detail, beyond the ordinary forms of Marian piety of a historical sanctuary.

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Link to the Rosary

In the documentation consulted on Our Lady of Foy no consta a specific and documented relationship with the rezos del Rosario (for example, a historical fellowship of the Rosary linked to the sanctuary, an explicitly rosarian feast or an official advocation under the title "of the Rosary"). The sanctuary is more like a local Marian advocation born of veneration to an image found in an oak and consolidated by the tradition of pilgrimages. [CLEARS]

However, as in the vast majority of Marian shrines, the Rosary it is a privileged means to accompany this devotion. The Rosary, by contemplating the mysteries of the life of Christ with the eyes of Mary, allows the pilgrimage to Foy- Notre- Dame not to be limited to an external gesture, but to become a internal path of conversion and subsidiary trust. Prayed to the image of Our Lady of Foy, the Rosary helps:

– meditar la Incarnation and the Maternity of Mary, que la imagen representa de modo sencillo y cercano; – unir las pro