Our Lady Consolador of the Kevelaer Afflids

Marian vocation of Kevelaer (North Rhine-Westphalia)

La tradition of Kevelaer places the origin of the advocation in 1641-1642, when the travelling trader Hendrik Busman would have heard a voice asking him to build a chapel in that place; shortly after, his wife Mechel Schouse He would have had a vision in which he saw a chapel with an image of the Virgin. This pious narrative is closely linked to the birth of the sanctuary and is part of Kevelaer's devotional memory.

Main data

Origin and history

La tradition of Kevelaer places the origin of the advocation in 1641-1642, when the travelling trader Hendrik Busman would have heard a voice asking him to build a chapel in that place; shortly after, his wife Mechel Schouse He would have had a vision in which he saw a chapel with an image of the Virgin. This pious narrative is closely linked to the birth of the sanctuary and is part of Kevelaer's devotional memory.

En la documented history, the central element is the small copper stamp de Our Lady of Luxembourg, identified there as the "Consolador de los Afligidos"; the image measures approximately 7,5 x 11 cm and was placed in the chapel finished 1 June 1642. The devotional and Marian sources agree that the pilgrimage of Kevelaer was consolidated from that date and that the place was definitely associated with the Consoladora de los Afligidos.

The image and the sanctuary

The venerated image is a printed in copper small format, not a sculpture, identified as Our Lady of Luxembourg under the title of Consolator of the Afflids / Consolatrix Afflictorum. The exact iconography is not described in detail in the sources consulted, but it is clear that the text of the picture presents it as a faithful representation of the Mother of Jesus, "Consolador de los Aflididos," recognized for his miracles.

Se venera en la Minor Basilica of Santa Maria de Kevelaer and in the sanctuarial set of Kevelaer, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The sources present it as the the main Marian sanctuary of the north-west of Germany and one of the most frequented in the country.

Sponsorship and coronation

Consta el patronazgo devocional on sanctuary and the city of Kevelaer as a Marian pilgrimage place; it is also presented as the great Marian sanctuary of the diocese of Münster and of the German Northwest. No consta In the sources consulted an official national patronage of Germany and the diocese that can be affirmed with certainty.

No documented canonical coronation in the verified sources for this advocation of Kevelaer.

Party and devotion

The main liturgical-devotional reference is concentrated in the 1 June, date associated with the placement of the image in the chapel in 1642. The devotion is marked by the from May to October, when many faithful come to the sanctuary. The sources describe Kevelaer as the destination of a great Marian pilgrimage, with a very high influx of pilgrims each year.

As a popular feature, the character of The consolation sanctuary: the invocation is especially invoked in needs, suffering and afflictions, in continuity with the very title of Consolador de los Afligidos. The local tradition also retains the memory of the little primitive chapel, then replaced by larger buildings as the influx of pilgrims grows.

Link to the Rosary

The sources consulted no constan a unique and exclusive historical link between Kevelaer and the Rosary, beyond the general Marian practice of the sanctuaries. In a sanctuary like this, the Rosary naturally accompanies the pilgrimage because it places the faithful in the school of Mary, uniting contemplation of the mysteries of Christ, pleas for the afflicted and filial trust in the intercession of the Virgin.