Our Lady of Lovaina

Marian Advocation of Lovaina (Flamenco Brabant)

The invocation Our Lady of Lovaina is identified with the Marian image venerated in the church of San Pedro de Lovaina (Sint-Pieterskerk), in Belgium, and associated with the iconographic type of the Sedes Sapientiae o Throne of Wisdom. The devotional tradition places in 1444 the beginning of the wonders attributed to this image, repeated date in modern devotional sources.

Main data

Origin and history

The invocation Our Lady of Lovaina is identified with the Marian image venerated in the church of San Pedro de Lovaina (Sint-Pieterskerk), in Belgium, and associated with the iconographic type of the Sedes Sapientiae o Throne of Wisdom. The devotional tradition places in 1444 the beginning of the wonders attributed to this image, repeated date in modern devotional sources.

As for the documented history, the image known today is a wooden statue tallada por Nicolaas De Bruyne and 1442, described as a larger replica of an earlier 13th century statue. The church of San Pedro, where it was venerated, had a first very old foundation and the current Gothic structure began in 1425He also suffered serious damage during the world wars, with subsequent destruction and restoration.

The image and the sanctuary

The image is a representation of the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus, sitting in the attitude of Throne of Wisdom; the iconography of the Sedes Sapientiae presents Mary with the Child on her lap. The sources consulted describe the work as a wooden statueThey do not contain a different material or a more precise technical description.

Se venera en la church of San Pedro de Lovaina o Sint-Pieterskerk, Gothic historical temple of the city. In the sources gathered it is not known that the sanctuary has the condition of minor basilica, National sanctuary o diocesan sanctuaryIt should therefore be indicated simply as the parish and historical church where the image is honored.

Sponsorship and coronation

Our Lady of Lovaina appears linked to traditional patronage of the university city of Lovaina, especially for its relationship with the Catholic University of Lovaina, whose seal has used the image of the Sedes Sapientiae. The sources consulted do not contain an official patronage of dioceses or nations that can be safely affirmed.

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

Party and devotion

The devotional sources consulted place their celebration 6 February. This date appears repeatedly as a holiday in Marian publications dedicated to the advocation of Lovaina.

Devotion is linked to local veneration in the church of St. Peter and to the memory of the Prodigies attributed since 1444. There are no reliable data on organized pilgrimages, inflow of faithful or specific popular traditions beyond local and university veneration in the sources consulted.

Link to the Rosary

There is no specific and documented historical link between this advocation and a particular rosarian fellowship, sanctuary or practice. Still, the image of Mary as Sedes Sapientiae In a natural way, it is in harmony with the Rosary, because the prayer contemplates precisely Mary united with the mystery of Christ and helps to meditate, with her, the incarnation, the childhood of Jesus and his redeeming life; therefore, the Rosary accompanies well this Marian devotion even if it is not part of its own history.