Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel

Marian title of Scherpenheuvel (Flamenco Brabant)

Tradition and legend. The pious local tradition places the origin of devotion in a small image of the Virgin placed in a product on a pronounced hill (hence the name Scherpenheuvel, "steep hill"). According to the legendary account, the image would have shown miraculous features, including the impossibility of being removed from the tree by a shepherd or other neighbors, which was interpreted as a sign that the Virgin wished to be venerated in that place. On this oak a simple first chapel would have been established, to which the faithful began to come on pilgrimage.

Main data

Origin and history

Tradition and legend. The pious local tradition places the origin of devotion in a small image of the Virgin placed in a product on a pronounced hill (hence the name Scherpenheuvel, "steep hill"). According to the legendary account, the image would have shown miraculous features, including the impossibility of being removed from the tree by a shepherd or other neighbors, which was interpreted as a sign that the Virgin wished to be venerated in that place. On this oak a simple first chapel would have been established, to which the faithful began to come on pilgrimage.

Documented history. The cult in Scherpenheuvel has been attested since the Middle Ages, but its great development occurs in the context of the Contrarreforma under the archduke Alberto and Isabel, governors of the Spanish Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century. They promoted the construction of an important sanctuary of pilgrimage, in the Baroque and heptagonal style, as an expression of Marian piety and Catholic reaffirmation in the face of the Protestant advance. The church was consagrada en 1627 and became one of the main Marian centers in the Catholic Netherlands. The temple was later raised by the Holy See to lower basilica in 1922, consolidating its crease as the national Marian santuary of Belgium.

The image and the sanctuary

The image. Devotion focuses on a small statue of the Virgin with the Child, traditional Marian type (Madonna with the Child), originally linked to miraculous oak. Devotional sources point out that the image is relatively small in size; it is an exempt sculpture (not a relief), which is currently venerated inside the basilica as a miraculous figure. The technical details (author, exact date, material) are not accurately reflected in the sources consulted; therefore, on their material and exact dating does not contain secure documented information.

The sanctuary. The present temple is the Basilica of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel (en neerlandés Basilica of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvelin French Basilica of Notre-Dame de Montaigu), Catholic parish church and minor basilica in the town of Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, province / district of Brabante Flamenco, Belgium. It is a baroque sanctuary of very unique design: it is articulated around a Heptagonal plant (seven sides), with a large dome that dominates the whole. It is part of a pilgrimage complex carefully planned in the time of the archdukes, with a square also of heptagonal layout, chapels and symbolic elements of the spirituality of the time.

The dome is decorated with numerous gold stars (cited 298), symbolically interpreted as reference to Mary “Stella Maris” (Estrella del Mar). The sanctuary is considered "the most visited pilgrimage sanctuary in Belgium." In addition to its parish function, it plays the role of mold sanctuaryalthough the exact legal name as "national sanctuary" is not detailed in the sources consulted; its title of minor basilica.

Sponsorship and coronation

Patronage. Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel is the principal Marian sanctuary de Bélgica and, in fact, is considered the most frequent Marian pilgrimage center in the country. The advocation is particularly linked to the municipality of Scherpenheuvel-Zichem and the Flamenco Brabant, and by extension has a marked character Belgian national as an emblematic place of Marian devotion. The sources consulted do not contain a specific decree of national canonical patronage (e.g., principal patron of Belgium), but its status as a reference Marian sanctuary in the country.

Canon coronation. The image of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel was coronada en 1909. The sources consulted mention coronation but do not need with certainty the name of the pontiff who authorized it or the pontifical delegate who made it; therefore, on the basis of the criteria requested, it must be indicated: crowned in 1909; the pontiff / delegate responsible for the documents consulted is not safely.

Party and devotion

The main Marian holiday in Scherpenheuvel is held in the month of Maywithin the official season of pilgrimages that extends 1 May to the first week of November. May, a month traditionally dedicated to the Virgin, concentrates many parish pilgrimages, movements and groups that come to the sanctuary with rosaries, processions and solemn Masses.

The basilica is described as the most visited pilgrimage sanctuary in Belgium, which indicates a very significant influx of faithful throughout the year, especially during the pilgrimage season. Faithful in various regions of the country, as well as in neighbouring countries, come to honor the Virgin of Scherpenheuvel, thank her for her favors received or ask for her intercession. The urban configuration of the place - with heptagonal square, radial streets and capillas - shows its function of city-sanctuary designed to host processions and large concentrations of pilgrims.

Devotional practices include:

– Las organized pilgrimages (parroquias, asociaciones, grupos diocesanos) durante la temporada mariana. – El encendido de velas, la oración ante la imagen y la participación en la Eucharist como formas principales de culto. – La presencia de una rica iconografía mariana en el interior de la basílica que alimenta la contemplación y la piedad popular.

Precise numerical annual flow data no constan in the sources consulted, although it is emphasized that it is the most visited sanctuary in the country.

Link to the Rosary

The historical and official sources consulted on Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel do not mention a specific link or own title explicitly linked to the prayer of the Rosary, unlike other clearly rosarian assertions (for example, Our Lady of the Rosary). Therefore, no consta a particular historical relationship with a Rosary fellowship or a rosarian apparition in this sanctuary.

However, as in most of Europe's great Marian shrines, the Rosary is part of the ordinary life of devotion: The pilgrims come with rosaries in their hand, they pray individually or in group on their way to the sanctuary, and they usually integrate into Marian celebrations and vigil, especially in May and the great holidays of the Virgin. In this sense, the Rosary allows meditating on the mysteries of Christ's life with Mary, and in Scherpenheuvel helps the faithful to unite their pleas to the intercession of the venerated Virgin in the small image that, according to tradition, he wanted to remain next to the ancient oak on the hill.