Our Lady of Beauraing

Europe · Belgium

What happened

In Beauraing, Belgium, between 1932 and 1933, five children—Fernande and Gilberte Voisin, Andrée and Gilberte Degeimbre, and Albert Voisin—claimed to have witnessed repeated apparitions of the Virgin Mary. In these apparitions, the Lady appeared with a distinctive feature that has become associated with the place: that of the Virgin with a heart of gold. The detailed account of each apparition is not found in the verified documentation available, so this is a summary of the essential and verified information.

The message of the Virgin

Our Lady of Beauraing emphasized prayer and conversion. Her self-presentation as the Virgin of the Golden Heart underscores Mary's tenderness and mercy toward her children. The full literal text of the message is not found in the verified documentation available to us, so we avoid attributing specific, unverified words to her.

The sanctuary today

The Beauraing Sanctuary, a local pilgrimage site in Belgium dedicated to Our Lady of the Golden Heart, was built on the site of the apparitions. Specific details of current pilgrimages are not included in the verified documentation available to us.

The Church's recognition

In 1949, the Bishop of Namur recognized the Beauraing apparitions. It is, therefore, an apparition approved by the local bishop, prior to the 2024 Norms of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which today would generally reserve a judgment of nihil obstat.

A grace that touches the heart

The verifiable core of Beauraing is the concordant testimony of the five child visionaries, sustained throughout the numerous apparitions and examined by the diocesan authority until its recognition in 1949. The accounts of healings and favors attributed to the Virgin of the Golden Heart are part of the devotional tradition; their details are not recorded in the verified documentation available to us.

Link with the Rosary

Our Lady of the Golden Heart asked for prayer, and the Rosary is the simplest and most constant way to respond. To pray it in Beauraing is to entrust oneself to that maternal tenderness which this devotion expresses with such depth.