May 4th: Belgium - Our Lady of Banneux

Feast Day: January 15th

The shrine of Our Lady of the Poor, near the city of Liège in the Flemish village of Banneux. Devotion to Mary began as a result of an apparition to a poor twelve-year-old Belgian child in the garden of her home on January 16, 1933. Our Lady told her that she had come to relieve the ills and sufferings of the poor of all nations. A painting on the wall of the village's chapel made according to the child's description shows Mary robed in white with a blue sash and with a rosary over her right arm. On January 18, 1933, the child's father, an avowed atheist, accompanied his daughter to the garden, and although he did not see the Virgin he was instantly converted, overwhelmed in the presence of an unseen power. After years of investigation, the Holy See authorized public devotion to Our Lady of Banneux, patroness of the poor, in 1942. Formal approval was given by the Bishop of Liège in 1949, and a statue of that title was solemnly crowned in 1956. Pilgrims from many countries came to worship at the shrine. Over one hundred shrines throughout the world are dedicated to Our Lady of Banneux. (Fr. John A. Hardon)

The story of the apparitions of Our Lady of Banneux by Ann Ball is online at Holy Spirit Interactive, and would be suitable for reading to children.

This Mary Vitamin is devoted to Our Lady of Banneux.

You can visit the shrine at Banneux with this You Tube video.

Some words of Our Lady at Banneux:

"I am the Virgin of the Poor."
"I come to relieve suffering."
"My dear child, pray much. Au revoir."

Resources:
Our Lady of Banneux Coloring Book by Mary Fabian Windeatt
The Woman Clothed with the Sun: Rue de Bac, Beauraing and Banneux (DVD) - this covers the apparitions at Rue de Bac, Paris (the Miraculous Medal) and Beauraing in Belgium as well as Banneux.

Prayer Our Lady of Banneux, Blessed Virgin of the Poor, look with favor on us, your poor, suffering children. Hear our prayers, and draw us daily to the Living Water.

(from Holy Spirit Interactive)