On November 29, 1932, the Blessed Virgin Mary made her first of thirty-three historic visits to  Beauraing, a village of two thousand people in the French speaking corner of Belgium. She spoke to five children, all but one entering their teens.

The Blessed Virgin looked young, about eighteen years old. Her smile was magnetic. Her eyes were radiant blue and beams of light spread from her head. She wore a long white heavily pleated gown that gave off a luminous blue light. During the apparition the children would speak to the Blessed Virgin, at which time their voices would involuntarily assume a high pitch, far different from their natural voices.

As expected, the children's reports were not believed. Friends teased them, officials threatened them and their parents dragged them to their family physicians. But on December 8, 1932, when the Blessing was predicted to be given again, the childrens' parents, doctors and fifteen thousand curiosity seekers came to discern fact from fiction.

When the Blessed Virgin appeared, the children were transfixed. Their eyes were locked on the vision that they alone could see.

Doctors, meanwhile, busied themselves checking pulses, picking and pricking and shining flashlights into the children's eyes. All were oblivious of any distractions. One doctor held a flame under one of the children's hands, while another slapped and pinched all five of them. There was no reaction and no trace of burning whatsoever.

When the vision concluded, one of the children explained, "I could see nothing, neither fence, nor tree, nor crowd; only the Holy Virgin who smiled at us."

Another said laughingly, "Just think Daddy, they tried to make me believe they had pricked and burned me"

The meetings with The Blessed Queen of Heaven  continued daily until January 3, 1933.  The message conveyed through the children was simple and clear. The Blessed Virgin desired that  people  should gather at this spot to  pray

Our Lady  of Banneux

" Believe in me; I will believe in you."
-- Our Lady to Mariette Beco

In the winter of 1933, in Banneux, Belgium, a young girl named Mariette Beco was greatly blessed by The Most Holy Presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary in her yard near the vegetable garden. Banneux is only 56 miles east of Beauraing, and the blessing began just two weeks after those  in Beauraing ended

Marietta, 11, had eight meetings with the Our Lady, the final one on March 2, 1933. In response to Mariette's request for a sign, Our  Blessed Mother told her

" Believe in me    I will believe in you"

She told her, "Pray a lot". She told her that she was, "the Mother of the Saviour, the Mother of God," the "Virgin of the Poor," and that she wanted a little chapel at Banneux. Many miraculous healings occurred at a spring near Mariette's home. Repeatedly, the Virgin Mary had led Mariette to the spring which she told her was reserved for all nations and to relieve the sick

Today the spring yields 2,000 gallons of water per day. A small chapel, as Our Lady requested, was built in the family garden. On August 22, 1949, the Church fully approved the  Blessings  at Banneux. They are the latest  Blessings to be fully approved by the Church