John Paul II – Letter on Banneux (1999): 50th Anniversary of the Recognition of the Apparitions of the Virgin to the Poor

The Apostolic Letter of Saint John Paul II to Bishop Albert Houssiau of Liège (Belgium) on the apparitions of Our Lady of the Poor at Banneux, dated July 31, 1999, commemorates the 50th anniversary of the official recognition of the apparitions by the Bishop of Liège in 1949. The Banneux apparitions took place between January 15 and March 2, 1933, to Mariette Beco. Text in Enchiridion Vaticanum vol. 18 (1999), paragraphs 1345ff.

Historical context of the Banneux apparitions

Banneux is a small village of the Walloon Ardennes (Belgium), in the diocese of Liège. In 1933, Mary appeared eight times to Mariette Beco, an 11-year-old girl:

• 1st apparition, January 15, 1933: the Virgin appears in a light
• 2nd apparition, January 18, 1933: Mary leads Mariette to a spring: “This is my spring… this spring is reserved for all nations… to relieve the sick”
• 4th apparition, January 19, 1933: Mary identifies herself: “I am the Virgin of the Poor”
• 5th apparition, February 11, 1933: Mary says: “Believe in me, I will believe in you”
• 8th apparition, March 2, 1933: last apparition

Bishop Louis-Joseph Kerkhofs definitively recognized the apparitions on August 22, 1949, after an extensive 16-year process of investigation. Banneux became a shrine recognized by the Church, especially for prayer on behalf of the poor and the sick.

Original French text, no. 1345

A monseigneur Albert Houssiau, évêque de Liège.

1. Fifty years ago, on August 22, 1949, His Excellency Bishop Louis-Joseph Kerkhofs, your predecessor in the See of Liège, definitively recognized the reality of the apparitions of the Virgin of the Poor at Banneux. Recalling with emotion the Eucharist that I myself had the joy of celebrating during my apostolic journey in Belgium, in the month of May 1985, in that shrine whose radiance is important, I willingly join in prayer with the pilgrims who go there to seek comfort and strength from Our Lady of Banneux, invoked under the title of Our Lady of the Poor, health of the sick.

In universal communion with the whole Church I give thanks to the Lord for the outstanding mission fulfilled by the Mother of the Savior and for the example of faith that she represents for the whole of the Christian people, called like her to follow Christ by repeating each day her yes, her fiat.

English translation, no. 1345

To His Excellency Msgr. Albert Houssiau, Bishop of Liège.

1. Fifty years ago, on August 22, 1949, His Excellency Bishop Louis-Joseph Kerkhofs, your predecessor in the See of Liège, definitively recognized the reality of the apparitions of the Virgin of the Poor at Banneux. Recalling with emotion the Eucharist that I myself had the joy of celebrating during my apostolic journey in Belgium, in the month of May 1985, in that shrine whose radiance is important, I willingly join in prayer with the pilgrims who go there to seek comfort and strength from Our Lady of Banneux, invoked under the title of Our Lady of the Poor, health of the sick.

In universal communion with the whole Church I give thanks to the Lord for the outstanding mission fulfilled by the Mother of the Savior and for the example of faith that she represents for the whole of the Christian people, called like her to follow Christ by repeating each day her yes, her fiat.

no. 1346: the message of peace and solidarity

A few years before the Second World War, in 1933, Mary appeared at Banneux as a messenger of peace. In a certain way she called the protagonists of society to be artisans of peace and educators of the peoples, inviting every man to care for his brothers, for the littlest, for the most despised, and for those who suffer, all of them well beloved of God.

English: It was a few years before the Second World War, in 1933, that Mary appeared at Banneux as a messenger of peace. In a certain manner she appealed to the protagonists of society to make themselves artisans of peace and educators of the peoples, inviting every man to care for his brothers, for the littlest, for the most despised, and for those who suffer, who are all the beloved of God.

“Vierge des pauvres”, Our Lady of the poor

Unlike Lourdes or Fatima, Banneux is the Marian shrine that explicitly identifies itself as the shrine of the Virgin of the Poor. Its characteristics:

1. Identification with the poor: “I am the Virgin of the Poor”, Mary’s direct identification with the condition of poverty
2. Universal spring: “This spring is reserved for all nations”, a universalist, ecumenical dimension
3. Healing of the sick: “To relieve the sick”, a special therapeutic mention
4. Reciprocity of faith: “Believe in me, I will believe in you”, a partnership between Mary and the faithful

Connection with other apparitions

Banneux is part of the series of twentieth-century apparitions:

• 1917 Fatima (Portugal), a prophetic message for a humanity at war
• 1932-1933 Beauraing (Belgium, near Banneux), Mary with the Golden Heart
• 1933 Banneux (Belgium), the Virgin of the Poor
• 1973 Akita (Japan), a prophetic message of prayer and penance
• 1981-1989 Kibeho (Rwanda, approved in 2001), a premonitory warning about the genocide

JP2 and local shrines

Pope John Paul II was the pontiff who most valued local Marian shrines. He visited Banneux during his apostolic journey to Belgium in May 1985, and his Letter of 1999 shows the continuing attention of the Magisterium to local shrines as legitimate expressions of popular faith, within the framework established by the CDF Declaration of 1974 on criteria of discernment.

Further reading

Marian Apparitions in the Magisterium | The Message of Fatima 2000 | Alleged Apparitions Amsterdam 1974 | Lourdes, 150 Years