Our Lady of Banneux

Our Lady of Banneux refers to a series of eight apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to a poor twelve-year-old girl, Mariette Beco, in the village of Banneux in Belgium, between January and March 1933, in the same months as the apparitions at nearby Beauraing. The Virgin appeared in the garden and led the child to a small spring, telling her, "This spring is reserved for all the nations, to relieve the sick," and calling for prayer and trust.

Identifying herself as "the Virgin of the Poor," she promised to intercede for the poor, the sick, and the suffering, and asked that a small chapel be built. Her gentle message of care for the lowly and the afflicted moved many, and the spring became a place of pilgrimage and reported healings. After careful examination the Church recognized the apparitions and approved the devotion to Our Lady of Banneux in 1949. The feast of the Virgin of the Poor is kept on 15 January.