Welcome and index

Since this blog puts the last post on top, I have decided to make the last post a welcome and an index. 

Welcome to this blog about Our Lady of Consolation. In 2022 I learned a lot about Our Lady of Consolation. Some of what I learned was put into this blog. It took 48 posts to tell the story. The story is best told in sequence. Below is an index so that the posts can be found and read in order. However, feel free to read whatever individual posts interest you and in whatever order you like. Thank you for stopping by this blog. May God bless you. Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lady of Consolation ora pro nobis. 

Our Lady of Consolation Blog

Index       Click on post title to go to post. 

Posts marked with an asterisk (*) can be skipped if you want to concentrate on the history of Our Lady of Consolation and not so much on my personal discovery of Our Lady of Consolation. 

  0. Introduction

  1. A Tiny Statue

  2. A Benedictine Monk to the Rescue

  3. Visit to Leopold

  4. History of the Shrine at Leopold

  5. Other US locations *

  6. Archive Photos from Leopold *

  7. Our Lady of What

  8. Carey Ohio

  9. A Vast European History

10. Let Us Pray *

11. Synopsis

12. Historical Context

13. Scherpenheuvel

14. Linking Scherpenheuvel to Luxembourg

15. Luxembourg

16. A 29 inch high statue?

17. Kevelaer

18. Kevelaer to Belgium

19. Peace of Westphalia

20. Roses *

21. Vilvoorde

22. History of Vilvoorde

23. Stamp of Our Lady of Consolation *

24. Let us pray a novena *

25. Augustinians in Belgium

26. Titles are not images

27. deleted non relevant post

28. Three Mendicant Orders in the 13th century

29. deleted non relevant post

30. Our Lady of Consolation in the Philippines

31. Our Lady of Einsiedeln Rosary *

32. An Ancient Dominican Litany

33. Belgium created, Luxembourg divided

34. Belgium remains Catholic

35. Feast Day of St. Elizabeth of Hungary

36. Pope Benedict XVI and Our Lady of Consolation

37. Statues in trees? *

38. Italy

39. Three more locations *

40. deleted non relevant post

41. Marian Devotion in Belgium

42. Rosary in the Philippines

43. An old picture of Scherpenheuvel   Historical evidence linking Scherpenheuvel to OLC

44. Clothing the statue

45. History of St. Augustine Parish in Leopold Indiana

46. Catharina

47. Our Lady in Mechelen

Our Lady in Mechelen

 In 1613, 14 year old Jan Berchmans came to Mechelen to study. Jan (John) Berchmans later became a saint in the Catholic Church. He had previously lived in Diest, just a few miles from Scherpenheuvel, and had visited Scherpenheuvel often. He had a strong devotion to Mary. It was recorded that while in Mechelen he would visit St. Rombout's Cathedral and spend time praying at an altar there that had a replica of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel. (See "A Bishop's Tale", Harline and Put, Yale University Press, 2001, pages 184 to 188)

Mechelen was the home of Archbishop Hovius of the Archdiocese of Mechelen. The fact that a replica of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel is found in the cathedral there so early in the 17th century is a testimony to the early importance and fame of Scherpenheuvel.  

Jan Berchmans became a Jesuit. Recall that it was a Jesuit in Luxembourg in 1624 who started processions with Our Lady of Consolation in Luxembourg, and that Albert and Isabella supported the missions of the Jesuits in the Spanish Netherlands. The Jesuits had first arrived in Mechelen in 1611. Archbishop Hovious enlisted the help of the Jesuits to produce a new catechism for children. With 30 houses in the Spanish Netherlands, the Jesuits were very well represented there. They had opened up many free schools in a region where war had closed many schools, leaving the young without a good education. 

Catharina

 Miraculous healings helped to make Scherpenheuvel a popular pilgrimage site. One well documented miracle happened to Catharina Serraerts.

Catharina Serraerts was born into a prominent family. She was also born with a crippled left leg. Her left leg was shorter than the right and her left hip was misaligned, causing her left knee to hit her right thigh. Her family had several doctors attempt to help her, but the best they could do is provide her with a very thick shoe that allowed her left foot to reach the ground. She could walk, but with great difficulty and pain. 

Archbishop Hovious had known Catharina since she was a child. At the age of 16 she became a cloistered nun. The cloister was 20 miles from Scherpenheuvel. The other nuns and their mother superior were witnesses to Catharina's disability. Their confessor who visited the cloister was a witness. The archbishop was a witness. Her family and their doctors witnessed her disability. The doctors had given up hope for a healing. 

Word began to spread about miraculous healings at Scherpenheuvel. One day, when Catharina was 35 years old, a nobleman on a journey to Scherpenheuvel stopped by the cloister where Catharina had spent her entire adult life. He noticed her disability and offered to let her ride to Scherpenheuvel in his carriage. The Mother Superior consented to let Catharina leave the cloister accompanied by another nun. The nobleman spent three days in the nearby town of Diest. The nuns were also provided a room at Diest. Each of the three days they went to Scherpenheuvel to pray before the miraculous statue of Mary. After returning to the cloister, on the way to her room, Catharina felt something happening to her leg. She realized that a healing had begun. That night she fell asleep praying rosaries. In the morning the healing was complete. She could walk normally and did not need the thick shoe.

Those who had witnessed her disability now witnessed her healing. The other nuns at the cloister, the Mother Superior, the doctors, her confessor. She was allowed out of the cloister once more to go see Archbishop Hovious. (The archbishop's own sister had previously gone to Scherpenheuvel and had been cured of a fever.) The nobleman who had taken her to Scherpenheuvel, the Marquis of Havre, returned to see the miracle. This miracle was recorded in P. Numan's history of miracles at Scherpenheuvel, published in 1604 at Leuven. 

History of St. Augustine parish in Leopold Indiana

 Msgr. Jean-Francois Augustin de Bessonies was born in Sousceyrac, France, on June 17, 1815, on the day after the Battle of Waterloo. He became a seminarian of the Diocese of Vincennes in 1836, while still living in France. He was ordained a deacon at Christmas in 1838 and then traveled to Indiana in 1839. Fr. Bessonies was ordained as a priest by Bishop de la Hailandiere in Vincennes on January 18, 1840. The bishop assigned him to ministry in Rome, but Fr. Bessonies was a little disappointed to learn that this was Rome, Perry County! He spoke almost no English and had a hard time getting to Perry County because he didn't understand any directions people gave him, but he finally made it. Fr. Bessonies heard about how German settlers had been enticed to settle in Jasper and Ferdinand in southern Indiana by the priest there placing ads for settlers in the Cincinnati newspapers. So he decided to do the same thing, with Belgian settlers. He founded the town of Leopold (named after King Leopold of Belgium) and then advertised for settlers from Belgium and Luxembourg. The church in Leopold, St. Augustine, was named after Fr. Bessonies. Fr. Bessonies went on to have an illustrious career, forming new parishes all over the diocese. He spent 1853-1854 at St. Augustine Church in Fort Wayne, then went to Jeffersonville, building St. Augustine Church, and also served at St. Mary-of-the-Knobs. In 1857 he arrived in Indianapolis, where he built St. John the Evangelist Church on the current site. He also built the second St. John the Evangelist church building, ten years later. Msgr. Bessonies was very active in Indianapolis. He bought the land for Holy Cross Cemetery and enticed the Sisters of the Good Shepherd and the Little Sisters of the Poor to come to the diocese. He was the vicar geneneral from 1872 to 1877, when he became the administrator of the diocese after the death of Bishop de St. Palais. In 1878 he became the vicar general again until the time of his death in 1901. He traveled all over the diocese blessing cornerstones and new churches in the absence of the bishop. Bessonies was named a Roman Prelate, with the title of "monsignor," by Pope Leo XIII in 1884. Msgr. Bessonies retired as pastor of St. John's in 1892, but continued to live there until his death on February 22, 1901. He is interred in St. John's Church. 

The above is from the Archives of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. St. Augustine parish in Leopold, Indiana is the also the site of the Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation. 

I noticed that this article says the parish of St. Augustine was named after Fr. Bessonies, whose middle name was Augustin. There is probably a connection. However, the parish is named SAINT Augustine. The good Monsignor Fr. Bessonies is very likely in Heaven and praying for us, but he has not yet been canonized. 

Clothing the Statue

 "Isabella, an expert seamstress, followed the old Spanish custom of sewing clothes for the image." Quote from page 100 of "A Bishop's Tale, Mathias Hovius Among His Flock in Seventeenth-Century Flanders" by Craig Harline and Eddy Put. Published by Yale University Press, 2001. 

Thus, we learn how the custom of dressing statues of Our Lady of Consolation came about. (Chapter 6 of "A Bishop's Tale" is about Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel.)

Isabella was born and raised in Spain. She was well educated and spoke Spanish, Dutch, Italian, and French. In 1599, on her way to the Spanish Netherlands, she and her husband Albert stopped in Nancy at the palace of the Duke of Lorraine. (See page 49 of the above-mentioned book.) Recall that just a few years later, in 1607, an altar piece with an image of Our Lady of Consolation would be installed at the Jesuit novitiate in Nancy. The Archdukes Albert and Isabella were very religious. They were generous in funding the Jesuits in the Spanish Netherlands. Recall it was a Jesuit in Luxembourg who titled a statue of Our Lady "Conolatrix Afflictorum". That statue in Luxembourg also wore a mantel. After Albert died, Isabella eventually retired and returned to Spain. There she became a nun until she died in 1633 at the age of 67. 

Note the Flemish inscription above

and the French inscription below

the statue.

An old picture of Scherpenheuvel

 

This picture is from the three-volume work Chorographia sacra Brabantiae by Antonius Sanderus. It was published in 1626 (another source says 1627) and depicts Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel. This scanned copy is available from Google Books. This image from Scherpenheuvel is a very close match to the images at Luxembourg and Kevelaer. Thus, another connection linking the three and therefore linking Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel with Our Lady of Consolation. 

The current statue at Scherpenheuvel looks slightly different. In that statue Madonna and Child share a mantel and the mantel is not as wide. This image from 1626 was circulated in this three-volume set of Chorographia sacra Brabantiae. This 1626 picture is the earliest I have found. I have recently learned that the original Scherpenheuvel statue was destroyed by Protestants and later replaced when Catholics regained control of the region. 

In the background there is a procession. It can be clearly seen if the picture is enlarged. Recall that Fr. Jacques Broquart made his first procession with Our Lady of Consolation in 1626 in Luxembourg. This is another connection to Our Lady of Luxembourg, which is closely associated with processions. This picture shows the three different chapels that were built at Scherpenheuvel. Of course, they all did not exist at once. The largest on the right is the newest and also the one that exists today. The man in the lower left, Hans Clemens, was cured after visiting.  His legs were folded up in front of him and his knees were attached to his chest. He had been that way since birth. His legs straightened out and he was able to walk after praying at Scherpenheuvel. 

Below is the image of Our Lady of Kevelaer, which came from Luxembourg. Notice the similarities. The processions. The domed building. This image is from 1641. 

Consolatrix Afflictorum

Our Lady of Kevelaer

From Luxembourg

Rosary in the Philippines

 In the last post, we saw how both the rosary and Our Lady of Consolation were present in the Spanish Netherlands at the same time. In the 17th century the Dutch Protestants in the north of that region battled with the Spanish for control. Marian devotion helped the region to keep the Catholic faith. 

The Dutch were also battling with the Spanish for control of the Philippines during this same time. We have already seen that the Augustinians had brought devotion to Our Lady of Consolation to the Philippines. The rosary was also being used in the Philippines at the same time. 

In 1646 an armada of 18 Dutch warships came to the Philippines to take control from Spain. The Spanish had only two ships, the Encarnacion and the Rosario. Facing daunting odds, the Spanish and the Filipinos prayed the rosary every day. There were 4 Dominicans with them on the 2 ships who prayed the rosary with them and celebrated mass with them. 5 battles were fought over 6 months, yet the stronger Dutch fleet could not prevail. It lost 2 ships and many men. Other ships were damaged. The Spanish-Filipino navy did not lose one ship. The Dominicans had brought the rosary to the Philippines. The victory was attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary.  For a more in-depth history, see Champions of the Rosary by Fr. Donald Calloway, pages 97 and 98. Also see https://aleteia.org/2019/11/09/how-our-lady-of-the-rosary-rescued-the-philippines/

Thus, we find two Marian devotions, the rosary and Our Lady of Consolation, were both present at the same time in both regions. Both devotions helped the Catholics to keep their faith when confronted by a Protestant enemy.