Our Lady of Banneux

   At a news conference today at the Vatican, an Italian edition of a Dictionary of Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary revealed some startling news.  Of the 2,400 claims of people seeing her throughout the centuries, only 15 have been recognized by the Roman Catholic Church.
   We are all familiar with Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Our Lady of Fatima, to name a few. But, according to one of the co-authors of the book, Father Rene Lauretin, apparitions are considered the most controversial of all theological subjects and the least scientifically studied.
  I, for one, believe that if a logical, intelligent person or even a small child believes they have seen the Blessed Virgin Mary, that there's a strong chance that it's true. Why would anyone make up such a thing?
  Our Lady of Banneux proved to be a definite apparition in 1949.  From Jan. 15 to March 2, 1933, a 12-year-old girl named Mariette Beco (pictured on the left above) saw the Blessed Virgin Mary in Banneux, Belgium.
  Common to many apparitions, the young girl told her priest and family that a beautiful woman in white encouraged her to drink from a small spring that would heal and help all nations. The spring is said to now produce 2,000 gallons of water a day.
  The Blessed Virgin Mary, who called herself the Virgin of the Poor, asked that a chapel be built on the site.
  "I come to relieve suffering and believe in me and I will believe in you," she said.
  The feast day of Our Lady of Banneux is Jan. 15.

(Happy Feast of St. Lucy!)