Miracles of Mary

Our Lady of La Sarte

The shrine of Our Lady of La Sarte is not far from the town of Huy, Belgium. There at the top of the hill, you will find a church which was built in the 1600's, a bell tower topped with a statue of Our Lady, and a study hall. But the chapel wasn't always in good condition; it had been there since 1501 and had fallen into ruins. In fact it had become so bad, that hardly one piece of the wall remained standing!

There was a stone sticking out of the wall which had a statue of the Blessed Virgin on it. It was carved from one piece of oak: Our Lady sits on a throne and the Child Jesus sits on her knee. Our Lady holds a sceptre in her right hand and supports the Child Jesus with her left hand. But the statue was broken and rotting, and worse still, little children playing around the deserted chapel made fun of the statue of Our Lady.

One day in 1621, a lady named Anne Hardy stopped by the chapel. There she sat down to rest after gathering sticks in the nearby forest. When she stood up and was about to leave, she noticed the old statue of Our Lady and feeling sorry for it's condition, she tied it to her bundle of wood. She wanted to place the statue in a more sheltered location. But when she tried to pick up her bundle again, she was unable to lift it. The statue had become extremely heavy.

Just then a man and a woman were passing by and they offered to help Anne. But even when the three of them tried to lift the bundle of sticks with the statue tied to it, they could not lift the bundle! Only when the statue was removed could Anne lift the bundle of wood again.

Information about this miracle was gathered and the three people were questioned about the statue of Our Lady. Then another incident occurred which was to renew devotion to Our Lady of La Sarte. In Huy, there lived a lady named Anne Nandrin, who had been sick for fifteen years. It was feared that she was going to die so she was given the Last Rites.

Her friends encouraged her to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Tilliesse, but the journey was too long and difficult for the poor woman. Anne then remembered a story that her mother had told her about the statue of Our Lady of La Sarte. Since it was still in place at the old chapel, Anne decided to visit the statue for six Saturdays in a row.

While she was praying during her fourth visit to Our Lady of La Sarte, she became terribly ill and had to sit down. During this time she kept her eyes on the holy statue. Suddenly her pains disappeared and the statue became life like, with a natural color, then drops of liquid began to trickle down the face of Our Lady. Anne was awe struck, but after a while she went up to the statue and taking her handkerchief, she wiped Our Lady's face. The cloth became wet with the liquid and Anne fell to her knees and prayed whole heartedly. When she arose a few minutes later, she was completely cured. Soon the townspeople heard about the miracle and they were overjoyed. You can be sure that many of them ran to see the miraculous statue and prayed to Our Lady.

Anne continued to visit the shrine of Our Lady as she had promised, but she did not spend all her time in prayer. She spent part of her time decorating the niche where the statue of Our Lady stood and arranging the area in a more orderly fashion.

After, these miraculous happenings were investigated by a special committee: a Doctor of Theology, some priests and other religious. This committee declared that the events which had taken place at the Shrine of Our Lady of La Sarte were true! They then decided to buy a piece of land in order to build a church for the miraculous statue of Our Lady.

Years later, in 1656, the new church was completed. The miraculous statue, which had been somewhat repaired, was borne in procession to the church in Huy, at the bottom of the hill. After remaining there for a novena of nine days, the statue was carried in procession through the town of Huy and then carried back to the top of the hill, where it was placed in the new church.

During the novena, one of the intentions was for the end of a long drought; the people had had no rain for a long time and the grass and plants were drying up. But as soon as the statue was placed in the new shrine, God caused the clouds to burst and rain poured upon the dry land! And there hadn't been any clouds in the sky an hour before! It rained for many days after; the countryside was refreshed and the people thanked God and Our Lady for the wonderful miracle.

Today the statue of Our Lady of La Sarte has been totally restored, and it is most beautiful when it is wearing the lovely robes which have been made for it. The wooden crowns of Jesus and Mary have been covered with gold and silver. Our Lady of La Sarte is one of the most popular shrines in Belgium. May Our Lady continue to bless the people of Belgium and the many pilgrims who come to visit her shrine.

Our Lady of La Sarte, Pray for Us! The End

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