Basilica of Our Lady of Chèvremont
The Basilica of Our Lady of Chèvremont ( French Basilique Notre-Dame de Chèvremont ) is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage church in the city of Chaudfontaine in the province of Liège in the Wallonia region of Belgium , which is located on the hill Chèvremont above the Weser . The Basilica minor of the Diocese of Liège has been a center of Marian pilgrimage since the seventh century .
history
According to excavations, the Chèvremont hill has been used for fortifications since prehistoric times, later also by the Romans and Merovingians, whose caretaker Pippin the Middle founded a community of canons here and was buried in 714. A statue of the Virgin Mary as Mother of Mercy has been venerated here since the seventh century.
During the invasions of the Normans in the 10th century, the population withdrew to the castle of Chèvremont, which was considered impregnable, and the importance and ownership of the abbey grew. In 987, Empress Theophanu and Notger , Prince-Bishop of Liege, conquered the castle and razed it. Despite the destroyed chapel, the pilgrimage continued. On the upper part of the slope, English Jesuits from Liège built a pentagonal chapel in 1688. Above the 75 centimeter statue of Our Lady of Mercy are the invocation and the year: S. MARIA ORA PRO ANGLIA 88. On the way to the chapel there are seven oratorios depicting the seven sorrows of Mary .
In the first half of the 19th century, visits and pilgrimages increased, the opening of the railway line between Aachen and Liège with the Chaudfontaine stop increased the number of pilgrims and tourists from 1863 onwards. On May 4, 1874, more than 20,000 people made a pilgrimage to Chèvremont to meet for Pope Pius IX. to pray, who had lost the papal state after the Italian unification of 1870 and saw himself as a "prisoner in the Vatican". The bishop of Liège Théodore de Montpellier took the opportunity to start the construction of a monastery on the hill. He gave the land to the Carmelite Order, who should look after the pilgrims and build an appropriate church. After construction began in 1877, the Carmelites were able to temporarily use their monastery in 1878 according to plans by Pierre Cuypers , the slow church construction according to plans by Edmond Jamar came to a standstill between 1882 and 1897. Then the three-aisled basilica with transept in neo-Gothic style was completed in two years, the tower was only built up to roof height. The Liège bishop Victor-Joseph Doutreloux consecrated the church on September 8, 1899, the feast of the birth of the Virgin Mary .
During the First World War , the church was significantly damaged on August 4, 1914, when Liège was conquered by German artillery when the Liège fortress was bombarded . On September 9, 1923, a great pilgrimage took place with 40,000 believers, during which the statue of Notre-Dame de Chèvremont was solemnly crowned . In 1928, Pope Pius XI. the church to the rank of minor basilica . At the beginning of the Second World War , on May 10, 1940, the hill of Chèvremont was bombed again during the attack on the fort and was badly damaged, again in a bombing on November 23, 1944. Only the small chapel of the English Jesuits was spared. Reconstruction began in 1946 with the help of German prisoners, but with little financial means. Due to the apparition of Mary in nearby Banneux in 1933 , the importance of the church as a pilgrimage destination had declined.
literature
- J. Demarteau: Notre-Dame de Chèvremont , Liège, 1913 (3rd edition)
- Léopold Willaert: Chèvremont , in Stonyhurst Magazine , vol.VIII (1902), pages 387-392.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Basilique Notre-Dame de Chèvremont on gcatholic.org
- ↑ Notre-Dame de Chèvremont • Vaux-sous-Chèvremont (Chaudfontaine) at offenekirchen.be
- ↑ La Basilique de Chèvremont (French)
- ↑ a b Basilica of Chèvremont on liegetourisme.be
Coordinates: 50 ° 35 ′ 52.4 " N , 5 ° 38 ′ 27" E