Our Lady of Banneux Apparition - Belgium
Our Lady of Banneux The winter of 1933 had turned extremely bitter. The eerie sounds of the wind wailing through the trees, bending the branches in a contest of strength, created a deafening din inside the house. Drafts blew through the open cracks under the doors and in the window frames. The flames in the fireplace flickered wildly, as they battled the cold winds blowing down the chimney. It was dark, around 7 in the evening, on this freezing night. Mariette sat by the front window of her house, looking into the black of night for some sign of her brother Julien, who was late returning home. As she opened the curtain to look out, she saw a Lady standing in their front yard, surrounded by a bright light. The Lady was short, about five feet tall, and exceptionally beautiful. Mariette had never seen anyone so lovely before. She was not dressed like any of the ladies from the village. She wore a long white gown with a blue sash. One of her feet could be seen. She was barefoot, with just a gold rose in between her toes. In this kind of weather, she should be freezing. Mariette noticed that she stood just above the ground, sort of on a cloud. She didn’t seem to be cold at all. Mariette had a very logical mind, even at age 11. The scene she saw before her eyes didn’t make sense. It was probably the reflection of the oil lamp. She took the oil lamp from the table, and put it in another room. Then she went back to the window and looked out. The Lady was still there. She resorted to the next natural course of action....she called her mother. Mariette explained what she was looking at, to her mother. Louise Beco responded in a natural way also.
“Rubbish”, she said.
Mariette was a very persistent girl. She described what the Lady looked like. Her mother replied jokingly,
“Perhaps it’s the Blessed Virgin.” The child was insistent that her mother come over to the window and see for herself. After much persuasion, but feeling very foolish, Louise went over to the window and looked out. She did indeed see something, a white shape, but she couldn’t make out any figures.
“It’s a witch.” she said, and let the curtain fall, blocking the image from Mariette’s eyes. The child opened the curtain again.
“She’s beautiful, mama. She’s smiling at me.” The mother ignored her eldest daughter.
The child noticed that the Lady had a Rosary, hanging from the blue sash. The cross was the same color of gold as the rose between her toes. Mariette went to a drawer, and rummaged through, looking for a a Rosary she had found outside on the road. When she found it, she began to pray. The Lady’s lips moved, but she didn’t say anything that Mariette could hear. After a few decades, the Lady raised her hand, and motioned with her finger for Mariette to come outside. The young girl told her mother what the Lady had wanted, and asked permission to go outside.
“Lock the door.” Her mother replied.
By the time Mariette returned to the window, the Lady had disappeared. She could not get the vision out of her mind. She kept going back to the window to see if the beautiful Lady had returned, but she had not. Pretty soon, her brother Julien came home. She told him what had happened while she was waiting for him at the window. His reaction was similar to that of his mother’s, only a little more vocal. His comments ranged from “You’re a fool” to “You’re crazy”.
The next morning, Mariette told her father. His initial response was “Nonsense. You’re crazy.” But his curiosity had been aroused. His reasoning was pure logic, however. She was not the type of child who lied. She had no reason to lie. She never feared repercussion for her words or actions. Also, she never had flights of fantasy. She was a very down to earth girl. After she left for school that morning, Julien asked his wife to show him the exact spot where she had seen the white shape. Then, that evening, he tried various ways to recreate the conditions of the previous night to come up with some logical explanation for what his daughter claimed to see.
He moved the oil lamp in various positions, but the light never shone on the garden, only on the road. He then threw a bucket of water on the spot where his wife and daughter had seen something. After it had frozen over, he tried to get the oil lamp to reflect off the ice, but he was not able to duplicate what Mariette and the mother had seen.
On that same day, Monday, January 16, Mariette told a girl friend at school what had happened. The girl told her she had to tell the priest. Mariette was afraid, but with the encouragement of her friend, the two of them went to the priest’s office. Mariette backed out at the last minute, and ran off. The girl friend told the priest, Fr. Louis Jamin, what Mariette had said. The priest was sure Mariette was influenced by the recent reported apparitions in Beauraing, and paid no attention to it. He cautioned the girl friend, however, not to tell anyone about Mariette’s reported apparition.
For the next two days, Monday and Tuesday, the Lady did not return. However, that one visit had a deep effect on Mariette’s spirituality. She returned to her Catechism class on Wednesday, embracing the material with a renewed enthusiasm. She knew her lesson perfectly. This amazed Fr. Jamin, because Mariette had always been the worst student in the class.
After class, Father asked her why she had run away on Monday without telling him what she had seen. By this time, the child had had time to reflect on the possibility of what had happened. She was not frightened anymore. She spoke very calmly to the priest, telling him exactly what she had seen. He, for his part, did not treat her as a child, or belittle what she claimed. He only told her to pray to Our Lady for guidance.
That night, Wednesday, January 18, was the first time Mariette actually had contact with the Lady. It was cold, well below freezing. The ground outside the house was frozen like rock. Mariette knelt down at around 7 o’clock, and began to pray. Her father watched her from inside. Then, after a time, she opened her arms. The Lady returned like a shooting star, appearing at first very small off in the distance. As she moved through the sky, she became larger, the closer she got to Mariette. She moved silently between two trees and came to a halt in front of the child. A dazzling brilliance emanated from her. Mariette could feel the warmth of it from where she knelt, a distance of about 5 feet from the Lady.
The father came outside, and tried to speak to the child, but she did not seem to hear him. When she opened her arms, Julian Beco realized she was having another apparition. He got on his bicycle, and rode to the town to get the priest. He couldn’t find him, so he asked a practising Catholic acquaintance to come back to his house. As they approached, they saw Mariette walking away from the house, as if being guided to a particular place.
“Where are you going?”, he cried out to her.
“She’s calling me.” the child answered, without stopping.
Mariette knelt a few times on her way, and then went over to a stream. She knelt in front of it. The Lady stood opposite her on the other side.
“Plunge your hands into the water.” Our Lady requested.
After the child had obeyed, Mary spoke again.
“This spring is reserved for me. Goodnight. Au revoir.”
Our Lady rose into the air, and proceeded to return to Heaven. She became smaller and smaller, until finally she disappeared out of sight. Her eyes never left the child the entire time. 
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