Our Lady of Beauraing Apparition - Belgium
Our Lady of Beauraing November 29, 1932 was a cold and windy night. There was a chill in the air, which gave the promise of an early and bitter winter. The Degeimbre family was huddled around the kitchen, the warmest room in the house. Two friends of Germaine’s had dropped over for coffee and conversation. The children were eating supper.
There was a commotion outside of feet running up the steps. Andree and Gilberte knew who it was; they jumped up from the table. Fernande Voison and her brother Albert were calling for them to join them. Together, the four children went to the local school, run by the nuns, to pick up Gilberte Voison, who was finished for the day at 6:30 in the evening. Her father, Hector was supposed to get her, but a tradition of sorts had been established. The two Voison children met her when the father was working, or when they could talk him into letting them go, which was as often as possible. They always called for Andree and Gilberte D (Degeimbre), and the foursome would frolic on their way to the school, meet Gilberte V( Voison), and continue playing until they reached home.
As far as anyone could tell, this evening was to be no different from any of the others when they had played out this ritual. But they were not able to see the Lady descending upon them from far up in the heavens. They walked from the Degeimbre house towards the school. They played their pranks on the way. This was actually the highlight of the whole affair. If they just had to go and pick up Gilberte V and come right home, it would have been boring. But the little games they played, ringing doorbells, then running before they were caught; these little adventures made it worthwhile. There was a very special adventure awaiting them, much greater than they had ever expected.
They walked down the block, and turned the corner to the street on which the convent and school were located. Meanwhile, up above them, the Lady was approaching, a short distance from their view. The children passed a little grotto, which was a shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes, and turned into the entrance of the convent. Albert ran up to the door and rang the bell. The three girls genuflected in front of the Statue of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Albert danced up and down the steps of the stoop of the convent, waiting for the sister to open the door. The girls climbed the steps and faced the door. All of a sudden, Albert exclaimed excitedly, “Look, the Virgin, dressed in white, is walking on the bridge.”
The girls paid no attention to him. But then Fernande turned around, partly because of the way Albert’s voice sounded, and partly because of the expression on his face. She looked up and froze in her tracks. The other girls, meanwhile, were still facing the door. “It’s only the light of an automobile, silly” they said.
Albert was having none of it. He made them turn around. As they looked up, they all went into shock. There she was, above the bridge. They all saw the greatly illuminated figure of a woman in white, wearing a long flowing gown. She seemed as though she were walking on a cloud. They were able to distinguish that she was bending her knees, walking on air.
They didn’t know what to do. They did know they needed an authority figure, an adult, at once. Albert rang the bell of the convent. The girls began pounding on the door for all they were worth. They yelled and cried at the same time. Sister Valeria answered the door, but upon seeing that it was the children, she turned and went to fetch Gilberte V. This was the wrong thing to do. They needed her outside. While Gilberte V put on her coat and hat, Sister Valeria took notice of the great commotion going on outside the open door. The children were clamoring inchoherently, and pointing in the direction of the apparition. She asked them what was wrong. They all yelled at once.
“Look, sister, the Virgin is walking above the bridge.”
“She’s all dressed in white.”
“We’re afraid.”
The good nun could sense their anxiety. She tried as best she could to see what they were talking about. She looked in the direction to which they pointed. She couldn’t make anything out. She thought perhaps they were referring to the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Grotto. She turned on a light, so they could see better.
“It’s only a branch in the wind.” she said. “Statues don’t walk.”
The children insisted the Blessed Mother was walking above the bridge. She was plain as day. The sister strained her eyes, but could see nothing. About this time, Gilberte V walked out the door, and immediately saw the vision. She exclaimed in wonder: “Oh, Look!”
The children were in a state of panic. They wanted to get home. They wanted their mother.
“Let’s go home.” they said. “We’re afraid.”
The nun dismissed them with a comment about their being silly children, and went inside. She couldn’t help but notice how differently they behaved from the other times they had come to pick up Gilberte V. They were normally playful, mischievous children. This time, however, they looked as if they had seen a ghost. It was equally strange that Gilberte V had taken part in this nonsense. She had been inside with Sister Valeria just minutes before the incident, and seemed very calm and normal. However, the minute she walked out the door, she began to act like the others.
Sister Valeria related the story to the Mother Superior, Sister Theophile, and the rest of the community at dinner that night. She met with strange looks, and a curt comment from Sister Theophile. “Oh sister”, she said, “How can you tell such a story? You sound aschildish as those children.” The words spit out like a machine gun. Sister Theophile was angry. Sister Valeria dropped the subject. She felt a flush of embarrassment rush to her face. The Mother Superior had made her positon on the matter very clear. Sister Valeria wondered why her superior was so angry. However, prudence dictated that the younger sister not get involved in it any further.
Meanwhile, the children ran down the streets towards the Degeimbre house, as if they were possessed. They passed a man on the street. From their expressions, he thought there was a fire somewhere. “What’s happened?” he asked.
Without skipping a beat, or slowing down for an instant, one of them yelled “We saw something in white.”
When they arrived at the Degeimbre house, Germaine was still sitting at the table with her two friends, Raymond Gobert and Jules Defesche. It seemed to her that the children had just left the house. She knew immediately that something was wrong with them. Their faces were flushed. They were completely out of breath. They were in a state of shock. They all spoke excitedly at the same time, in between trying to catch their breath.
“I think we saw the Blessed Virgin!”
“We saw a man in white!”
“I think it was the statue that moved!”
“The Blessed Virgin was walking!”
The reaction from the adults was typical, and one which we’ll see more of as we delve into the apparitions of Mary. The first blush of shock was followed by total disbelief, coupled with annoyance, which finally turned into downright anger.
The Mother: “Be quiet, you silly children. Before long you’ll have us believing that a stone statue can move.”
The older Degeimbre daughter, Jeanne, set a pattern from the outset, which was to continue throughout the apparitions. She said what everyone else thought. She lashed out angrily at her sisters. “You two see the virgin? Now if I had seen her, that would be different. But you two! You’re not good enough.”
Germaine gave them a brisk dismissal, sending her two girls off to bed. Then she tried to sweep the whole incident under the carpet. Using her harshest tone, she turned to the three Voison children. “Now listen to me, you children. Don’t tell any of this foolishness to your parents.”
Fernande, the oldest, spoke for the rest. “Of course we will tell them, Germaine, just as we told you.”AND IT BEGAN 
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