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MARPINGEN APPARITIONS: A most interesting site is located in the woods at the edge of
the small village of Marpingen, Germany, not far from the Luxembourg border. The
Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to several young girls in Marpingen during the
mid-1870s. Some decades later, a chapel and stations of the cross were erected in
the woods outside the village. In 1999, three women again said that the Virgin Mary
had begun to appear to them at the same site. Note: the photograph at lthe
left is of a statue of Our Lady of Consolation in the church at St. Donatus, Iowa.
Scroll down to see a related image at the Immaculata Chapel in Marpingen. |
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MARPINGEN: At the left is
the altar in the interior of the Immaculata
chapel on the outskirts of Marpingen, Germany, where many believe the Virgin Mary appeared
in the mid-1870s. In recent months, renewed interest has been focused on Marpingen,
where a controversy has arisen over the question of whether Mary has actually been
appearing there. |
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At left: On a rainy Sunday afternoon
in July 1997, a group of visitors awaits a concert of religious music just outside the
Immaculata chapel at Marpingen, Germany. If you'd like to learn more about this
site, one of the best books on the purported apparitions at Marpingen is David
Blackbourn's scholarly study of the 1870s apparition phenomenon. If you'd like to visit some web sites devoted to the recent
Marpingen apparitions, go to the following URLs:
http://www.marienerscheinung.de
http://www.gottesmutter.de
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http://www.marpingen.de
http://www.saarbrücker.zeitung.de Here is a photograph of the Immaculata chapel's front wall,
featuring a view of memorials left by pilgrims who believe that the Virgin Mary has helped
them: "Mary hat geholfen." |
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On an overcast afternoon in July 1997, I
made the 90-minute drive from Luxembourg City to Marpingen. An afternoon concert of
scared music was scheduled to take place at the apparition site. Here we see
pilgrims visiting the Immaculata chapel and awaiting the concert, which was
temporarily postponed by rain showers. |
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Here we see a life-sized statue of the
Virgin Mary and Infant Jesus at the Grotto near the Immaculata Chapel. This site
marks the spot where Mary is said to have appeared in the 1870s and where the three
Marpingen women are said to have seen her again in 1999. |
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This image of Our Lady of Consolation is
situated on the outside wall of the chapel. This image replicates other images of
the BVM found in the statuary and stained glass windows of chapels and churches throughout
Luxembourg as well as parts of Germany and Belgium, especially areas that were once part
of Luxembourg. Compare this image with that of Our Lady of Consolation at the
top of this page. |
