Basilica of Our Lady of Tongre 1.7

The Basilica of Our Lady of Tongre is a Roman Catholic parish church and Minor basilica in Tongre-Notre-Dame, Chièvres, Belgium. The shrine is considerably small, yet rich in historical significance.The shrine is known for its seated image of the Madonna and Child, along with its collection of various jewels donated by various Belgian royalty, as the image was granted a Canonical Coronation via an Apostolic Brief by the Pope Leo XIII on 8 September 1881 carried out by Bishop Isidore Rousseaux.The image is not the same as the Our Lady of Tongeren, Virgin of Joy that was Canonically crowned by the Rosary Pope in 1890 at the Tongeren Basilica, where the national feasts are widely held every seven years in all of Belgium.LegendOn February 1, 1081, a certain Hector, the local lord, sees an apparition of the Virgin Mary in his garden. An hour later, there is nothing left of the image because the village priest, Tongre (today known as Tongre-Saint-Martin), placed it in his church.But the next day the image of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw (Our Lady) mysteriously appears in the garden again, again shrouded in light and music. The wonder reproduced itself twice. The lord consults with the Bishop of Kamerijk, Gerald II, which, after investigation, allowed the image to be worshipped. He built a chapel in the place of these extraordinary events with the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary and it was since known as Our Lady of Tongre (Onze Lieve Vrouw van Tongre).