Catholic Herald Correspondent
YrTERDAY (Thursday) afternSoon the Bishop of Namur consecrated the new altar erected at the scene of the thirty-three apparitions of Our Lady, 1932-33, to five children at Beauraing, Belgium.
Since the giving of the decree, with the approval of the Holy See, February 2, 1943, recognising the credibility of the Apparitions (a decree confirmed in 1949), a massive !none chapel, with numerous altars has been built within the domain but, hitherto, the altar beside the May-tree where Our Lady appeared has been only temporary, for all that it has become familiar to many English pilgrims.
The new altar, a great monolith hewn from a local quarry, stands on the same site, beneath a vast baldacchino of concrete and hacked by the railway viaduct where the children first saw the shining figure of Our I,ady. It is dedicated to the Mystery of Our Lady's Visitation. Among the several national flags hoisted round the sanctuary was the Union Jack, presented last year by the English All Night Vigil.