Everything about Oostakker totally explained
Oostakker, formerly spelled
Oostacker, is one of the smaller former municipalities which were merged into
Ghent (from which it's only two miles), the capital of the Belgian province of
East Flanders. The hamlet is mainly known for its Roman Catholic
shrine of the Virgin Mary.
Shrine of Oostakker
The miraculous shrine of the Blessed Virgin is a place of
pilgrimage from
Belgium, the
Netherlands and Northern
France. It takes its name from Ghent. Its origin as a centre of pilgrimage is comparatively recent, dating from 1873.
In 1871 the
Marquise de Calonne de Courtebourne had built in the park of her estate at Oostacker an aquarium in the form of an artificial cave or grotto. One day, while on a visit to the park, the parish priest, reverend Moreels, suggested that a statue of
Our Lady of Lourdes be placed among the rocks. For two years the grotto remained simply an aquarium, but gradually the members of the family formed the habit of stopping there to recite a
Hail Mary. Soon it was decided to bless the statue publicly. The ceremony took place on 23 June, 1873, and was attended by nearly all the inhabitants of the village. The pious Flemish peasants asked permission of the owner to come frequently to the park to give vent to their devotion. Accordingly, access was allowed them on Sunday afternoon. At that time the world was ringing with the fame of Lourdes, and the shrine at Oostakker soon became popular; marvelous graces and wonderful cures were reported.
Before long Sunday afternoon no longer sufficed to receive the throngs of pilgrims, and the park was thrown open to the public by the generous owner. Then a large Gothic church was built, the corner-stone being laid on 22 May, 1875, by Mgr. Bracq. A priest's house followed, and the marchioness in memory of her son, a deceased
Jesuit, confided shrine, church, and house to the Society of Jesus. The fathers took possession on 8 April, 1877 and on 11 September of the same year the
Apostolic nuncio,
Seraphino Vannutelli, consecrated the church. That part of the estate, in which the grotto was, was now definitively given over to the service of Our Lady, a long avenue being built from the road to the shrine and a Way of the Cross erected. In the early 20th century 60,000 pilgrims came annually, in about 450 organized pilgrimages.
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