Basiliek van Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Kortenbos, Catholic pilgrimage church in Kortenbos, Belgium
The Basilica of Our Lady of Kortenbos is a baroque church with a single-nave cruciform layout built from brick and limestone. Inside, ten oak confessionals line the walls alongside eighteen votive paintings and twelve portraits of Premonstratensian saints.
In 1636, Elisabeth van Oeteren placed a clay statue of Mary beside an oak tree to shield travelers from bandits in the dangerous forest. Word spread quickly after numerous healings were documented at the site between 1637 and 1651.
This site has drawn visitors seeking spiritual help from devotion to Mary for hundreds of years. The church remains a gathering place where people from the surrounding villages come together for worship and community.
The site is managed by Norbertine fathers from Averbode Abbey and serves communities from Alken, Kozen, Zepperen, and Melveren. Weekdays offer a quieter experience if you prefer to visit when fewer pilgrims are present.
This pilgrimage destination grew not from a grand church building, but from faith in a simple clay statue meant to protect travelers from bandits. It reveals how belief could transform a dangerous forest location into a place of hope.
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