The Onkerzele Apparitions: Léonie Van den Dijck and the Virgin

The early 1930s brought an apparition fever to Belgium. First Beauraing. Then Banneux. Historian Tine Van Osselaer counts about 200 visionaries in the wave. Onkerzele, today a section of Geraardsbergen in the Flemish Ardennes, had a Lourdes grotto at St Martin's Church, with a small chapel above it. Léonie Van den Dijck lived in the village. She rolled cigars and sold nuts and sweets. Her husband had left. Of her 13 children, 9 survived. She had already visited Beauraing and Banneux.

4 August 1933. Léonie went to the little chapel to pray the rosary. Beside the Lourdes statue, she said, a radiant light appeared. Blue, red and silver-white, with blue predominant. A large ball of gray and blue. Then, in her account, Our Lady descended. Most sources date the first full sight of Mary to 9 and 10 August.

She saw blond hair, a white veil, a crown with spikes, a long snow-white dress and a pale blue belt. Later, a golden heart surrounded by brilliant light rays. At first the figure was a distinguished lady about 1.6 meters tall. Later she seemed only about 60 cm. The messages were plain. "I have come for the conversion of sinners. One should keep Sunday holy." And a warning. "Your country is in great danger."

Sources count between 33 and 37 apparitions. At the peak, about 15,000 people came. One witness spoke of at least 10,000 persons and a grotto becoming a mountain of flower wreaths. Léonie said only she truly saw Mary. Yet others reported glimpses. Alma Van Holder, 13, confirmed the visions, then retracted. At the 35th apparition, fifteen witnesses reported a shining cross on the chapel ceiling. On 18 December 1933, at the last appearance on the chapel steps, all present noticed a pleasant odor.

Then came three sun miracles, in December 1933, January 1934 and February 1934. Hundreds of witnesses saw the sun appear to rotate and change colour. Accounts of the December morning describe a sun disc twice its normal diameter, rays of many colours and coloured patches drifting down through the fog.

Local clergy banned participation from the pulpit. Priests were forbidden to organise pilgrimages. On 25 August 1934, Cardinal Jozef Van Roey denied any supernatural character. On 25 March 1942 he ruled again. "The facts have no supernatural character." The apparitions remain unapproved.

Followers credit Léonie with foreseeing the death of King Albert I at Marche-les-Dames in 1934. "She saw in a vision how our king was pushed from a rock," committee chairman Frans Verleysen told VRT. She died on 23 June 1949. Exhumed on 9 June 1972, her body was reported in surprisingly good condition. A second exhumation in 1982 found the same.

The sceptics have their answers. SKEPP notes that most predictions were published only after the events. Pathologist Jan Van Rompaey points to saponification in damp soil, and groundwater specialist Caroline Vercoutere confirmed nine springs within 1 to 2 km of the chapel.

Ufologist Jacques Bonabot compared the illuminated cloud of Beauraing with UFO reports. Julien Weverbergh argued that Marian apparitions, UFO sightings and trances share one psychic process of "unconscious symbolism". Patrick Bernauw retold the story as the UFOs of Onkerzele. Today a committee seeks Léonie's beatification. On the first Saturday of each month, 10 to 50 pilgrims still join the procession.