OUR MOTHER OF ARRAS (NETHERLANDS) - 07th Jul

 The statue of Our Sweet Mother is of oak is nearly four feet tall and is of an unusual pattern: Our Mother stands upright, while her forearms are extended at right angles to her body.

    The Child is balanced on her left hand and in her right, she holds an apple. The image known as the “Kind Mother” at Hertogenbosch, or “Our Sweet Mother” of Den Bosch, 

    as she is also known in the north Brabant province of the Netherlands, was an object of derision in 1380. It had been found dirty and damaged in a builder’s junk-yard, 

    but it soon became celebrated for the wonders connected with it. The dedication of the new Church of Our Mother of Arras occurred in 1484 by the Bishop of that city. 

    The Kind Mother was hidden and saved from the destruction in 1566. It wasn’t until the year 1810 when the Cathedral at Den Bosch was returned to the Catholics by Napoleon. 

    Then, it took the prolonged efforts of the Bishop of Hertogenbosh to have the beloved statue of Our Sweet Mother returned to his Cathedral in 1878. 

    It was crowned by the grateful Bishop in the name of Pope Leo XIII that same year.




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