The Miracle at Bois-Seigneur-Isaac

When you reach the village of Bois-Seigneur-Isaac, you will find yourself enchanted.  

The scenery is delightful. Across the road from the abbey you'll notice a charming palace that belongs to an important family - the Snoy. 

Château de Bois-Seigneur-Isaac

The current owner's father, Count Jean-Charles Snoy et d'Oppuers, a former Secretary General of the Belgian Ministry of Economic Affairs, was one of the negotiators and signatories of the 1957 Treaty of Rome, and from 1968 till 1972 a Minister of Finance.

All''s quaint: the cows are grazing, the birds are chirping - a typical countryside...

... and there's the Abbey. 

A gateway to the Abbey

Its origins date back to the 11th century. The Loord Isaac planted a wood in the area which gave this settlement the name: "Lord Isaac's Wood". In the shade of a lime tree he also placed a statue of the Virgin Mary.  In 1096 he accompanied Godfrey de Bouillon on the First Crusade, and was taken prisoner by the Saracens. He prayed to Mary for deliverance and She responded: "How can you leave me in the open air exposed to rain and snow and dare to ask me to help you?" Isaac promised to build a chapel, if freed. At that instance, the chains which kept him prisoner broke and the door to the dungeon swung wide open. He was free. Following his return to the Bois, in 1100 he built a wooden chapel dedicated to our Lady of Grace and Consolation, whose statue has been venerated ever since. 

Church interior today

When in 1336 an epidemic struck the residents of a nearby Ittre, the statue was carried in procession through the parish - and the epidemic subsided.

Lord Isaac's castle and the chapel in the Middle Ages

However, the fame of this place of worship owes to the miracle of the Eucharist which took place here in 1405.

On Tuesday before the Pentecost, the lord of the manor, Jean du Bois, had a series of visions. At midnight, a man of about thirty illuminated by light appeared to him, covered with wounds. He said: "Look, how cruelly I have been treated. I pray you, have pity on me, find me a doctor capable of healing me and do me justice." The knight was struck with fear and helplessness, for there was no way he could find a doctor at that hour. The vision repeated twice. On the third apparition, accompanied by his brother, Jean had the courage to ask the Visitor: "Supposing I was able to find this doctor, where could I send him?" He heard the Christ say: "Take the key to the chapel and go there. You will find me there and will know who I am."   

Jean went to the chapel and saw above the altar Christ on the cross bleeding from his wounds.


At the same time, the parish priest of Haut-Ittre, which  had within its jurisdiction Bois-Seigneur-Isaac, Pierre Oste, was awakened suddenly by a voice telling him: "Get up, Sir Peter, and go and celebrate the Mass of the Holy Cross in the chapel of Bois-Seigneur-Isaac." He did so the very next morning - 5 June.

A painting above the main church altar

 
When Father Pierre, celebrating the mass, tried to pick up the consecrated Host, not only could he not part it from the corporal, but he noticed drops of blood dripping from it and spreading over the corporal.

This affected him profoundly. As  the priest was near fainting, Jean, who was present, calmed him down: "Do not fear, this miracle comes from God." And he promptly recalled his visions.

 

 The Blood continued to flow for five days until Tuesday after Pentecost, leaving a mark on the corporal the thickness of a finger, three fingers wide. It dried up only after the feast of Corpus Christ on 18 June.

Told of the account by many who had witnessed it the Bishop of Cambrai, Pierre d'Ailly, decided to open an investigation.

Pierre d'Aily,  Vrais portraits et vies des hommes illustres, André Thévet, 1584

A future cardinal Pierre d'Ailly (1351-1420) was a Chancellor of the University of Paris and one of the leading theologians at the Council of Constance. In other words, he was not a man who might easily be swayed or tricked.  He ordered rigorous tests to determine the causes of the phenomenon. Even though repeated and rigorous attempts were made with soap, water or wine to remove the stains of Blood from the corporal during the two years it was under his care, they all failed.

The Corporal stained with Christ's Blood

On 16 June, 1410, the bishop granted an indulgence of 40 days to those who visited the Chapel  at Bois-Seigneur-Isaaac. 

Reliquary of the Eucharistic Miracle

Then, three years later, on 3 May, he allowed the corporal to be venerated as a relic and established a procession in honor of the miracle, along with a public display of the Holy Sacrament.

An exhibit in the Abbey museum

So many pilgrims  started visiting the small chapel that more clergy was brought in to serve them. Thanks to a donation from William II, the Marquis of Namur, who participated in the first procession in 1414, it was possible to lay the founding stone for a monastery in 1416. Completed in two years, it was put under the care of the Augustinians.

At the end of the 18th century, the Abbey fell victim to the order of the enlightened despot Emperor Joseph II to close down religious houses deemed "unproductive" to society. The monks received an eviction notice on 17 April 1784.  

Refectory today

They were lucky, though. They appealed successfully, pointing out to the village school they founded, and were allowed to stay - at least for a while. As is the common history of many Belgian monastic institutions, the French Revolution proved more destructive, and the place was closed down in 1796. Not for long. The Concordat of 1801 returned the Abbey to the Catholic Church.  

 

 The secularisation of the 20th century threatened to bring the place down for good.

In the 1920s and 30s, some 50,000 pilgrims would still visit the relic of the Lord's Blood. Starting in the late 1940s, however, the numbers dwindled, meanwhile the Premonstratensian monks, who took over the Abbey, were also facing a drop in vocations, so by 2009 a decision was made to close it. 

The rescue came from an unexpected direction.. the Middle East. Just as the death sentence was being pronounced, on 24 May 2010, the Lebanese Maronite monks came to the Abbey. 

One of the exhibits in the Abbey museum

They brought with them for veneration a relic of their revered Saint Charbel (1828-1898) - a Lebanese hermit, credited with many miracles. 

 Thus began a new chapter in the life of the Abbey, now known as the Monastery of Saint Charbel. 

Incredibly, the early Christian hermitage traditions of the Holy Land gave the dying old monastic establishment of the Holy Roman Empire a a new lease of life.

Today, the tradition of pilgrimages has been restored (toute proportion gardée), with pilgrims flocking to the Abbey every second Sunday of September.   

As to the venerated statue of the Virgin Mary today the original rests in Ittre, while Bois-Seigneur-Isaac retains an old copy. 

And by way of a post scriptum: ever mindful of the utility of monastic houses, Joseph II would be happy to know that parts of the Abbey have been turned over for shelter by the refugees.
 

Additional Reference: 

Deike and Ean Begg, In Search of the Holy Grail and the Precious Blood: A Traveller's Guide,  New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2008.