Today incorporated with Mechelen, Hanswyck was once a hamlet on the river Dyle. Though the first reliable evidence for a special cult of the Virgin at Hanswyck comes to us from a Dominican who died in 1280, an older legend has it that around 988 a boat going down the Dyle suddenly stopped and nothing could make it go on.

 

Among the freight was a statue of the Virgin, and somebody had the idea of setting it on the bank. The boat was now suddenly able to move on, and the sailors and onlookers concluded that the Virgin Mary had chosen the site as a place of worship.

 

The statue was taken to an oratory nearby, and over the generations worshippers attributed prodigious powers to Our Lady of Hanswyck. Pilgrims began to make their way here in every-increasing numbers.

 

The present Basilica (for the sanctuary was raised to that dignity by his Holiness, Pope Pius XI, at the request of the late Cardinal Mercier) was designed by the architect and sculptor Luc Faid’herbe in the mid-seventeenth century. He was a disciple of Rubens, who designed other churches in this region and was responsible for the high altar of St. Rombaut’s Cathedral. There is a fine pulpit by another Mechelen craftsman, and the confessionals are also notable. The Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswyck is recognizable from afar by its Baroque dome.

 

Dienst Toerisme Stad Mechelen

 

Hallestraat 2-4 - 2800 MECHELEN - toerisme@mechelen.be

Tel from US: 011 32 15/29 76 55 Fax: 011 32 15/29 76 53

 

Source: http://www.visitbelgium.com/Shrines.htm 

 

The Hanswijk procession is a Eucharistic procession which takes place annually in Mechelen on the Sunday before Ascension Day and is under the aegis of André Léonard , archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels .

 

The legend says that in 988 a ship with merchandise and a wooden statue of Mary firmly shifted to the Dyle . They did everything possible to release the ship but nothing helped. After a while, the merchants brought the wooden statue of Mary ashore and the ship came loose. This was seen as a sign that Mary chose her residence here. [1] Later in the quarter rose Hanswijk the Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswijk to display the picture shelter.

 

In 1272 the area around Mechelen was haunted by the plague and other ailments. The residents of Hanswijk, which was still completely outside the city walls lay, were desperate. They carried the statue to the city , but the townsfolk shut the gate because they were afraid that it was a rebellion. Moments later the burghers opened the Brussels gate to let them. Shortly thereafter stopped the ailments. In gratitude, the Virgin Mary every year carried through the city in a historical and religious procession . [2]

 

Since 1738 , when Marian devotion in Hanswijk the tradition 750 years existed, comes to 25 years Hanswijkcavalcade , followed by the Procession of Mechelen .

 

Source:  https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanswijkprocessie