- Pilgrimage town
Kevelaer
Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted
A pilgrimage town on the lower Rhine built around a small printed image of Our Lady, Consoler of the Afflicted, and the Chapel of Grace that has drawn the sorrowing for nearly four centuries.
- Location
- Kevelaer
- Central Europe
- Shrine type
- Image shrine
- Pilgrimage town
- Recognition
- Established Catholic pilgrimage shrine
- Marian title
- Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted
- Consolatrix Afflictorum
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Longer during the Marian pilgrimage season
A small printed image on the lower Rhine.
Kevelaer holds one small object at its center: a printed image of Our Lady of Luxembourg, honored here as Consoler of the Afflicted, set in the Chapel of Grace. According to the shrine tradition, a merchant placed it at a wayside cross in the 1640s, and pilgrims began to arrive from across the lower Rhine, from the German lands and the neighboring Netherlands. A town grew up around the chapel: confraternities, processions on foot, and a great basilica raised beside the small chapel it could never replace. Pilgrims still come in groups, carry banners, and light candles by the thousand, one flame for one intention. The consolation the title promises is not a quick fix but a place to set sorrow down.
What happened here.
A small image, a large need.
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1642
A voice at the wayside
According to the shrine tradition, a local merchant is moved to set up a shrine at a wayside cross near Kevelaer, and a small printed image of Our Lady of Luxembourg, Consoler of the Afflicted, is placed there.
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1654
The Chapel of Grace
The Gnadenkapelle is built to house the image as pilgrims arrive in growing numbers from across the lower Rhine.
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1858–1864
The pilgrimage basilica
The great basilica of St. Mary is raised beside the chapel for the crowds the Chapel of Grace cannot hold.
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1987
A papal visit
Pope John Paul II prays at Kevelaer as one of the great Marian pilgrimage places of northern Europe.
A visit for consolation.
A common pattern of prayer at the shrine. Most pilgrims keep some of it, few keep all of it.
- 01 Prayer at the Chapel of Grace Before the small image of Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted.
- 02 Light a candle For someone who is suffering, or for a sorrow you carry.
- 03 Mass at the basilica The liturgical center of the shrine’s pilgrimage life.
- 04 Confession A place to lay down what has been carried too long.
- 05 The Rosary Prayed for perseverance and hope after disappointment.
What to notice, without rushing.
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01
The Chapel of Grace
The Gnadenkapelle at the heart of the pilgrimage, where people pray before the small image of Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted.
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02
The consoling image
A small 17th-century printed image of Our Lady of Luxembourg, honored under the title Consolatrix Afflictorum.
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03
The Candle Chapel
Where sorrow is made visible in prayer, a candle lit for the living, the dead, or a hidden intention.
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04
The Basilica of St. Mary
The great pilgrimage church beside the chapel, anchoring the shrine’s liturgical life.
How long to stay, and what to pray.
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Half day A visit for consolationAnyone carrying sorrow, grief, or a long season of discouragementThis plan saves
- The Chapel of Grace
- A candle in the Candle Chapel
- Mass at the basilica
3 stops
The lives this shrine remembers.
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The devotion
Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted
Marian titleConsolatrix Afflictorum, the title under which the small image of Kevelaer is honored.
How the town gathers around the Chapel of Grace
Kevelaer is a pilgrimage town, not a single monument. The small Chapel of Grace holds the image at its heart, the Candle Chapel and the great basilica stand close by, and the streets themselves are shaped by centuries of arriving processions.
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The heart The Chapel of Grace The Gnadenkapelle that houses the consoling image.
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Candle chapel The Candle Chapel Where pilgrims light candles for the suffering.
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The great church Basilica of St. Mary The pilgrimage basilica raised beside the chapel.
Official shrine · wallfahrt-kevelaer.de
How we treat the devotion.
Catholics are not required to believe private revelations as part of the deposit of faith, even when devotion is permitted or encouraged.
Shrine of Our Lady of Kevelaer is a pilgrimage shrine built around a small consoling image of the Mother of God, a devotion the Church has received since the 17th century. Pilgrims honor Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted, within the ordinary life of the Church, in the Mass, confession, and the Rosary.
Photo credits
- Hero. Thomas Schoch / Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY-SA 2.5.