D1 Het is een wonder

1696

It's a miracle

Erardus Cillis, the rector of the Handel chapel, has a sense of ‛public relations'. He was not there himself, fourteen years ago, but he has heard that a miracle occurred then at the foot of the statue of Our Lady. Cillis knows that you have to sell such a miracle, then the hopeful defectors flock in large numbers. That's good for the chapel, especially its income.

A bill to Gerwen will suffice. Laurens Jansen, a resident there, comes to Handel together with his son Jan and a Nuenen witness.

            ‛I brought my son Jan with a cart to Handel in the year 1681 or 1682. He was then lame on both legs and feet, so much so that he could hardly walk even with two crutches. Jan also had a hump and a crooked back.'

Father Laurens brought his son up to the statue of Our Lady of Commerce. They sat in front of the statue for a while, and then when they wanted to walk around the Blessed Mother, Laurens noticed that his son was starting to get better. Jan even gave one of his two crutches to father. He was doing better and better, and the second crutch was no longer needed either. The Reverend Lord Jan Aldenhuijsen, then rector and also not lacking in commercial acumen, eventually led Jan out of the chapel without crutches. Outside, the aforementioned statue was also set up. And there Jan, watched by an initially amused and then increasingly enthusiastic crowd - this is what you want to see when you come to Handel on pilgrimage - walked around the statue without crutches or support.

            ‛Since then, Jan has been walking as well as any other person. Even his hump has decayed and disappeared and the boy no longer suffers from anything in his back.

Jan Peters from Nuenen has known Jan Laurens Jansen when he was lame and knows that when he returned home from Handel he could walk without crutches and that he gradually lost his hump and became healthy, like other people.

Yes, Jan himself wants to confirm it. He is now 19 years old. He remembers that at that time, on Our Lady's Day of Birth, he was brought to Handel crippled and humped and cured in the chapel.

A mystery, that's what it is. Because let's be honest, suddenly being able to walk again, well, that is an average miracle, but the combination with the disappeared lump, that makes this miracle so strong. Come all to Handel.