Notre-Dame au Bois chapel

In a wooded setting of Braine-le-Château stands an unusual little chapel... with an upside-down stone! Built in 1740 and restored in 1774, the Notre-Dame au Bois chapel, a single-nave sanctuary with a three-part apse, replaced, according to tradition, a little chapel on the front of which a stone bore the inscription: "S. Marie, refuge de ceux qui sont vexés de la fièvre, prie pour nous" (Holy Mary, refuge of those troubled by fever, pray for us). Thanks to, or because of, a somewhat distracted mason during the reconstruction of the chapel, you will find this stone… but upside-down! Mass is presently celebrated there every Friday of Lent at 9 am. Every year at Braine-le-Château, on the Sunday, 2 July or the following Sunday, the procession of Notre-Dame-au-Bois is also held, bringing together the President of the 'Cavaliers de Notre-Dame-au-Bois', farmers on horseback, the Sainte Lucie band, and the statue of Notre-Dame-au-Bois that follows the Blessed Sacrament. The faithful bring up the rear.