Holy Oak Procession Park

According to legend, in the early 15th century, shepherds found a statue of the Virgin Mary on the banks of the Beerze River. They placed the statue in an oak tree. Residents of Oostelbeers took the statue and placed it in their church, but the next morning it had returned to the oak tree. A miracle had occurred. A pilgrimage site developed, and a wooden chapel was built.

Around 1600, a stone chapel was built, but it was demolished to the ground by order of the States General. However, the veneration continued. At the end of the eighteenth century, a shepherd’s hut made of turf was used for this purpose. After religious freedom was restored, it was replaced by a stone building. In 1854, a new chapel was erected on its foundations, which still stands today.

Surrounding the chapel is a small pilgrimage park featuring stations of the cross and a 19th-century chapel dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua.

This text has been translated using AI.