New Luxembourg American Processional Banner Blessed at Octave Mass

On Saturday 24 May 2025, members of the Luxembourg Adventures Tour Group, led by owner/operator, Kevin Wester, attended the 138th Octave Mass for living and deceased members of the Luxembourg American community that incorporated the blessing of their new processional banner, at the Chapelle du Glacis (Glacis Chapel) in Luxembourg-Limpertsberg.

In August 2022, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg, paid a pastoral visit to Midwest USA. During this visit, he invited Kevin Wester to bring a tour group to Luxembourg for the closing ceremonies of the 400th Jubilee of Our Lady of Luxembourg and the 250th anniversary of the Oktave religious pilgrimage. The 68-strong group arrived in Luxembourg on Thursday 22 May and will spend approximately ten days in the Grand Duchy.

Saturday’s programme began with a meeting at Faïencerie tram stop in Luxembourg-Limpertsberg. In 2016, construction work for the new tram line unearthed the foundations of the old Glacis Chapel, at the intersection of Avenue de la Faïencerie and Avenue des Déportés. Kevin Wester outlined the history and significance of the site to the group, explaining that today’s tram runs over the foundation of the original pilgrimage chapel, completed in 1628. In 1624, the first Octave procession took place from this site, led by Jesuit priest Fr Jacques Brocquart. Fr Broquart subsequently laid the foundation stone for the chapel, in honour of Our Lady, Comforter of the Afflicted. The chapel was, however, destroyed in 1796, during the French revolution. The current neo-Gothic Glacis Chapel was built in 1885 on Boulevard Joseph II, not far from the original site. Following completion of the tram works, the City of Luxembourg (VdL) placed a line of stones on the paths on each side of the tram track to show the outline of the original pilgrimage chapel, as well as a bronze plaque. 

Kevin Wester followed the visit of the site with a tour of the current Glacis Chapel, where he outlined the history of the chapel’s six stained glass windows. The windows depict the story of Our Lady of Luxembourg, from Fr Broquart’s first procession in 1624 to the 200-year Octave celebration in 1866. A large tapestry above the altar was presented to the church in 1966 to mark the Octave’s tricentenary.

Following the tour of the chapel, members attended this year’s annual Octave Mass for Luxembourg Americans, celebrated in English by Cardinal Hollerich. In 1888, Luxembourg Americans celebrated their first Octave Mass in the Grand Duchy, thanks to the fundraising efforts of Nicholas Gonner, publisher of the Luxemburger Gazette in Dubuque, Iowa, USA. He established an endowment fund so that an annual Mass for the community could be celebrated in Luxembourg during the Octave. A statue of Our Lady of Luxembourg, from the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio, USA, was on the altar during the Mass, to represent the spiritual and cultural links between the two countries.

Concelebrants at the Mass were Archbishop Emeritus Fernand Franck, who blessed the cornerstone for the Luxembourg American cultural centre in Wisconsin, USA, in 2007, Fr Patrick Muller, Fr Georges Hellinghausen and Fr Vincent De Smet. Luxembourg’s former Minister of Culture, Erna Hennicot-Schoepges, was a guest of the Luxembourg Adventures tour group at the Mass.

During his sermon, Cardinal Hollerich told the congregation that religious identity around Our Lady of Luxembourg preceded the national identity of the Grand Duchy. He spoke of the importance of identity, a concept that often gets misused to marginalise and discriminate others, which he emphasised is not the root of a Christian identity.

Cardinal Hollerich then blessed the new Luxembourg American processional banner, designed by Luxembourg artist, Jacques Schneider. The new banner, along with the Luxembourg American 1892 and 1966 banners, will be carried in the closing procession of the 400th Octave on Sunday 25 May by members of the Luxembourg Adventures tour group.

Following the Mass in Glacis Chapel, Kevin Wester led the group on the original Octave processional route from the Glacis. This was the route that pilgrims followed for the first 175 years of the Octave. The group walked through Kinnekswiss Park, where he pointed out the linden tree, planted to commemorate the 400th Octave (the statue of Our Lady of Luxembourg is made of linden wood, also known as lime wood). From here the “procession” passed one of the old city gates, situated outside the Benetton shop on Avenue de la Porte Neuve. One of two replica statues of Our Lady of Luxembourg is to be found here; the other is in Minnesota, USA. The original procession would have continued as far as the former Jesuit church, now the Notre-Dame Cathedral, but the Luxembourg American pilgrims cut the journey short to lunch at The Mäertchen (Oktave market) in Place Guillaume II in Luxembourg-Ville.

On Saturday afternoon, the group attended US Memorial Day celebrations at the Luxembourg American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg-Hamm, where they placed flowers in memory of the more than 5,000 American soldiers who gave their lives during World War II and are buried at the cemetery.

HOM