Luxembourg - Cathedral of Notre Dame by Mark Sukhija

The Statue of Our Lady

The first mention of the Statue of the Comforter of the Afflicted was on the 8th of December 1624 when the statue was part of a procession outside the city wallks by Father Jacques Brocquart and the students of the Congregation of Our Lady of the Jesuit College. A chapel for the veneration of the Comforter was built between 1625 and 1628 on the Glacis Field. The chapel was then enlarged in 1640 and the statue would remain there until the beginning of the French Revolution. The statue was brought back into the city to be kept in the Parish Church (previously the Jesuit Church.)

The oldest pictures of the Madonna, which are currently in Kevelaer, confirm that the Madonna is dressed according to the customs which the Spanish adapted in the Middle Ages. As is customary with many statues of the Madonna, the costumes are changed according to the particular religous festival or pilgramage in progress. The Octave, the celebration from the fourth to sixth Sunday of Easter is of particular importance to Comforter of the Afflicted.

The polychromatic statue of the Comforter of the Afflicetd is carved in lime wood and stands 0.73 (2 ft 4 in) meters in height.

Key dates in the history of Cathedral of Notre Dame

Further reading