Onse L. Vrouwe van Duffel ofte von goeden wil, dat is De wonderheden van Maria, soo in het doen vinden ende hervinden van haer miraculeus beeldt als in 't gunstig vytstorten van wonderbare genesingen tot Duffel... [Our Lady of Duffel or of good will, that is the Miracles of Mary, both in the finding and rediscovery of her miraculous image and in the favorable pouring of miraculous healings into Duffel...].
Antwerp: by de weduwe Iacobs (Petrus Jacobs), 1717. Small octavo (15.3 × 9.6 cm). Contemporary mottled calf over five raised bands; gilt leather label to spine; 228, [4] pp. With the frontis engraving showing fourteen miracles in small medalions around an allegorical scene and a full-page engraving showing the miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary. Boards lightly worn and scuffed, largely at corners and hinges; old staining due to glue to endpapers; else about very good. Item #54851
First and only edition of a new report about the miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary discovered by two cowherds at Duffel on August 14, 1637, which turned the small town into an important pilgrimage destination by the mid-1650s. This work is sometimes erroneously attributed to Philippus van Hoeswinckel (1605-1673), canon at Tongerlo Abbey and parish priest at Duffel, and identified as the third edition of his work, with a similar title, published in 1664 and 1667. In fact, as the preface indicates, van Hoeswinckel's successor Mattens had set about to write a new account, possibly related to the recent decline in the popularity of this particular pilgrimage site in Brabant. The volume is divided into three parts, which recount the original discovery of the small statue in a forked tree trunk, its subsequent theft and rediscovery, and nascent cult; a very large number of purported healings from "all sorts of diseases and torments", almost all with names and place; and a more detailed list of healing miracles officially recognized by the Church. The engraved title page is new, but directly inspired by that of van Hoeswinckel's work, showing the two cowherds and cow around the tree with the miraculous image, on top of a large column engraved with the title. To the six medalions of the earlier work have been added eight additional miracles approved in the interim, each depicted in a small circular image with the name of the healed person beneath.
The Lady of Duffel was one of numerous new miraculous icons or statues to arise following the Protestant destruction of sacred images following the Reformation, in particular the "Beeldenstorm" (Iconoclasm) that took place in the Low Countries in the summer of 1566. Several of these were associated with trees, either being found on its branches or in enclosures attached to the tree, after which a chapel or church was typically built on the former site of the tree, such as in the case of the Lady of Scherpenheuvel (Mont Aigu) or statues found at Scheutveld, Kortenbos, Braine-le-Château, and elsewhere.
See: A. Perneel, Geloven en laten geloven. Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Goede Wil te Duffel en de impact van het Concilie van Trente in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden in de zeventiende eeuw, Antwerpen, 2012; Maarten Delbeke, Lobke Geurs, Lise Constant et Annelies Staessen, "The architecture of miracle-working statues in the Southern Netherlands" (2015).
Rare. As of July 2026, KVK, OCLC show only two copies in North America (Harvard, Dayton). The earlier editions are only held in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Price: €1,200.00