Amsterdam is sometimes called the 'Miracle City'.
The Dutch capital has not earned this name on account of its
permissive image, but because it has been a place of pilgrimage since the
Middle Ages. According to tradition, on 15 March 1345, a man lay seriously
ill in his house on the Kalverstraat. Thinking he was about to
die he called for a priest to administer the last
rites, including the Blessed Sacrament. After receiving the host, the
man became sick and finally vomited. As was the custom, what he had
brought up was thrown on the fire. The next morning the host was discovered
undamaged in the ashes. It was put into a box and taken by a priest to the parish
church (the present-day Oude Kerk), but on two occasions
miraculously made its way back to the house on the
Kalverstraat. This was the beginning of the tradition known in
Amsterdam as the Micracle Procession, since people had taken
it as a sign that they should spread word of what had happened. Some years later
a chapel was built on the site of the miracle.
The veneration of this mediaeval micracle meant that
Amsterdam became an important centre of pilgrimage and
people came from far and wide to take part in the large
and magnificent Procession. However, in 1578 Amsterdam city
council decided to convert to Protestantism. Catholic services
were forbidden and Mass was said in clandestine churches.
But the tradition of the Miracle was so important to the people
of Amsterdam that during the 17th and 18th centuries they managed to perpetuate
its annual celebration and veneration on a limited scale. The traditon was continued by
a small group in the clandestine church in the
Beguinage and individuals walked the route
previously taken by the Procession. In 2011 the Silent Walk will be on March 19.
Each year, the festival week of the Miracle begins on the Wednesday after the 12th of March. From Wednesday through Saturday, holy masses of devotion are celebrated in the Beguinage. But the big yearly manifestation is still the Silent Procession, held on Saturday night through Sunday morning. Pilgrims travel in buses from all over the Netherlands to the centre of Amsterdam. They first participate in a mass in one of the parish churches of Amsterdam and later take part in the Silent Procession at different times in the night, following the route. The main characteristic of this 'round' or procession is the fact that it is done in silence, without loud prayers or songs and without clerical attire or other religious attributes. It takes about an hour to complete the round and it is done between midnight an four o'clock on Sunday morning.
