The Muttergottesoktav (or “Octave of the Mother of God”) is an important religious tradition in Luxembourg that is still firmly anchored in the country’s ecclesiastical life today. The origins of the tradition date back to 8 December 1624, when Father Jacques Brocquart, a Jesuit priest, and a number of students from the Jesuit college carried a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary to the site of the present-day Place du Glacis and erected it there. This statue quickly became a place of pilgrimage for those who were sick, mourning or in need.
