The Golden Coach of Mons

Waltrudis was a Lombard noblewoman from the seventh century, descendant of King Dagobert I. She renounced her wealth and founded a religious community in Mons around 668, then a very remote place in the County of Hainaut. For more than thirty years she led this monastery with great wisdom and holiness. Her life was devoted to prayer, work, and charity toward the poor who came to her.

After her death in 688, Waltrudis was immediately venerated as a saint by the people. Her body was buried with great honor in the monastery chapel. Soon, wounds closed when the stone of her burial was touched, and the sick were healed through her intercession. Within two centuries, Waltrudis had become one of the most venerated saints of the Low Countries.

In the Middle Ages, as Mons grew into an important city, the city authorities decided that the relics of their patroness must be transported with dignity. They could no longer accept that this holy woman be placed in a simple box on a cart. So they resolved to create a monument of beauty and gold.

Craftsmen from across Europe were invited. Year after year, the master builder and his helpers created a masterpiece: a coach the size of a small house, adorned with gold and silver, jewels and intricate wood carvings. Images of saints decorated every corner. On the roof, visible to all, stood a cross of pure gold. Without anyone being able to explain it, one felt that the Golden Coach was not merely a vehicle, but a sacred place.

Every year on the day of the Ducasse, the Golden Coach is taken from the Collegiate Church of Sint-Waltrudis. Twenty powerful Mechelse horses are harnessed — the same animals that serve each Ducasse, passed down through generations. The coach is pulled through the narrow streets of Mons, past thousands of spectators who fall into great silence.

But then — and here the legend holds its truth — they approach the hill. This is the moment upon which everything turns. The height is no more than fifty meters, but for the old weight of the Coach, even with twenty horses, it is a challenge that sows doubt. Will the Coach be able to climb the hill? Will Saint Waltrudis bless her people with a prosperous year?

According to folk tales, the Coach has only failed to climb the hill on its first attempt three times since the Middle Ages. Three years of hunger, disease, and misfortune. Every other year — more than five hundred years — the Coach has conquered the hill, and Mons has been spared.

In later centuries, as modernity arrived, some wanted to rationalize the miracle. Perhaps it was mechanics? Perhaps pure tradition? Perhaps simply the vigor of the horses? But what many do not know is that the horses are not ordinary draft horses. They are specially trained and selected for years. Only the strongest have the honor of pulling Waltrudis’ coach.

Yet — and even the skeptics fall silent here — there are moments when the Coach feels a counter-pull where no horses stand. Last year, old men told, the horsemen felt how the Coach, just as they stumbled on the steepest place, suddenly became lighter, as though invisible hands were helping. The old folk belief says this is the hand of the saint herself.

Today still, after more than fifteen centuries, Mons comes out each year to see the Coach. Today still, one kneels as the Coach passes. And today still, thousands — whether religious or not — believe that on that hill, in that moment, the heavenly and the earthly touch.