Onze Lieve Vrouw ter Nood (Our Lady in Distress) is the largest Marian pilgrimage site in the Netherlands.

The history of the Sanctuary goes back to the end of the 14th century. At that time, a farmer found a statue of the Virgin on his land. He took it home with him, but miraculously it returned to the place of invention. Around the same time a ship got in distress off the coast near Heiloo. In his distress the skipper prayed to God. Above the roar of the waves and the roar of the wind, he heard a clear woman's voice saying: 'If you are going to honour me, the wind will turn'. The skipper recognized the voice of the Mother of God and promised to devote himself to her worship. When safely ashore, the two stories came together and the place for the construction of the Genadekapel (Chapel of Grace) was found.

In the period from 1573 to 1909, there was no chapel at the pilgrimage site. A deeply religious person from Alkmaar had a new Chapel of Grace built, which was consecrated in 1909. This chapel soon proved too small to accommodate the large number of pilgrims who came here to honour Mary under her favourite name ‘Onze Lieve Vrouw ter Nood’. Nothing came of building a basilica, but in 1930 the new Genadekapel succeeded in replacing the simple chapel from 1909. The fine murals in the new Chapel of Grace were done by H.A. Bijvoet.