Venerating the Mother of God

This year's feast day of Our Lady of Walsingham was attended by a few extra pilgrims from the Diocese of Wrexham. Pilgrims included parishioners from Bangor, Colwyn Bay, Abergele, Towyn, Prestatyn, Queensferry and Denbigh organised by Mr and Mrs Edward Mann. The celebrants of the masses and daily prayers were Rev. Ian Dalgleish from our own, St Joseph's parish, Denbigh and Rev. Abraham from Queensferry.

The Roman Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady has a deep sense of peace and tranquility, which is unfortunately absent from many places in the modern world. However, a pilgrimage to Walsingham can be a life changing experience which brings many much closer to the Blessed Mother of God and her Son.

It is a mistake to think of a pilgrimage as undiluted spirituality, that it is a bit like living in a monastery. Nothing could be further from the truth. Walsingham has several pubs which are patronised by locals, pilgrims and passing travellers alike. Many lasting friendships results from the social aspects of a pilgrimage. This North Wales pilgrimage have been attending annual masses at the shrine for many years and have evidently forged sincere bonds.

The five days at Walsingham proved to be a very busy schedule; almost as gruelling as the Papal State visit! In addition to the daily masses and prayers, visits were arranged to the Catholic Cathedral of St John the Baptist, with a guided tour. Mass was also celebrated there by Fr Ian and Fr Abraham in a beautiful side chapel.
The cathedral church was a gift of Henry Fitzalan Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk. Building commenced in 1894. Designed in the early English style by George Gilbert Scott Junior, it is a particularly fine example of 19th century Gothic revival. It has some of the finest stain glass in Europe of its time, a wealth of Frosterly marble and exquisite stone carving.



There are many Biblical stories depicted in the beautiful windows. The windows in the Walsingham chapel in the North Transept tell the story of the famous shrine at Walsingham, Its destruction at the Reformation, and its reinstatement in 1934.
The cathedral is the home of a thriving parish, serving the southern part of the city of Norwich and the surrounding area, as well as the Diocese of East Anglia, comprising Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.













With all this history, religion and refreshment of the soul it was time to also refresh the body by rushing into the city to the nearest restaurant Bella Italia!


Another afternoon was spent aboard a fine vessel on the Wroxham Broads. The parable from Mark 4:35-41 came to mind as another boat headed straight for us, barged into us and went off at great speed! A clear hit and run! There was much excitement as the captain contacted the river police.

On return to Walsingham preparations were made for the procession to the shrine. This involved parishioners from St Joseph's bearing the Statue of Our Lady along the Holy Mile to the Chapel of Reconciliation.

Thankfully it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining. It was however quite a challenge to hold the statue up on one's shoulder, whilst keeping in step with three other pilgrims, praying and singing whilst listening to Fr Ian praying the Rosary through a loudspeaker, all good fun!


























More history...

In 1061, the Lady Richeldis had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She was transported in spirit to the Holy Land and shown the house in which The Virgin was told she was to be the Mother of God. The Virgin asked Lady Richeldis to build an exact replica of this house in Walsingham to serve as a perpetual memorial of the Annunciation.

Walsingham rapidly became one of the foremost shrines in Christendom and was known as 'England's Nazareth'. Many kings and queens visited the shrine. In fact, Henry VIII was a great devotee until the Reformation, which caused the Priory property to be handed over to the king's commissioners and the famous statue of Our Lady of Walsingham was taken to London and burnt.

For centuries Walsingham was a sleepy little backwater forgotten except by a few devout Catholics. In the 19th century pilgrimages were revived and the Slipper Chapel, just outside the village was restored for Catholic use. In the 20th century the Anglican shrine was built and pilgrimages increased very rapidly. In 1934, Cardinal Bourne led a pilgrimage of 10,000 and the Slipper Chapel became the National Shrine of Our Lady.




















Today Walsingham is a thriving ecumenical pilgrimage centre which every year welcomes over 100,000 people and this year we were fortunate from St Joseph's to be three of those people.
It was a privilege to attend the Vigil Mass of Our Lady of Walsingham's feast day, a truly spiritual experience.

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Lady of Walsingham, Lady of England,
Listen to a pilgrim's prayer,
Come back, o Mary, Come back to England,
Back to your Dowry, this island so fair.

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The Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38)