Bishop Mark Davies attends Solemn Mass to mark end
of LMS Pilgrimage to Walsingham
Bishop
Mark Davies of Shrewsbury preached at the Solemn Mass offered to mark the end
of the Latin Mass Society’s 3rd Annual Walking Pilgrimage to
Walsingham on Sunday, 26 August. The Mass was celebrated by Canon Olivier
Meney, ICKSP, with Fr Bede Rowe (the pilgrimage chaplain) as Deacon and Fr John
Cahill as Sub-Deacon. Gregorian Chant was provided throughout the pilgrimage by
a schola assembled from amongst the walking pilgrims and directed by Matthew
Schellhorn, who is also our Local Representative for Southwark North.
Around
70 people took part in the three-day, 55-mile walk from Ely in Cambridgeshire
to the Slipper Chapel in Walsingham, which was offered for the conversion of
England.
The
pilgrimage began with Sung Mass, celebrated by Fr Cahill, offered on the Friday
morning at St Etheldreda’s Catholic Church, Ely. The MC was Rev James Mawdsley,
one of the English seminarians studying with the FSSP. Mass was followed by the
traditional Pilgrims’ Blessing given by Fr Rowe. A visit was then paid to Ely
Anglican Cathedral to prayer for the conversion of our separated brethren. By
the end of the afternoon, the pilgrims had been blessed with beautiful sunshine
and had reached their first billet at Stoke Ferry near King’s Lynn.
Sung
Mass on Saturday morning was in the family chapel at Oxburgh Hall, a
fifteenth-century moated manor house, which, although now owned by the National
Trust, is still lived in by the Bedingfield family whose ancestors built it.
Oxburgh has a long history as a centre of recusancy and boasts its own priest’s
hole, which pilgrims were given the chance to visit after Mass.
The
pilgrims continued through Saturday, praying the Rosary, singing hymns and
songs, and getting absolutely soaked through as the heavens opened and thunder
and lightning let loose on the Norfolk landscape. By the time the procession of
pilgrims reached Harpley village, their Saturday evening stop, spirits had
recovered somewhat, which was further aided by a visit to the Rose and Crown
pub in the village.
Sunday
saw the last leg of the pilgrimage and the tired pilgrims reached their
destination of the Slipper Chapel. They were joined by a coach full of people
who had travelled from London for the day to attend the final Mass in the
Chapel of Reconciliation at the National Catholic Shrine. Following Mass,
Bishop Davies gave his blessing (in Latin) to the pilgrims.
The
statue of Our Lady of Walsingham, which had been carried throughout the final
day of the pilgrimage led the procession of well over a hundred people along
the Holy Mile to the grounds and ruins of Walsingham Abbey, the site of the
Holy House of Nazareth, built by the Lady Richeldis in 1061 and which, like the
abbey, was destroyed under Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries. Prayers
of thanksgiving were offered by Fr Bede Rowe followed by veneration of the
statue of Our Lady.
LMS
General Manager, Mike Lord, said: ‘This year’s pilgrimage was the most
successful yet, with the number of participants rising to 70 from last year’s
total of 30. This is very encouraging. Several family groups joined us, which
we were delighted about and, although most pilgrims were young people, there
was a good spread of ages. Everyone was most impressed by two ladies aged 84 and 86 who
completed the walk.
‘We
are very grateful to Bishop Davies for agreeing to attend in choro for the Solemn Mass and for preaching. There are many
other people who put in many hours of work to make this event the great success
it turned out to be and we would like to thank them all.
‘We
hope that our pilgrimage, with the many prayers and personal sacrifices of the
pilgrims, and the Masses offered up during the three days, will bring many
graces upon England and assist in its conversion.’
