by Georgina , Duchess of Norfolk
Jubilee Year Pilgrimage to Walsingham
In June this year, on Pentecost, Bishop Richard took a small group of us from the diocese on a pilgrimage to Walsingham. We were about 80 in total and came from all parts of the diocese. So many new faces and happily also quite a few familiar ones.
In 1061 in Walsingham The Blessed Virgin Mary led Lady Richeldis, an Anglo -Saxon noblewoman and widow, in spirit to the Holy House in Nazareth and asked her to construct the same Holy House, instructing her on exactly how it should be built and to dedicate it to the sacred mystery of the Annunciation. Over the years it expanded into a huge Priory and community in which to accommodate all the pilgrims that flocked there. It was destroyed during the Reformation, and all that is left now is the tall arch of the Priory which does give you a good idea how huge the site must have been.
Walsingham is a sleepy little village tucked away in beautiful countryside in north Norfolk, a good four-hour drive from Arundel. It’s hard to believe that once this tiny village was one of the most important and visited pilgrim sites in all of Europe, ranking alongside Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostela.
We were staying in the centre of Walsingham at Elmham House, the Catholic base for pilgrims. As pilgrim houses go it was comfortable and the food delicious. I was sharing a rather cramped twin room. I am not really used to having to sleep so close to someone else and having to walk to the end of the corridor for the bathroom. It was all extremely good for spoilt people like me and definitely made me feel like I was on pilgrimage, but I really liked that fact, that we are all in it together.
We were a group, and I felt a certain closeness with everyone, even though we were too many to get to know. But, we all had that same thing in common, we had come to honour, ask her intercession or to just be with Our Blessed Mother.
Saturday morning Bishop Richard led us along the holy mile praying the Rosary and we took it in turns to carry a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham. Bishop Richard celebrated Mass on both Saturday and Sunday at the National Shrine and spoke of the
Bishop Richard celebrating Mass
‘quiet revival’ of the Church and emphasised the importance of sharing this good news.
Walsingham seems to touch everyone in one way or another. I have no doubt that we all received many blessings and graces from Our Lady of Walsingham on that Pentecost weekend. But, for me, Walsingham seems incomplete and rather sad. I felt a sadness for its past glory and of what had been destroyed there. It’s as if Walsingham is waiting for something to happen. The quiet revival that Bishop Richard was speaking of maybe?
“When England goes back to Walsingham. Our Lady will come back to England”, is the famous prophecy of Pope Leo XIII from 1897. For it will be the mission of Our Lady of Walsingham to bring England back to Christ. For this we pray…..
A Lament for Our Lady’s Shrine at Walsingham, Attributed to St Philip Howard
In the wracks of Walsingham
Whom should I choose
But the Queen of Walsingham
To be my guide and muse
Then, thou Prince of Walsingham
Grant me to frame
Bitter plaints to rue thy wrong,
Bitter woe for thy name
Bitter was it to see
The seely sheep
Murdered by the ravenous wolves
While the shepherds did sleep.
Bitter was it, O to view
The sacred vine,
Whilst the gardeners played all close, Rooted up by the swine.
Bitter, bitter O to behold
The grass to grow
Where the walls of Walsingham
So stately did show.
Such were the worth of Walsingham while she did stand,
Such are the wracks as now do showOf that Holy Land.
Level, level, with the ground
The towers do lie, Which, with their golden glittering tops,
Pierced once the sky. Where were gates are no gates now, The ways unknown Where the press of peers did pass
While her fame was blown. Owls do scrike where the sweetest hymns Lately were sung, Toads and serpents hold their dens Where the palmers did throng.
Weep, weep, O Walsingham, Whose days are turned to nights, Blessings turned to blasphemies, Holy deeds to despites.
Sin is where Our Lady sat, Heaven is turned to hell, Satan sits where Our Lord did sway Walsingham, O farewell.
