Our Lady of Walsingham
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Our Lady of Walsingham refers to the 11th century English Marian apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to a Saxon noblewoman in the village of Walsingham, Norfolk.
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[edit] The apparition
According to both legend and fact, in 1061, Richeldis de Faverches, the widow of the Lord of the Manor of Walsingham Parva, was visited in a dream by the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this vision she was taken by Mary to be shown the house in Nazareth where Gabriel had announced the news of the birth of Jesus. Mary asked Richeldis to build an exact replica of that house in Walsingham. The vision was repeated three times, the materials given by Richeldis were finally constructed miraculously one night into the Holy House, while she kept a vigil of prayer. The shrine was later passed down to her son, Geoffrey de Faverches.
[edit] The Priory of Walsingham
Although we cannot be certain that this represents all the details of historical fact, it is certain that in passing on his guardianship of the Holy House, Geoffrey left instructions for the building of a Priory in Walsingham. The Priory passed into the care of Augustinian Canons sometime between 1146 and 1174.
[edit] The Shrine of Walsingham
It was this shrine, housing the simple wooden structure Richeldis had been asked to build, which became the focus of pilgrimage to Walsingham. By the time of it's destruction in 1538 Walsingham had become one of the greatest religious centers in England, next to Glastonbury and Canterbury.
Royal patronage helped the Shrine to grow in wealth and popularity, receiving visits from Henry III, Edward II, Edward III, Henry IV, Edward IV, Henry VII and Henry VIII.
[edit] Destruction
During the English Reformation of the 16th century Henry the VIII sought to destroy all the monastic houses and convents which still held allegence to the Pope. Late in 1538 his soldiers sacked the piory at Walsingham, and wrecked the shrine as well, burning everything. Two monks were executed.
[edit] Modern revival
After nearly four hundred years, the 20th century saw the restoration of pilgrimage to Walsingham as a regular feature of Christian life in these islands, and indeed beyond.
In 1897 Pope Leo XIII reestablished the restored the 14th century Slipper Chapel as a Roman Catholic Shrine, now the centre of the Roman Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Father Alfred Hope PattenOSA, appointed as Church of England Vicar of Walsingham in 1921, ignited Anglican interest in the pre-Reformation pilgrimage. It was his idea to base a new statue of Our Lady of Walsingham on the image depicted on the seal of the medieval Priory.
In 1922, this statue was set up in the Parish Church of St. Mary, and regular pilgrimage devotion followed. From the first night that the statue was placed there, people gathered around it to pray, asking Mary to join her powerful prayer with theirs.
Throughout the 1920s, the trickle of pilgrims became a flood of large numbers, for whom eventually a Pilgrim Hospice was opened (a hospice is technically the name of a place of hospitality for pilgrims) and in 1931, a new Holy House encased in a small pilgrimage church was dedicated, and the statue translated there with great solemnity. In 1938 that church was enlarged to form the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Father Patten combined the posts of Vicar and Priest Administrator of the Anglican Shrine until his death in 1958.
Today there are two Shrines of Our Lady of Walsingham:
- The Roman Catholic Shrine centered around the Slipper Chapel established by Leo XIII in 1897.
- The Church of England Shrine centered around the rebuilt Holy House built in 1931 and expanded in 1938.
- Roman Catholic Feast day: September 24.
- Church of England Feast say: October 15.
