The 950th year anniversary of the Visions of Lady Richeldis at Walsingham

Father-Ordinary Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham has made the announcement that this year will be the 950th anniversary of the visions of Lady Richeldis. It is believed that the Virgin Mary appeared to the Lady Richeldis in 1061, at Walsingham, England. In her visions, the Lady Richeldis received a message from the Holy Virgin under the title of the Annunciation. She was instructed to build a Holy House for the Virgin and was given the grace of a vision of Mary's home in Nazareth. You can read more about Our Lady of Walsingham in an earlier blog post here.

Celebrations for the 950th anniversary start on March 26, when the Archbishop of Westminster will celebrate an opening Mass in his London cathedral. The celebrations will reach its climax on September 24, when a Mass will be celebrated at the Walsingham Catholic Shrine. In the opening Mass, the image of Our Lady from the Slipper Chapel will be brought to Westminster Cathedral by three former Anglican nuns now with the Ordinariate together with the Anglican Guardians at the Walsingham Anglican Shrine. Our Lady of Walsingham may be considered as the Mother of Christian Unity. Prayers for her intercession always have an ecumenical dimension. She is venerated under this title in the Anglican and Catholic churches.

We plan to celebrate the event in our own little way in the Philippines. Please keep note on this blog for more announcements!

Three momentous years

Here are three important years in the story of Anglicanism

1534 - The King of England in Parliament, Henry VIII passes the following acts 1) Restraints in Appeals, 2) Absolute Restraint in Annates and 3) Supremacy. These are the three legal foundations of the Break from Rome. The Reformation in England begins. The Church of England is born and thus happened the destruction of everything that is "much of beauty" in England, which includes the destruction of the Holy Shrines and chantries. The statue of the Virgin of Walsingham is burned. Henry's heirs Edward VI consolidates the Reformation, Elizabeth I "settles" the Reformation.

2009 - The Pope, Benedict XVI promulgates the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus which paves the way for Anglicans to reconcile with the Catholic Church whilst retaining their Anglican character and traditions as long as this does not counter Catholic doctrine. The constitution establishes a particular church called an Ordinariate which for all practical purposes is a diocese.

2011 - January 15, The First Ordinariate in England in honour of the Virgin of Walsingham is established. The Rev Keith Newton, a former Anglican bishop is named as Ordinary by the Pope. Ordinariates will soon be established in many other countries starting with the USA, Australia and Canada.

The Catholic Church is over 2000 years old. The Reformation in England lasted for 477 years. The Reformation has ended and we are seeing what St Edmund Campion told Elizabeth I about the "enterprise that cannot be withstood". The Virgin of Walsingham is still venerated in her shrine in Norfolk. To all of this we praise God!

Our Lady of Walsingham

Our Lady of Walsingham, Pray for us to God!

The first Anglican Ordinariate in England is named in honour of Our Lady of Walsingham and is under the patronage of Blessed John Henry Newman. But what does the title of Walsingham mean?

Visions are the origin of most shrines to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary has appeared to people who never expected her. In 1061, the Virgin appeared three time to the Lady Richeldis (a noblewoman in the town of Walsingham). Mary showed to Richeldis a vision of her house in Nazareth and requested that Richeldis build a replica of this house. Mary told Richeldis

"Do all this unto my special praise and honor. And all who are in any way distressed or in need, let them seek me here in that little house you have made at Walsingham. To all that seek me there shall be given succor. And there at Walsingham in this little house shall be held in remembrance the great joy of my salutation when Saint Gabriel told me I should through humility become the Mother of God's Son."

Richeldis fulfilled Mary's request and this became the Shrine of our Lady of Walsingham. Soon thousands of pilgrims went to Walsingham, Many of them were healed. Medieval Walsingham became one of Europe's major pilgrimage sites together with Rome, Santiago de Compostela and Jerusalem. The English people had a strong devotion to the Virgin Mary and for that the country was known as the "Dowry of Mary"

When Henry VIII separated the English Church from Rome in 1534 by assuming the title Supreme Head of the Church in England, he initiated the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which transferred the monastery properties to the Crown. The Walsingham shrine was dissolved, the Holy House burned, the treasures confiscated and the statue of the Virgin burned in London.  For more than 300 years, a Protestant England forgot what the Shrine was all about. Of the places of worship associated with the medieval shrine, only the Slipper Chapel survived and that was used as a cowshed, until an English lady named Charlotte Boyd who converted to Catholicism bought it in 1896. She donated the property to the Downside Fathers. The chapel was restored and in 1897 Pope Leo XIII refounded the shrine and the first Catholic Mass was celebrated there. The image of the Virgin was copied from a depiction on a pilgrim's badge. The pilgrimage was then revived

Inside the Holy House at Walsingham

Anglicans were also drawn to Walsingham and in 1922 revived the Procession of the Virgin. Thereafter the Church of England revived the Shrine in 1931.  Today Walsingham has two Shrines. The Anglican one and the Catholic Slipper chapel. There is a strong ecumenical dimension to Walsingham. Pilgrims begin their pilgrimage at the Catholic shrine and end it at the Anglican shrine. Thousands still make the journey.

 Very few Filipinos know of Our Lady the Annunciation of Walsingham. Her appearance to the Lady Richeldis is one of the first recorded apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Walsingham commemorates the Fiat of Mary. If she had said "No", then we wouldn't have been ransomed.

Our Lady of Walsingham has healed many in the physical sense and many more in the spiritual sense. Many have been reconciled with their families and with God, through her intercession. I hope that this  short blog post will introduce Filipinos to Our Lady under in this title.