AN ENGLISH SHRINE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 207, 16 August 1927, Page 7

AN ENGLISH SHRINE.

“OUR LADY OF WALBINGHAM." PILGRIMAGE REVIVED. In the days of the great English monastic houses, whose remains are still visited by summer armies uf travellers from beyond the seas, there were two shrines of particular veneration—the tomb of the martyred Thomas a Becket at Canterbury and the shrine of Our Lady of Walsinuham in Norfolk. Both have passed into dust along with the pious pilgrims who visited them, both crumbling in the wave of Protestantism that swept through .the land in the time of the Purlans.

Of Becket’s shrine nothing now remains save a tablet in the wall of Canterbury Cathedral at the supposed place of martyrdom, together with the impression on the stairs to the choir worn by the knees of the pilgrims through 500 years. The c-reat shrine and all the wealth that was heaped upon it bv King and commoner have passed like smoke, ana Becket, who came to be hated bv Henry VIII, i s no longer more than an epjsode in the history of the long struggle between spiritual and temporal powers in the world. Of that fury of destruction which pursued Becket throughout England under Henry’s orders a missing pane where Becket’s head once appeared in a stained glass window of Oxford Cathedral still bears silent witness. In the north the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham appealed to the pioiij imagination of all Europe. The Milky Waw it was said, was the high road to Walsingftam. and led the thoughts of the faithful to the great church built in her honour. ORIGIN OF THE SHRINE. According to historical record, about the year 1061 there appeared to Richeldis de Faverches, the Lady of the Manor at Walsingham. a vision of the Blessed Virgin, which bade her build a sanctuary in honour of the visit of the angel Michael to Mary at a spot, which would be indicated to her In her vision appeared a model of the home at Nazareth, and she was directed to build according to the measure and style indicated. Richeldis began her task on a spot where a spring had miraculously gushed fort’' in one of her meadows, and where miracles of healing had been reported to have taken place. In order to he sure that she had chosen the right place for her sanctuary Richeldis spent the night in prayer It was reported that during the night, as she was occupied with her prayers, angel hands completed the work and carried the sanctuary some 200 paces away to a soot where it rested undisturbed for 500 years. The building reared by the angels was of wood and measured 201 feet by 12 feet 10 inches. In it was placed a figure of the Virgin, with her Child upon her knee. For five centuries the image was the object of the utmost veneration. ' Pilgrims came to it from every part of the World. THE SHRINE'S GREAT PILGRIMS Gifts poured in tinon the shrine and Kings and Queens walked humbly to venerate so holy a place, Catherine of Aragon, came in all humility. Henry VIII himself, at the beginning of his reign, is said to have walked to Walsingham barefoot from Baseham. a distance of three miles, and as a memorial of his visit to have left a valuable necklace for the image Cardinal Wolsev came to recover his health. Erasmus, the great scholar, with his tongue in bis cheek, visited the shrine and left an account of his visit, full of the sarcasm of an age that had learned to doubt. But after -100 years, during which the hymns of praise of Our Lady were heard no more and the ruins of the great church lav silent, pilgrims are now returning to venerate the ancient shrine. Every year two pilgrimages are arranged bv the League of Our Lady. Two hostels have been built to provide pilgrims with sleeping accommodation.