At A Glance
- Coordinates
- 52.8947, 0.8759
Overview
Our Lady of Walsingham is a site of sacred significance. Approximate coordinates: 52.89466, 0.87592. Our Lady of Walsingham is a title given to Mary, the mother of Jesus, venerated by Catholics and high church Anglicans. The title is linked to a Marian apparition that, according to tradition, was experienced by Lady Richeldis de Faverches, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman, in 1061 in the village of Walsingham, Norfolk, England. Lady Richeldis was said to have been instructed to build a replica of the Holy House, the home of the Holy Family in Nazareth. The shrine became a major pilgrimage site and her son, Geoffrey de Faverches, later entrusted its guardianship to others. Before his death, he left instructions for the foundation of a priory in Walsingham, which was established sometime between 1146 and 1174. This priory was eventually placed under the care of the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine. During the Middle Ages, Walsingham grew into one of England s most significant pilgrimage destinations, attracting royalty and commoners alike. Though the original shrine was dismantled during the English Reformation, the tradition of pilgrimage to Walsingham was revived in the late 19th and 20th centuries and it remains a significant centre for devotion among both Catholics and Anglicans. By a papal rescript issued on 6 February 1897, Pope Leo XIII blessed a venerated image for the restored medieval sanctuary of Our Lady of Walsingham. The image was sent from Rome and placed in the Holy House Chapel at the newly built Catholic parish church of King s Lynn on 19 August 1897. The following day, the first post-Reformation pilgrimage took place from King s Lynn to the Slipper Chapel in Walsingham, which had been purchased by Charlotte Boyd in 1895 and restored for Catholic use. Approximately 40–50 Catholics participated in this first public pilgrimage to Walsingham, initiating an annual pilgrimage traditionally held at Whitsun (the Feast of Pentecost). This continued until 1934, when the Slipper Chapel was declared the Roman Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. On 15 August 1954, Pope Pius XII granted a canonical coronation to the venerated image of Our Lady of Walsingham. The coronation was carried out by the papal nuncio, Bishop Gerald O Hara, with a gold crown funded by female devotees. The image is now enshrined in the Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham. The feast day of Our Lady of Walsingham is observed on 24 September in both the Anglican and Catholic churches. Anglicans, particularly those in the Society of Our Lady of Walsingham and at the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, also commemorate an additional feast of translation on 15 October each year, marking the anniversary of the translation of the image from Walsingham s parish church to the shrine church in 1931. In the United States, some local churches recognise 15 October as the principal feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, including the Episcopal Church (Anglican Communion) and Western Rite Orthodox churches of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Located in North Norfolk, England, United Kingdom.
Sacred Cluster
Nearby sacred places create the location cluster described in the growth plan. This block is intentionally crawlable and links into the wider regional graph.
