Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Pity in the Rock at Dover

The Pilgrimage now returns to Kent for visits to another four shrines.

The first of these is the now lost one of Our Lady of Pity intgeRoch close to the harbour in Dover. This was especially frequented by travellers to and from Calais and the continent, either seeking a safe crossing or giving thanks for one.

My previous posts with a detailed account I wrote in 2020 and other links can be accessed from Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Pity in the Rock at Dover

To those I would add an article from the website of Dover Museun which gives more detail about the decay of the site from the later sixteenth century and its final destruction in the early nineteenth century. This can be seen  at Archcliffe Chapel Biography.

The embarkation of King Henry VIII at Dover for the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520

This painting dated to 1520-40 shows Dover harbour and the castle at a time when the shrine of Our Lady was still actively frequented by travellers

 

Image: Royal Collection and Wikipedia

May Our Lady of Pity in the Rock at Dover intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of The Four Tapers at St Albans

The Pilgrimage now returns to south-eastern England and the great medieval - and indeed modern - destination for pilgrims of St Albans. 

On this Pilgrimage the focus is less on St Alban and St Amphibalus, though they should never be ignored, but on a particular focus of Marian devotion, the statue and altar of Our Lady of the Four Tapers. This altar was, and is, in the south-east corner of the presbytery ambulatory, and just to the right of the Lady Chapel.

My post from last year has links to those from earlier years, most notably that from 2020 which sets out the quite complicated story of the moves of this devotion around the abbey church. We know more about these relocations thanks to the great tradition at St Albans of maintaining I I a chronicle. 

 

These links can all be accessed from Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of the Four Tapers in St Albans

St Albans Cathedral and Abbey is, in my opinion, with its amazing fusion of medieval history, art and architecture, and its legacy of prayer and spirituality, one of the most intensely moving historic churches to visit. The damage and neglect it suffered for several centuries, followed by an over-enthusiastic late Victorian restoration give it a vulnerability that is almost palpable. 

  

St Albans Abbey in the late middle ages 

Image: Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban and St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society

May Our Lady of The Four Tapers at St Albans intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Kingswood

Returning to the southern Cotswolds the Pilgrimage now goes to the Cistercian abbey of Kingswood near Dursley.

My post from last year, which has links to those from previous years, can be read at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Kingswood

Kingswood Abbey Gatehouse

The roof timbers are dated to 1441-1466

Image: britainexpress.com

 

The roof bosses in the vault 

Some author infer that the central boss is a Tudor Rose suggesting a sixteenth century date, but the boss has six petals, not five. The boss to the right looks like the Yorkist sun in splendour

Image: britainexpress.com

Rereading the excellent English Heritage account, which an be read at History of Kingswood Abbey Gatehouse and thinking about the skilled iconography built into the gatehouse of this monastery dedicated to the Virgin, leads me to wonder if the statue venerated as Our Lady of Kingswood might even have been in fact the one here, on the outer face of the gate.

  

The empty niche in the abbey gatehouse. The Holy Spirit can be seen descending at the top left of the canopy

Image: English Heritage

The lily carved on the mullion of the window over the gate

Image: britainexpress.con

May Our Lady of Kingswood intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Allingtree

Moving to Herefordshire the Pilgrimage now goes to the shrine of Our Lady of Allingtree, on the western edge of Hereford.

Close to the site is the modern Catholic Church of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs which was completed in 1996. By its dedication it seeks to commemorate the lost chapel www was and the Herefordshire  martyrs of the recusant era. Taking Stock has a description of it at Hereford - Our Lady Queen of Martyrs 

My notes from previous years about this shrine of which virtually nothing is recorded can be accessed from last year’s post ar Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady of Allingtree

I have done a little more online research about Allingtree or Aylingtree. This reveals that what were called the Gallows Tumps were situated south of the city near Belmont Road ( A465). My online source says this was the earliest recorded execution site in Hereford, and that between 1737 and 1789, it saw 54 confirmed public executions. This cannot be entirely true as Widemarsh Common to the north of the city centre was the setting for the martyrdom  of St John Kemble in 1679. The map by John Speed does not indicate any gallows close to the city. It does perhaps suggest however that the medieval chapel was not close to a place of execution.

May Our Lady of Allingtree intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady’s Well Hempsted

This is a new addition to the Pilgrimage itinerary and is located at Hempsted, a formerly a separate village, but which now has become a suburb of Gloucester. 

There is an online account of the structure and the story of the pilgrimage tradition. How old the institution narrative is not given. It might be an old tradition or it might be a pious fable from more recent centuries - one always has to be careful when Joseph of Arimathea turns up in such stories. The article can be seen here

There is more about the well house and this is an account with better illustrations from Wikipedia at Our_Lady's_Well,_Hempsted

The history and popular lore about the well is discussed in The Holy and Ancient Wells and Springs of Gloucester – Our Lady’s Well, Hempsted

May Our Lady of Hempsted intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Tewkesbury

Tewkesbury Abbey is the next station for the Pilgrimage. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary it appears to have been a place of Marian devotion long before the foundation of the Benedictine church we see today in 1121.

My article from last year has links to posts from previous years about this shrine, its destruction and modern moves to restore the tradition of Marian devotion in the Abbey. These can be accessed from Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady of Tewkesbury

 

Tewkesbury Abbey

The foundations of the destroyed Lady Chapel can be seen in the turf. The line of the vault can be seen above the west window of the chapel and the blocked entrance arch is beneath. Until it collapsed in 1559 the tower had a timber and lead spire

Image: voicemap.me

May Our Lady of Tewkesbury intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Worcester

The Pilgrimage now goes to Worcester Cathedral which had a famous statue of Our Lady. 

My post about it from last year has links to previous ones, and I especially urge readers to work through them to my original 2020 post which reveals contemporary material from 1538 about the nature of popular devotion and the hostility of the new Henrician establishment. This can be accessed from Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Worcester

Medieval pilgrims would probably have approached the cathedral from the north, as do visitors today. Unlike the modern visitor the medieval pilgrim would have seen a number of features which have, regrettably been lost, including the gateways on this side of the Close.

Some of the disastrous city planning from the late eighteenth century onwards, and infamously in the 1960s, at this crucial point is set out in an article from Worcester News here

Worcester Cathedral before the nineteenth century restoration with a large late medieval window in the east wall rather than the reconstructed lancets that are there today and massive flying buttresses.

To the right is the medieval parish church of St Michael

Bedwardine which served the Close, but was demolished in 1843

Image: findagrave.com 

Further along was the detached bell tower or Clochium which stood about 210 feet high. It was built about 1220, but stripped of its lead roof in 1647 and subsequently demolished.

Worcester Cathedral before the Civil War

Image: Dean and Chapter of Worcester

May Our Lady of Worcester intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Evesham

The Pilgrimage now heads west to the valley of the Avon and then the Severn, making its first stop at Evesham. Here was the great Benedictine abbey apparently founded at Our Lady’s request when she appeared to Eoves the swineherd who then brought St Egwin the bishop to meet her and receive her command.

Early twentieth century stained  glass window in St Lawrence’s Church depicting the story of the apparition of Our Lady at Evesham

Image: Archdiocese of Birmingham 

In recent years pilgrimages to Evesham have increased in number. This year the organisation Our Lady of Christendom are having a walking pilgrimage from Oxford to Evesham on July 4-6. There are details on their website at Our Lady of Christendom – United Kingdom

My post from last year about the Marian tradition at Evesham has links to those from previous years, and these can all be accessed from Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady of Evesham 

Although only fragments of the abbey remain above ground the town still has two medieval parish churches, the famous detached bell tower, and an excellent museum in The Almonry. In addition there is the site of the battle in 1264 and, just outside the town at Wood Norton, the onetime home, now a hotel, of the exiled Orleanist royal house of France in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. So a modern pilgrimage to Evesham can also take in a lot of history in an attractive town on the banks of the Avon. 

The appearance of the monastic church can in part be reconstructed by using notes made just before the dissolution in one of the books belonging to the monastery which include the height of the spire. The notes also include a record of how the King’s commissioners to take the surrender of the abbey turned up in January 1540 during Vespers and would not allow the community to finish singing the Office.

Reconstruction model of EveshamAbbey on the eve of the dissolution.

All that survives today are the two parish churches and the detached bell tower on the right and the doorway to the Chapter House vestibule

Image: Evesham Abbey Trust

The most recent plan of the site of Evesham Abbey

Image: Evesham Abbey Trust

May Our Lady of Evesham intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Melford

This is an addition to the itinerary and stays in Suffolk, taking the Pilgrimage to the famous and spectacular parish church at Long Melford.

Long Melford is situated on one of the routes that leads to Walsingham in north Norfolk and there was at the church a miraculous statue venerated as Our Lady of Melford.

Long Melford Church

Image: Flickr - Spencer Means

The church at Long Melford was almost entirely rebuilt between 1467 and 1497, largely, it would appear, at the behest and expense of John Clopton (1423-97) of Kentwell Hall in the parish. It has been suggested that this was in thanksgiving for being the only one of those arrested who escaped execution in 1462 for his involvement in the plot centred on the Earl of Oxford to restore King Henry VI to the throne. Wikipedia has a biography of him at John_Clopton

..

John Clapton 

A portrait of him amongst the superb surviving fifteenth century glass in Long Melford Church

Image: Wikipedia 

Wikipedia has a description of the church at Holy_Trinity_Church,_Long_Melford and Great English Churches had a detailed account and numerous illustrations here

Towards the latter part of this rebuilding programme  Clapton planned to be buried in the Lady Chapel, which I assume contained the devotional image, in the churchyard, but his wife’s death led to the creation of a new chantry for them in the main church. The Lady Chapel lies south of the main church alignment and may in part be the earlier structure at the west and east ends, around which Clapton in 1496 built an all-embracing ambulatory which is, surely, based on the similar structure built in the 1440s over and around the Holy House at Walsingham. Clapton’s work included a clerestory to the original chapel, which was lost after the chapel was reroofed sometime after 1613, and the chapel served as the town’s school from 1670. The chapel was not finished when Clopton died in 1497 and he made provision in his will for its completion.

The ambulatory and entrance to the inner chapel in the Lady Chapel at Long Melford Church

Image: Facebook - Chris Droffats

The interior of the Lady Chapel

Image: Great English Churches

There is much more about the church and the creation of the Lady Chapel in a 2010 article which can be accessed at Z6KvX5PW8TDD773T

May Our Lasy of Melford intercede for us and our intentions

                           Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Kersey

The next stop on the Pilgrimage is the parish church of St Mary at Kersey.

My post on this shrine from last year, again with links to my previous piece about the devotion, can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Kersey

The Suffolk Churches website has a lengthy and illustrated account of the church at Suffolk Churches

Their essay includes a translation of the 1464 grant of an indulgence to pilgrims by Pope Pius II. The text of the bull implies that the church was attracting considerable numbers of pilgrims and that miracles were frequent occurrences.

Kersey Church

The tower was completed in 1481

Image: Wikipedia 

The interior of the church

The mutilated niche which contained the statue of Our Lady of Pity can be seen on the left on the outer wall of the north aisle

Image: Geograph - Michael Garlick

May Our Lady of Kersey intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

The forthcoming exhibition of the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum

ArtNet has an article about the plans for the display of the Bayeux Tapestry in the major exhibition that will begin in September 10 and run from the autumn until next summer at the British Museum.

Not only will the Tapestry be on display, lying rather than hanging, but also objects either related to it as sources for the details of ships and clothing but also coins of the period and archival material.  

The report about the plans can be seen at British Museum Unveils Elaborate Display for Bayeux Tapestry 

Two of Anne Boleyn’s books on display

Today is the 490th anniversary of the execution of Anne Boleyn at the Tower of London in 1536.

To mark the occasion the BBC News website has an article about two books which belonged to her which are on display as part of a major exhibition about her at one of her family’s homes, Hever Castle in Kent.  

The illustrated account an be seen at Anne Boleyn books shown at Hever Castle on execution anniversary 

Recent studies of Anne and her brother George, Viscount Rochford, have shown that they did have a serious interest in religion and read widely in what is now described as the Evangelical spirit of the 1530s.

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Doncaster

 

Travelling south from Wakefield the Pilgrimage crosses the battlefield ( if, saving current historical debate, it really was a battle), the remains of Sandal Castle and Walton Hall, the ancestral home of Edmund Waterton, the nineteenth century scholar of medieval English Marian devotion, who like Fr Bridgett did so much to recover our awareness of these devotions. Avoiding any outlaws lurking in Barnsdale in the tradition of Robin Hood, or any stray wildcat likely to pounce on an unfortunate fifteenth century knight near Barnborough, the pilgrim reaches the town, now of course a city, of Doncaster. Here in the Carmelite friary was the shrine of Our Lady of Doncaster. Today, only a few minutes walk up the hill to the south is its modern recreation in the Catholic Church of St Peter-in-Chains.

My post from last year, together with links to longer ones from previous years, including the possible ‘King under the Post Office’, can be viewed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Doncaster

The current Wikipedia entry about the history of the shrine and its recreation can be seen at Our_Lady_of_Doncaster

A pilgrim badge from the medieval shrine

Image: St Peter-in-Chains Doncaster

The modern statue and shrine of Our Lady of Doncaster

Image: St Peter-in-Chains Doncaster Facebook

May Our Lady of Doncaster pray for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady on Wakefield Bridge

 

The Pilgrimage now returns to Yorkshire for two stations in the West Riding. The first is the famous and beautiful chantry chapel of Our Lady on Wakefield Bridge.

My article about it from last year, together with links to those with more detail from previous years, can be found at Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady on the Bridge at Wakefield

The Wakefield chapel is more elaborate and more richly decorated than the few others which survive in England. This may be because of it being built in the 1340s when the Decorated style was still dominant whereas the others are from the fifteenth century and in the more restrained Perpendicular style. It may also reflect, as I suggested in my first post on it, the influence of the Lord of the manor, the Earl of Surrey, or of the proprietors of the rectory, the Cluniac monks of Lewis and then the canons of St Stephen’s Chapel at Westminster. It is a reminder that even small wayside chapels and shrines could be finished to a high quality. I recall a good friend from the Wakefield Historical Society making the point that even in its damaged and erodes state the sculpture from the original facade was superior to that of the 1939 replacement one sees today.

  

Wakefield Bridge and Chantry

Philip Reinagle 1793

Image: Meisterdrucke

The interior of the Chapel 

There is a replacement statue of Our Lady to the right of the altar

Image: TripAdvisor.com

May Our Lady on the Bridge at Wakefield intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Chester

The next stage on the Pilgrimage is in what was in the medieval era the Benedictine abbey of St Werbergh, and which has been since 1541 Chester Cathedral.

My post from last year, and as usual with links to previous years and other websites, about the devotional statue of Our Lady in the south choir aisle can be found at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Chester

 

Chester Cathedral from the south-east.

 The aisle which contained the statue of Our Lady is centre right. The apse at its end is a Victorian reconstruction 

Image: Cheshire Life  

The cathedral in 1865 before its drasticVictorian restoration 

Image: AbeBooks 

May Our Lady of Chester intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Fernyhalgh

Travelling south into the main part of Lancashire the next station on the Pilgrimage is at Fernyhalgh, which appears to be one that has a more or less continuous history from the medieval period. 

My post from last year, when I added it to the itinerary, has links to a number of websites which recount its history as a place of prayer in the later medieval period, through the recusant era and then since the removal of legal restrictions and the post-Emancipation flourishing of Catholicism in Lancashire. It can be accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Fernyhalgh.

The Ladyewell

Image: Christian Heritage Centre

May Our Lady of Fernyhalgh intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Brougham

 

In contrast to the highly organised life of the monastic community of Furness the next shrine on the Pilgrimage, which only appears to be recorded in a line from John Leland, looks to have been a popular devotion focussed on a rural church. This was Our Lady of Brougham, near Penrith on the borders of Cumberland and Westmorland. 

My post, again with links to notes from other years, from last can be found at Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady of Brougham

The church was completely rebuilt by that formidable upholder of the aristocratic traditions of her forebears Lady Anne Clifford in the 1650s, so nothing beyond the site survives of the medieval object of pilgrimage.

Wikipedia has an article about it at Ninekirks

The Churches Conservation Trust also has articles about it at St Ninian's Church, Brougham and at Brougham St Ninian

It also has one about the nearby chapel of St Wilfred at Brougham: St Wilfrid's Church - North Westmorland benefice, with more about it at St Wilfrid's Chapel - Brougham Hall

One medieval building which does survive from the time of the pilgrimage is Brougham Castle, albeit in dramatic ruins. Wikipedia has a commendably good account of the history and architecture of the building at Brougham_Castle

Brougham Castle

Image: English Heritage 

May Our Lady of Brougham intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Furness

The Pilgrimage now moves to Furness Abbey in that detached portion of Lancashire of the same name. This was a Cistercian house and therefore under the patronage of the Virgin Mary. In the traditions of that Order and to preserve claustral solitude the shrine for pilgrims was in the gatehouse chapel, the Capella ante prtam.

My post and links about the devotion at Furness to Our Lady from last year can be seen at Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady of Furness

  
Furness Abbey from the south

Image:Wikipedia 

Wikipedia has a quite detailed and illustrated account of the history of this important and wealthy monastery at Furness_Abbey

There is also a well illustrated history of the abbey from Werbeka at THE FURNESS ABBEY

A reconstruction of Furness Abbey from the north on the eve of the suppression 

Image: werbeka.com

May Our Lady of Furness intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Tynemouth

This is a new addition to the Pilgrimage, and one for which I have very little evidence, but which I think worth including.

The Northumbrian monastery on the headland at Tynemouth was the burial place of the murdered seventh century St Oswin, King of Deira. When in the years after the Norman Conquest his relics were rediscovered a priory was established as a daughter house of Durham Cathedral priory and dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St Oswin. It then became a daughter house of St Albans - leading to a prolonged dispute with Durham - and became a place for pilgrimage to the shrine of St Oswin. The suggestion is that because of its joint dedication the priory also became a centre for Marian devotion, and excavation of the monastic church has revealed the foundations of a large Lady Chapel which had been added on at the north east of the presbytery.

Plan of Tynemouth Priory

The large Lady Chapel can be seen at the north-east

Image: GetArchive

Wikipedia has a quite detailed account of the history of the monastery - including a translation of a mid-fourteenth century letter from a St Albans monk exiled to Tynemouth to a friend back in Hertfordshire - and that can be read at Tynemouth_Priory_and_Castle

The remains of the east end of Tynemouth Priory with the Percy chapel beneath. The Lady Chapel was to the right.

Image: easymalc.co.uk

May Our Lady of Tynemouth intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Jesmond

The Pilgrimage now heads to Jesmond, which is now an affluent northern suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, and to the remains of a Norman shrine chapel which still attracts pilgrims..  

My post from last year, again with links to earlier ones on this pilgrimage site, can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Jesmond

In addition both the Wikipedia article at Jesmond and the illustrated one from Historiette at St Mary's Chapel Jesmond give a ‘foundation myth’ about an apparition of the Virgin and Child which led to the building of the chapel at Jesmond. I have not seen a more fully documented account but am sharing it as the only explanation of the pilgrimage tradition to Jesmond I have seen.

The ruins of Jesmond Chapel

Image: Co-Curate

May Our Lady of Jesmond intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

  

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Bolton in Durham Cathedral

 

This devotional statue was in one of two chapels which in 1922-23 became the Regimental Chapel of the Durham Light Infantry in the south transept of the cathedral.

My post from last year, which has links to other posts on this image of Our Lady, can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Bolton in Durham Cathedral

A Virgin ouvrante from the Musee de Cluny of the same kind as Our Lady of Bolton

The French theologian Jean Gerson, who died in 1429, was opposed to this popular type of image as he considered it heretical by suggesting that the Holy Trinity was the fruit of the womb of Mary

Image: Aidan McRae Thompson on Flickr

Another example of a vièrfe ouvrante

Image: Pinterest 

The Durham Light Infantry Chapel today,

the site of the medieval statue of Our Lady of Bolton

Image: Durham Cathedral and Jarrolds

May Our Lady of Bolton intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Pity in the Galilee at Durham Cathedral

Moving now to the north-east of England the Pilgrimage stops at Durham Cathedral, which had two statues of Our Lady which drew pilgrims.

Durham Cathedral with the timber and lead spires still on the western towers. The Galilee Chapel is at the extreme right

Image: Facebook

In the Galilee Chapel at the west end was the statue of Our Lady of Pity.

My post about this from last year, together with links to other posts from previous years on this shrine, can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Pity in the Galilee at Durham Cathedral

The site is the statue of Our Lady of Pity

Image: David Dixon and Geograph Britain

May Our Lady of Pity in the Galilee at Durham intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

The Vatican vs SSPX

Since rhe announcement by SSPX of their intention to consecrate new bishops for the Society at Écône on July 1st the verbal skirmishing between it and the Vatican has rapidly escalated into a war of words, albeit a Cold War at present.

 

The very well informed website The Pillar offers a detailed and informed  exposition of the canon law in the context of consecrations without Papal approval together with some reflections on the context of the current dispute at If the SSPX consecrations happen, who exactly is excommunicated?

LifeSite News yesterday shared the text of the Society’s  response to the threat of excommunication from Cardinal Fernández. This is in the form of a profession of faith, and responding to some current matters of debate. It can be read at SSPX responds to Vatican threats with profession of faith

This is a situation which looks very much like a “stand-off”, and surely requires the prayers not just of those directly involved but of all the concerned faithful. It should not be beyond the realms of possibility to find some form, not of that loaded word ‘compromise’ ,

but of agreement not to push matters to a breach.

Addendum:

LifeSite News has now published the response from SSPX to the Vatican statement threatening excommunication. It can be read at SSPX responds: 'Excommunicated? But by whom? By those who kneel before Pachamama?'

I do urge readers to look carefully at these three statements and to reflect upon them.

Cardinal Allen

I have another article in the latest edition of Mass of Ages, the quarterly magazine published by the Latin Mass Society. It has even made the front cover with a portrait of the subject of the article, Cardinal William Allen. 

Cardinal William Allen

Image: Wordpress

   

He was the founder of the Douai seminary for missionary priests during the Elizabethan persecution and also of the English College in Rome. His last years were spent as a Cardinal in Rome, but he never forgot his birthplace on the Lancashire coast. He was a key figure in maintaining the Catholic faith during a time of increasing persecution, yet in many ways his actions made the Elizabethan government all the more hostile to Catholicism. That paradox remains at the core of his life.  

Doomed to exile by the circumstances of his times he never relinquished his love for the land and faith of his birth. 

My interest in him is not just that he was a leading Catholic figure, but we are both members of the same Oxford college of Oriel. His early twentieth century statue looks out from the High Street facade of the Rhodes Building.

The article and magazine can be accessed at https://share.google/9092pe33JYbBoFrnQ

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Abingdon

The Pilgrimage now goes back to the Thames Valley and to the shrine of Our Lady of Abingdon in the great Benedictine abbey there.

My post, with its links to previous ones which include links to pieces on the restored medieval statue of the Virgin and Child now in the nineteenth century Catholic Church, can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Abingdon

David Nash Ford’s Royal Berkshire History has an account of the abbey, including its other great focus of devotion, accross which was believed to include one of the nails from the Passion. This relic, known as the Black Cross features in the arms of St Edmund of Abingdon, and may have had its own chapel in the abbey forecourt. The account can be seen at RBH: History of Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire

A Facebook post from the Medieval & Tudor Period Buildings Group  has a quite detailed account of the revival of the abbey at the turn of the eleventh and twelfth centuries under the Italian born abbot Faricius. This can be seen at Abingdon Abbey near Oxford was probably founded in the late seventh century, but its great days started when it was re-founded by Bishop Aethelwold

The Friends of Abingdon Abbey Buildings Trust has an illustrated website which outlines the history of the abbey and discusses the few surviving buildings. This can be seen at Precious Heritage Site: the History of the Buildings - Abingdon Abbey Buildings

  

A reconstruction of Abingdon Abbey

Image: Abingdon Museum

 

Abingdon Museum Blog has an account of the suppression of the abbey which can be seen at The Dissolution of Abingdon Abbey 

The seal of 

Abingdon Abbey depicting the Virgin and Child

Image: VCH Berkshire

May Our Lady of Abingdon intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Ascension Day

The Ascension of Our Lord

Giotto circa 1305

Capella Scrovegni - Arena Chapel

Image: buypopart.com

May I wish all my readers a joyful celebration of the Ascension of Our Lord

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Clare

The next station on the Pilgrimage is at Our Lady of Clare and the Austin Friars.

My post from last year, again with links to previous comments about this house of Augustinian Friars at Clare, can be found at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Clare

The Victoria County History of Suffolk vol. ii has a detailed history of the friary, its construction and its relationship with its aristocratic benefactors which can be read  here.

I recently attended an online lecture that referred to the circle of fifteenth century aristocratic women, such as Cecily Duchess of York, who looked to the Clare friars as spiritual guides and counsellors. At this period the Austin friars were one of the leading groups interested in theological and literary studies. One such from Clare can be found in the Wikipedia biography of Osbern_Bokenam

 

The modern shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel at Clare Priory

Image: Flickr

May Our Lady of Clare intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Sudbury

The Pilgrimage now returns to the southern edge of Suffolk and to the shrine of Our Lady of Sudbury. This was in a chapel dedicated to St Anne that still survives as an addition to the south porch of the church of St Gregory.

My post from last year with its links can be seen at Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady of Sudbury

To that I would add that there is now a good illustrated account of St Gregory’s church on Wikipedia at St_Gregory's_Church,_Sudbury, and from Taking Stock there is a good account of the. Catholic parish church at Sudbury - Our Lady and St John the Evangelist

The modern statue of Our Lady of Sudbury created in 1937 in the Catholic Church of  Our Lady and St John the Evangelist 

Image: Taking Stock

 

May Our Lady of Sudbury intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray