Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Tuesday, 12 May 2026

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Grace at Ipswich


Returning to East Anglia the next station on the Pilgrimage is at one of the most renowned Marian shrines of medieval England, that of Our Lady of Grace at Ipswich.

It is now believed that the statue from the shrine survived and in 1550 came to a new home at Nettuno on the coast between Rome and Naples.


Our Lady of  Nettuno

Image: Sunny John Photography

My post from last year, withs links to those from previous years can be seen at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Grace at Ipswich

To this I am pleased to add some more online links about the devotion and the commissioning of new artworks.

On the website of the Diocese of East Anglia is an article by my friend from Oxford days Fr Joseph  Welch, the parish priest of St Pancras in Ipswich, about a new statue of Our Lady of Ipswich which has been created for that church. The figure is copied  closely from that of Our Lady of Nettuno, the ‘English Lady’ believed to be the original statue rescued from Ipswich in the sixteenth century. Fr Joseph’s article can be viewed at Our Lady returns to Ipswich church after 485 years - Catholic Diocese Of East Anglia

On the same website is an article about the inaugural ceremonies and pilgrimages to for the new shrine in St Pancras. This can be seen at Bishop and pilgrims visit Our Lady of Ipswich shrine - Catholic Diocese Of East Anglia



The Bishop of East Anglia census the new statue

Image: Diocese of East Anglia


An article from the parish website of St Mary at the Elms looks at the history of  pilgrimage to Our Lady in Ipswich, the Nettuno story and the 2002 statue in that historic Anglican parish church..The article can be found at The Shrine – St Mary at the Elms, Ipswich

The website of the Catholic church of St Mark at Brantham in Ipswich has a piece about a painting of Our Lady of Ipswich done for the church. This can be accessed at  Our Lady of Ipswich: A Historic Devotion Reborn in the Heart of Suffolk

As part of the Wolsey 550 celebration in Ipswich of the Cardinal’s birth a group, including a Wolsey lookalike in Cardinalatial red, visited Nettuno and can be seen in sixteenth century costume in front of the original statue at Ipswich represented at a very special Italian procession  – Thomas Wolsey

Finally the Messenger of St Anthony has a lengthy article about the friendship the has been built up in recent years between devotees of Our Lady in Ipswich and Nettuno. It can be read at A Tale of Two Cities

May Our Lady of Grace at Ipswich intercede for us and for our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

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