Washed In Him At Holy Walsingham. By Uncle Monty.

Washed In Him At Holy Walsingham

Story and Photos By Uncle Monty

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Holy Walsingham is one of England’s oldest shrines for faithful

Anglicans and devout Catholics alike. People of prayer come

from far and wide to spend a little time from their rushed daily

lives to visit and to experience periods of needed religious retreat

at The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, which is idyllically
set in the unmarred landscape of Norfolk’s old England.

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Here you won’t be abused by the trauma and stress of modern

secular life as the prevailing peace of spirit and quietness quickly

embaces and envelopes one’s presence at Holy Walsingham.

It is a spiritual refuge of a uniquely English kind.

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The blending of Historic Anglicanism and Traditonal

Catholicism sweeps many of the prayerful pilgrims right

off their wary feet. At least it did for Contessa Maria and

me at our three-day retreat at Holy Walsingham’s Stella

Maris House that housed and stepped us right

inside the stunning and shining shrine.
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Anglican Bishop Robert Ladds

Our first encountered was with Anglican Bishop Robert

Ladds, Vicar-General of the Society of Mary, within

moments of our first arrival at this beautiful parcel of land

set aside for us all to simply recognise the all-embracing love

and power of our Gracious God and His Son Jesus Christ.
“And did those feet in ancient times walk upon England’s
green and pleasant land,” asks our old hymn "Jerusalem."

Indeed, He surely did, at least I for one would like to think

so, at perhaps this God blessed spot of Holy Walsingham.
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Praying pilgrims at The Walsingham

Shrine's open air prayer services.

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No matter where you stand or sit at Holy Walsing-

ham, you will be comforted and cleansed by its quiet,

yet overwhelming, religiosity and shining light. Groups

of praying pilgrims, led either by Anglican and/or Catholic

priests, gather at intervals to walk around the parameter

of the shrine and to pay homage to their Christian faith.

From The Shrine to The Slipper Chapel is known as "The

Holy Mile" and many of the pilgrims walk silently to and

from such sacred spots at Holy Walsingham.

Maria and I most certainly and happily did.
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A lone country parson seen at

Holy Walsingham's High Street.

The tiny villages of Great Walsingham and Little

Walsingham, just five miles south of Norfolk's

coast-based Wells-next-the-Sea, is where the

National English Shine of Our Lady of Walsingham

and the famed Slipper Chapel can be easily visited.

Priests, religious sisters, church leaders, shrine work-

ers, annual pilgrims and parish groups, sightseers

and the curious can be seen at the packed High

Street during major religious festivals like Easter-

tide and Christmastide. Otherwise, at quiet times,

Holy Walsingham can be thin of crowds like when

Maria and I undertook our retreat there some

two years or more ago. Hence, the lone priest as

seen above and photographed by me as Maria and

I strolled peacefully in arms along the High Street at

where we browsed the local book and gift shops and

what have you. And from where we then

walked The Holy Mile, together.

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The Holy Mile at Holy Walsingham.

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Inside The Shrine of

Our Lady of Walsingham.

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The Slipper Chapel

At Holy Walsingham.

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It seems just like yesterday when we were

there. That's how impressive and persuasive

was Holy Walsingham to me, and I assume,

to Contessa Maria, too. We were first-timers,

but we chatted with a number of pilgrims who

had for years stayed annually at the shrine.

Gregory and Maragret I'Anson, devout Catholics,

have visited Holy Walsingham for more than a

quarter of a century and they still aren't tired of

it, but rather restored each time on their visits

of a week at a time. Without Holy Walsingham,

they would be spiritually dead they said ... They

come from Cannock Chase, I think they said.

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As Maria and I left, I felt we had been "Washed

In Him At Holy Walsingham." We had shared an

experience together that was a far cry from

the usual tourist traps and bland encounters of

the seaside and boring holiday spots of England

and Europe and elsewhere around the world.

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Instead, we had experienced as Anglicans the

fellowship and harmony of those who shared

similar feelings and needs to exercise and ex-

press their faith not solely in words but in action

and prayer and comradeship. That we most

certainly did. "Thank you, Holy Walsingham."

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Faithfully, Uncle Monty.

+Eve of Lammas Day, 2oo8.
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England's Convent of Our Lady of Mercy

in 1910 from my historical photo collection.

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And here's a far cry from Holy Walsingham ...

... Pathetic images of our modern Drunken Society.
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Annoucement in The

Church Times, August 1st, 2oo8:

The Federation of Catholic Priests

Priests' Pilgrimage to Walsingham

Monday 13 Oct. to Thursday 16 Oct, 2oo8.

Theme - "Immersed in Priesthood: Healing

and Reconcilliation in the Life of the Priest."

Speakers include: Chaplain to the Pilgrimage,

The Right Rev'd Robert Ladds; Fr. Eric Simmons,

CR., Betty Jarrett, and Fr. Graham Crook.

Enquiries: Fr. Brian Tubbs, The Vicarage,

Palace Place, Paignton TQ3 3AO. UK.

Tel: 011 (44) 01803 559059.

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I saw the new computer shop with a printed sign on its door

saying: "Closed 1:00-2:30pm for Prayers." It was Friday

afternoon at London's Old Kent Road. I could not imagine

seeing Currie Digital, PC World, Zenlogik or ABA, with such

a sign closing their doors for a few hours to observe Sunday

Morning Prayers for those of us who happen to be Christians.

Such companies seek only profits, not prayers. Nor do they

respect those folkz of faith. Money and business are their

only God. And, little else ... in England today.

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