In the Middle Ages everyone wanted to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. A great attraction was the house where Our Lady used to live in Nazareth, still standing after many turbulent centuries [eventually this house would be so threatened by Muslim invaders that it was transported in its entirety to Loretto]. However, not everyone could leave jobs and families to travel.
One night in1061 a noblewoman called Richeldis de Faverches, who lived in Walsingham, Norfolk, had a vision of the Virgin Mary. In the vision she was instructed to build a replica of the house of the Holy Family in honour of the Annunciation. Those not able to travel to the Holy Land could gain the same graces by visiting Walsingham. We know little else about Richeldis except that she put up the funds for this project in obedience to Our Lady's instructions.
When it was built, the Holy House in Walsingham was paneled with wood and contained a statue of the Virgin Mary sitting on a throne with the child Jesus seated on her lap [picture @@@@]. Many pictures were painted of this statue, which was venerated as Our Lady of Walsingham. Stupendous graces were granted to many pilgrims and soon Walsingham became one of the great European shrines, along with Rome and Compostella.
All the paraphernalia of a thriving centre of pilgrimage grew up and Walsingham was put under the care of the Augustinian friars. England in those days was renowned for its great religious fervour, especially its zeal for Our Lady, earning it the accolade Dowry of Mary.
The last English king to go on pilgrimage to Walsingham was Henry VIII. Like everyone else, he took off his shoes and socks and walked the last stretch barefoot. The spot for taking of your shoes and socks was an exquisite little chapel called the Slipper Chapel - slipper was their word for shoe - and is still standing today.
However, Henry was to turn in rage against the Catholic Church when the Pope did not grant him an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. A terrible persecution of the Church ensued. The tales of the English Martyrs are amongst the most heroic in the magnificent annals of the martyrs. The memory of these times, which saw the annihilation of the Church in England, is recalled in the beautiful song Faith of our Fathers.
All the monasteries in the country were closed and the religious thrown into the streets. Anyone caught resisting the persecution or supporting the religious were executed by the frightful method of hanging, drawing and quartering. Terror reigned throughout the land.
Walsinham was top of the list for destruction. In 1538 the Holy House was demolished. A few faithful servants of Our Lady, including Sub-Prior Brother Nicholas Milcham, were hanged, drawn and quartered outside the priory walls. But the last Prior, Richard Vowell, fully cooperated with the government and even assisted the king's commissioners in the removal of the statue of Our Lady, which was desecrated and burnt in public. For his sacrilegious services Prior Vowell was rewarded with a handsome pension.
The reign of terror notwithstanding, the common people continued coming to Walsingham to pray in the ruins. Henry VIII then ordered the ruins to be leveled, the foundations dug up and grass to be planted over the spot so that not even a memory would be left. Even so, for many years after people stole there secretly to lay flowers and pray.
Oddly, the family given the land to build a mansion wanted to have some ruins for romantic landscaping so they asked that one fragment of the Augustinian Priory be left standing. Today pilgrims are returning to this venerable ruin as Walsingham is experiencing a revival.
Nestled in a quiet corner of the lovely green English countryside, Walsingham endures as a symbol of old Catholic England, and as a beacon to the English nation, calling them back to their authentic roots.
