If you venture a few miles West you'll find the village of South Creake, and on the floor of the nave (now hidden by a carpet I think) there will be a brass memorial to a Rector, John Norton - my g g g g... grandfather! My family were in that village for over 600 years, before coming down to London after the enclosures got started. I'm planning to walk there with my sons as a pilgrimage, probably next year - but we shall finish at Walsingham, for shared devotions!
Lovely. Thank you very much for telling me about this place. It has made my (Sun)day. I love the worship of Mary, too, even though as someone raised to be Protestant, it is not really allowed. And that statue is awe inspiring, in addition to being beautiful. I'm eager to hear about the rest of the site.
Veneration, not worship! This is the subtle difference. We venerate Mary as we would venerate a saint (though more so), but worship is due only to God.
Hmmm... if anybody's going to get struck down by a lightening bolt, it would more likely be me, I think. The last time I checked, I wasn't wielding any, either.
No lightning bolts, except love....ecstatic moments of insight and clarity :) I think given that the mind is an idol creating machine (I can't remember if that's Luther..>I think so, or maybe Chesterton)....I don't think the protestant strategy of total denial/avoidance of the tendency works...especially when secularized, because as Bob Dylan quipped, everyone's going worship some one or thing(s). Best to re-direct this huma propensity, but make sure it goes through Icons to God - veneration, leading to true worship; and doesn't rest with the thing or person -- misplaced idolatrous worship. Plus - it leads to a more beautiful and uplifting sensory environment.
My husband and I made a pilgrimage to Walsingham a few years back, more from curiosity than devotion, and since then we've both become Orthodox Christians. I'm looking forward to encountering the place anew through your writing.
I went to the tiny little Orthodox Church when I was there in the summer, it used to be the rail keepers cottage, teenie, tiny with a lovely garden attached. I was very hungover at the time, which rather spoilt the experience but still, I can erase that part looking back!
Thank you for this excellent article, as well as the pictures. I hope that perhaps I can visit there someday. KV Turley is one of my favorite English writers and he often writes about Walsingham.
BTW did you know there is a thriving Anglo Catholic Community in Houston Texas: https://olwcatholic.org/. Checkout this church also called Our Lady of Walsingham. . The liturgy is BEAUTIFUL! The Church is beautiful as well!
The Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter isn’t Anglo-Catholic, it’s fully in communion with Rome! (I belong to it) A truly wonderful community, which also has a counterpart in England, The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. After being raised in an Irish Catholic family, belonging to the Ordinariate for the past 5 years has given me my first appreciation for things English. (Reading Paul has helped in that regard, as well!) As a cradle Catholic, I only qualified for membership in the Ordinariate by virtue of my husband’s conversion to Catholicism through an Ordinariate parish, and I’m so grateful for the beautiful, reverent liturgy and close-knit sense of community that is sadly lacking in most Catholic Churches in the US today.
And it’s not just in Houston, there are Ordinariate parishes nationwide. We belong to one in Jacksonville, FL.
As a Western Rite Orthodox Christian, this was my favorite place on my own English holy site pilgrimage I took a few years ago. I was shocked that there is nothing but a tiny wooden medallion on the ground to mark the spot of the original holy house, but it was important to me to make a veneration there. The rebuilt shrine is glorious, though, and I was thrilled to find the Orthodox nook within it.
Walsingham is an extraordinary place. It seems to particularly offend the rational mind, even of Christian believers (e.g. the Evangelical protesters who picket the National Pilgrimage every year). But if one can still the critical voice in our head and just go with it... it can be quite the most wonderful experience. As a good Anglo-Catholic vicar, I used to take the parish every year and, on one occasion, the waters of the holy well effected what can only be described as a miraculous healing for a parishioner who found herself suddenly - and lastingly - relieved of a painful chronic condition. I don't know if your peregrinations will take in the northeast (Cuthbert, Bede, Lindisfarne, etc), but if you do come this way you would be very welcome to make a pit stop at St Antony's Priory, Durham.
Thanks for this. I would love to do a proper north east visit for this series. It has been many years since I visited Lindisfarne and I was very far from being a Christian back then.
What would be the key places to visit, would you say, in the area?
Oh, there's a lot... In no particular order: Lindisfarne, obviously (and St Cuthbert's cave, inland, where the relics were hidden), Durham Cathedral (Cuthbert's shrine, and Bede too, for good measure), Jarrow/Monkwearmouth, Holystone, Northumberland (Roman era baptismal pool/well), various wells associated with Cuthbert (e.g. Bellingham, Northumberland), Saxon churches, big and small (e.g. Hexham, Escomb). We inhabit an extraordinarily rich sacred landscape in these windswept isles, albeit much concreted over, both literally and metaphorically.
Wow, just loved everything about this. Because of my background (generations of devotion to the BVM) had heard of Our lady of Wallsingham but what a treat to see and read this. Many thanks for this series.
I wonder what demon possessed Henry V111? I recall reading that it was thought by Carl Jung that Hitler was possessed by the spirit of a Norse god...death and destruction ensued.
Dear Paul and family, Bon Voyage to merry old England! Thank-you so much for the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham and Englands Nazareth. My dear Christian friend and me are going to Walsingham! I am so excited! Much appreciation and gratitude Paul x x
If you venture a few miles West you'll find the village of South Creake, and on the floor of the nave (now hidden by a carpet I think) there will be a brass memorial to a Rector, John Norton - my g g g g... grandfather! My family were in that village for over 600 years, before coming down to London after the enclosures got started. I'm planning to walk there with my sons as a pilgrimage, probably next year - but we shall finish at Walsingham, for shared devotions!
I loved everything about this and now I want to go to Walsingham on a mini-pilgrimage. It’s a long way from NZ …
Lovely. Thank you very much for telling me about this place. It has made my (Sun)day. I love the worship of Mary, too, even though as someone raised to be Protestant, it is not really allowed. And that statue is awe inspiring, in addition to being beautiful. I'm eager to hear about the rest of the site.
Veneration, not worship! This is the subtle difference. We venerate Mary as we would venerate a saint (though more so), but worship is due only to God.
O.K., Paul. I will gracefully accept your... correction, and try not to make the same mistake again...
I'm just trying to avoid getting struck down by a lightning bolt here.
Hmmm... if anybody's going to get struck down by a lightening bolt, it would more likely be me, I think. The last time I checked, I wasn't wielding any, either.
Boom.💥
No lightning bolts, except love....ecstatic moments of insight and clarity :) I think given that the mind is an idol creating machine (I can't remember if that's Luther..>I think so, or maybe Chesterton)....I don't think the protestant strategy of total denial/avoidance of the tendency works...especially when secularized, because as Bob Dylan quipped, everyone's going worship some one or thing(s). Best to re-direct this huma propensity, but make sure it goes through Icons to God - veneration, leading to true worship; and doesn't rest with the thing or person -- misplaced idolatrous worship. Plus - it leads to a more beautiful and uplifting sensory environment.
Superb, Paul! I love this new series. And how lovely that you're taking a long, slow, four-week walk in Walsingham. Blessings.
Lovely to see celebrating and discovering Englands Christian soul.
My heart responds to the picture of the exterior, behind the nativity scene.
i felt something, old, English.
you're making me love my heritage Paul, in a way i never knew i could.
i hope to one day draw water from that very well.
My husband and I made a pilgrimage to Walsingham a few years back, more from curiosity than devotion, and since then we've both become Orthodox Christians. I'm looking forward to encountering the place anew through your writing.
I went to the tiny little Orthodox Church when I was there in the summer, it used to be the rail keepers cottage, teenie, tiny with a lovely garden attached. I was very hungover at the time, which rather spoilt the experience but still, I can erase that part looking back!
I, a Yank, had no idea despite a good case of Anglophilia!
St. Cuthbert fan here in the States. Hoping to get to the Holy Island in the Fall. Might your time in England bring you there too?
One day I hope!
Thank you for this excellent article, as well as the pictures. I hope that perhaps I can visit there someday. KV Turley is one of my favorite English writers and he often writes about Walsingham.
BTW did you know there is a thriving Anglo Catholic Community in Houston Texas: https://olwcatholic.org/. Checkout this church also called Our Lady of Walsingham. . The liturgy is BEAUTIFUL! The Church is beautiful as well!
The Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter isn’t Anglo-Catholic, it’s fully in communion with Rome! (I belong to it) A truly wonderful community, which also has a counterpart in England, The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. After being raised in an Irish Catholic family, belonging to the Ordinariate for the past 5 years has given me my first appreciation for things English. (Reading Paul has helped in that regard, as well!) As a cradle Catholic, I only qualified for membership in the Ordinariate by virtue of my husband’s conversion to Catholicism through an Ordinariate parish, and I’m so grateful for the beautiful, reverent liturgy and close-knit sense of community that is sadly lacking in most Catholic Churches in the US today.
And it’s not just in Houston, there are Ordinariate parishes nationwide. We belong to one in Jacksonville, FL.
A fellow Floridian!!
Yep, and a small one in Williamsburg VA if I’m correct?!
Oh I don’t know about Williamsburg! There are close to 40 Ordinariate parishes in the US now so it’s hard to keep track.
As a Western Rite Orthodox Christian, this was my favorite place on my own English holy site pilgrimage I took a few years ago. I was shocked that there is nothing but a tiny wooden medallion on the ground to mark the spot of the original holy house, but it was important to me to make a veneration there. The rebuilt shrine is glorious, though, and I was thrilled to find the Orthodox nook within it.
Walsingham is an extraordinary place. It seems to particularly offend the rational mind, even of Christian believers (e.g. the Evangelical protesters who picket the National Pilgrimage every year). But if one can still the critical voice in our head and just go with it... it can be quite the most wonderful experience. As a good Anglo-Catholic vicar, I used to take the parish every year and, on one occasion, the waters of the holy well effected what can only be described as a miraculous healing for a parishioner who found herself suddenly - and lastingly - relieved of a painful chronic condition. I don't know if your peregrinations will take in the northeast (Cuthbert, Bede, Lindisfarne, etc), but if you do come this way you would be very welcome to make a pit stop at St Antony's Priory, Durham.
Thanks for this. I would love to do a proper north east visit for this series. It has been many years since I visited Lindisfarne and I was very far from being a Christian back then.
What would be the key places to visit, would you say, in the area?
Oh, there's a lot... In no particular order: Lindisfarne, obviously (and St Cuthbert's cave, inland, where the relics were hidden), Durham Cathedral (Cuthbert's shrine, and Bede too, for good measure), Jarrow/Monkwearmouth, Holystone, Northumberland (Roman era baptismal pool/well), various wells associated with Cuthbert (e.g. Bellingham, Northumberland), Saxon churches, big and small (e.g. Hexham, Escomb). We inhabit an extraordinarily rich sacred landscape in these windswept isles, albeit much concreted over, both literally and metaphorically.
Great suggestions. I'd add Inner Farne (bird flu permitting) where St Cuthbert retreated from the busyness (!) of of Lindsfarne (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/north-east/farne-islands/history-of-the-farne-islands-buildings), and St Aidan's Church, Bamburgh, where Aidan died. And if you're approaching the North East via the A1 through Yorkshire you could divert a little west to see Ripon Minster with its Saxon crypt, twin to that at Hexham, both built by St Wilfrid. And a bit further north and to the east is Lastingham Church with a Norman crpt on the site of the Anglo-Saxon Monastery of St Cedd (https://www.realyorkshireblog.com/post/lastingham-church-and-its-ancient-crypt).
Oh, please, write about Lindisfarne! Iona would be wonderful too, if you make it over to Scotland.
Signed, A Wistful American.
Wow, just loved everything about this. Because of my background (generations of devotion to the BVM) had heard of Our lady of Wallsingham but what a treat to see and read this. Many thanks for this series.
I wonder what demon possessed Henry V111? I recall reading that it was thought by Carl Jung that Hitler was possessed by the spirit of a Norse god...death and destruction ensued.
Good question. Something certainly got a hold of him.
Dear Paul and family, Bon Voyage to merry old England! Thank-you so much for the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham and Englands Nazareth. My dear Christian friend and me are going to Walsingham! I am so excited! Much appreciation and gratitude Paul x x