Pilgirms of Hope
I wrote this piece before setting off with other parishioners last Monday on our pilgrimage to Rome.
The late Pope Francis, in his Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025 wanted hope to be the central message of this Jubilee year. He wanted the Jubilee to be, for each of us, a moment of genuine personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, the ‘door’ of our salvation; he encouraged us all to be pilgrims of hope. The logo for the Holy Year features four embracing figures, representing humanity from the corners of the earth, and symbolising fraternity and solidarity, with the central figure holding a dynamic cross that bends toward humanity. Below are waves and an anchor formed from the cross — symbolising life’s challenging pilgrimage and hope as a stabilising force during storms.
Not everyone is able to go on pilgrimage to Rome but we, as God’s people, are a people on a journey. We are all pilgrim people. As pilgrims of hope, we will be able to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence granted by the Holy Father if we undertake a pious pilgrimage to any sacred Jubilee site. Our Archbishop John Wilson has designated 15 pilgrim churches and shrines within the Archdiocese. These designated sites allow the faithful to undertake a local pilgrimage to gain a plenary indulgence. Our church of St Thomas of Canterbury is one of those pilgrim churches. Our website gives more information.
On Wednesday this week, we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham. Walsingham is a remote village near the North Norfolk coast. By the 16th Century it was more popular than Canterbury as a pilgrimage destination. This is because of a vision which came to a noblewoman (Richeldis de Faverches) in 1061, in which the Virgin Mary asked for a replica of her house in Nazareth to be built in Walsingham. This ‘Holy House’ became a powerful shrine, earning Walsingham the nickname ‘England’s Nazareth’, and it attracted pilgrims for centuries, with the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham serving as a focus for devotion and prayer.
All this was destroyed at the time of the Reformation. The pilgrimage revival began in the late 19th century, with the first modern pilgrimage taking place on 20th August 1897 to the Slipper Chapel, a mile outside the village, in Houghton St Giles. This is now the Roman Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady. When I was a Student Chaplain I walked in Holy Week with a group of students from London on what was known as Student Cross.
If you are looking for something to read on the theme of Pilgrimage, I would highly recommend a book written by Eddie Gilmore (one of our parishioners) called Another Day in Paradise. He writes about his experiences — of Santiago, Canterbury, Rome, Jerusalem, Lourdes, Walsingham, and Croagh Patrick.
