As promised, here is the latest installment of the Rev'd Fr. Chandler Holder Jones, SSC's travle diary from the "Stand Up For Jesus" meeting of the SSC in England last spring. Enjoy!
"Friday 8th April 2005 will ever remain one of the most wonderful days of my life. Our official Society of the Holy Cross pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham had finally arrived. There are 1100 plus members of the Society throughout the world, with over 700 in the United Kingdom. Large numbers are also present in the United States, Canada, the West Indies, and Australia, with a few in Africa and other places. A significant collection from North America and from Australia was present for the SSC event, most of whom had never been to Our Lady’s Shrine at Walsingham. For this reason, and to acknowledge the prominent place of Walsingham in the Catholic Revival, we made a pilgrimage to Walsingham on Friday. Several coaches of priests made their way to distant Norfolk on that cold blustery day. Father Hope Patten, the Restorer of the Shrine, was a brother of the SSC, like so many other famous Anglo-Catholic priests throughout history. The morning was, as the BBC predicted the night before, surprisingly cold, sharply so. The dark swirl of grey and white clouds above, the wind so sharp it felt like it would cut through you, the pelting droplets of rain all combined to create an almost surreal atmosphere for a day that would be indeed unlike any other. The condition of the weather seemed a fitting commentary on the fact that the Pope would be buried that very morning in Rome. John Paul II had only died less than a week before. In fact, as it turned out, probably 200 of our brethren decided not to join us for the Walsingham pilgrimage because they were glued to the television to watch the proceedings from the Vatican. However, nothing on earth could have stopped me from going to England's Nazareth that day! After a hurried breakfast we all made our way onto the coach omnibuses that would drive us three hours northeast to the county of Norfolk and the ancient Shrine of Our Lady. Behind me was Canon Charles Hough of Fort Worth, Texas and his lovely wife. As I sat down, donning cassock, biretta, and bag, I was joined by a elderly English priest who made his acquaintance and politely asked if he could sit next to me. I of course said 'yes' - it was one of the best yeses of my life. For six hours that day I enjoyed the unique privilege of being graced by the company of a Catholic priest's priest, the retired Archdeacon of Croydon, a former missionary, parish vicar, teacher, theologian, a living embodiment of the Oxford Movement. All the way up to Walsingham and back we talked and talked (not an unnatural activity for me, as anyone who knows me will testify!); we discussed politics American and British, the Churches of England and Rome, the controversies in the Church, immigration in Europe, Anglo-Catholicism past and present, and on and on. It was one of the most illuminating times I have ever spent with anyone, and additionally, it certainly helped to pass the time quickly as we made our way north and south. The beauty of the English countryside itself is a mesmerising and enchanting experience, and so I must confess I kept one eye on my companion and the other out the window upon the clash of rolling hills and big sky, grey clouds and bright green grass, and the seemingly endless steeples peaking above the horizon as we made our way through 'England's mountains green.'
I should pause here for a moment and describe exactly what is the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. It is the national Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary in England, the spiritual epicentre of world Anglo-Catholicism. In AD 1061 the Holy Mother of God appeared in a vision to a Saxon noblewoman, Richeldis de Faverches, and commanded that a Shrine in honour of the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Family be built on her land. Our Lady revealed the design she desired to be built, a small house, a replica of the Holy House in which the Annunciation from the Archangel Gabriel took place and in which the Holy Family dwelt at Nazareth. A miraculous well sprung up in the place chosen by the Mother of God for the erection of the Shrine, and so the original Holy House was built thereon. Eventually the small chapel consisting of the House itself was transformed first into a great pilgrimage Church, and later an entire Augustinian Priory surrounded and protected the little House of England's Nazareth. Augustinian Canons governed and administered the largest centre of Marian pilgrimage in all of Europe dating from 1146. The most popular place of Marian pilgrimage in the country, it closely rivalled the Shrine of Saint Thomas of Canterbury for overall celebrity. Over the centuries the Kings of England offered their royal patronage to the Shrine and endowed it with gifts of all kinds: Henry III, Edward II, Edward III, Henry IV, Edward IV, Henry VII, and Henry VIII all made pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Mother of God in Walsingham. The wicked King Henry VIII, at the dissolution of the monasteries, brought about the destruction of Our Lady's House and Shrine in 1538. The devotion lay in abeyance until a young Anglican vicar, Father Alfred Hope Patten, moved to Walsingham in 1921 with the hope of restoring the ancient Shrine as well as the ancient Faith. A leader of the Catholic Movement in the Church of England, the energetic Father Patten restored the fullness of Catholic doctrine and practice to the parish Church of Saint Mary's, Little Walsingham, and in 1922 he restored the Image of Our Lady of Walsingham inside the parish Church at the north side of the building. It was his idea to base the new statue of Our Lady of Walsingham on the Image depicted on the seal of the medieval Priory. Regular pilgrimage and devotion was returned to Walsingham. >From the first night the Image was restored, people gathered to offer their intercessions in union with the prayers of Our Lady, and the ministry of prayer, intercession, and devotion has gone on unbroken every day since. Father Patten firmly believed that if the Church of England were truly a Catholic Church, it must have a living centre of devotion to the Mother of the Lord. The Restoration of the Shrine was for him a proof of Anglicanism's Catholicity and a vital connexion with her pre-reformation Faith and history. Throughout the 1920's, the trickle of pilgrims became a flood of large numbers, for whom eventually a Pilgrim Hospice was opened (a hospice is technically the name of a place of hospitality for pilgrims) and in 1931, a new Holy House encased in a small pilgrimage church was dedicated, and the Image translated there with great solemnity. In 1938 that church was enlarged to form the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady, more or less as we know it today. Catholic Anglicans around the world continue to flock to England's Nazareth to worship and adore the Divine Son of Mary, Jesus Christ, and to venerate God's lowly Mother. Devotion to Our Lady under the title of Walsingham has become an undoubted defining characteristic of the Anglican Catholic. 15 October 1931 is today commemorated as the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham. Last year, in 2005, the Anglican Shrine was ranked by the BBC as Britain's most popular and loved site of Christian pilgrimage and prayer: the dream of Father Patten has been realised and Walsingham is once again the centre of English Catholic life and devotion!
Now to pick up my narrative. Once we arrived in Norfolk the weather had turned colder and brisker, and for the first time snowflakes appeared dancing in air. The atmosphere on the bus was one of palpable excitement, the air was electric with joy and anticipation. Everyone was so excited that they chatted vigorously. Once we arrived at the Holy Mile, an authoritative voice came over the speaker and commanded us to keep a prayerful silence, and we did. The Holy Mile tracks the ancient route along the River Stiffkey from the Slipper Chapel to the Anglican Shrine: the Slipper Chapel, which now serves as the national Romanist Shrine of Walsingham, was in the medieval period that place at which pilgrims removed their shoes or slippers and from which they walked barefoot to the Shrine a mile distant. It is the last leg and holiest stretch of the old pilgrimage route to Walsingham. I recall vividly the scene in the cold of that frosty spring morning as we pulled up to the front of the Shrine Church and our entourage quietly departed the buses and made its way into that venerable and loved Church for our opening devotion and prayers. There are 15 Altars in the Shrine Church in honour of the 15 Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. After our prayers before the first Altar of the Annunciation and some time in the Holy House in prayer before the sacred Image, we walked en masse from the Shrine in the village up the hill to the parish Church of Saint Mary's for an utterly unique treat, my first Mass celebrated in the parish of Father Alfred Hope Patten. As we darted up the small incline to the church, the sky opened from its grey shell and a burst of sunlight poured out on the group. The Lord Jesus seemed personally to welcome us to this holy place in honour of His wondrous Incarnation, to which we had come from such great distances. As other priests hurriedly scooted into the church I could not help but stop motionless before the small and very humble grave of Father Patten, which is located just outside the west door of the church building. In silence I recounted all the wonderful works he had accomplished in his long life, offered a prayer for his repose, and joined the rest of the eager band as they made their way inside. The Church of Saint Mary's is a new beautifully-reconstructed building of radiant white interior and clear glass, bright and happy. A beautiful stained-glass window on the east wall behind the Altar clearly depicts Henry VIII, Father Patten, and a church on fire. The burning church in the original Saint Mary's, which was gutted by fire in 1961, during the ministry of the famous Father Colin Stephenson. The ancient church building's interior had been almost entirely destroyed; precious little of the original design remained afterwards - but what did remain was carefully incorporated into a faithful and handsome replacement.
Since I had paused outside I was late, and many priests were already vested and had hungrily seized their seats up in the chancel on either side of the 'Cranmerian Holy Table' which was set up in the middle of the church crossing. Oddly enough the lovely red and gold High Altar and reredos had been obscured the large freestanding table plopped in front of it. You see, this was to be a concelebrated Mass in the modern Rite, typical of British Anglo-Catholicism. As much as I admire and respect the faith and courage of my British brothers, I still cannot acclimate myself to the liturgical modernity expressed there. 'When Rome sneezes, Anglo-Catholics get the 'flu.' I confess I find this particular 'Rome-aping' not only unnecessary, but theologically and aesthetically undesirable. Anyway, I rushed over to a grand piano hidden on the north side of the nave, concealed by bag, vested as fast as I could in alb and concelebration stole (very mod), put my biretta on my head and flung myself at the chancel. It was full. Several American priests chuckled at my biretta; one snobbishly remarked that the English would think I was crazy or eccentric or both. I ignored the comment and started looking for a seat. Things looked dire - all my life I had been looking forward to having the privilege of celebrating Mass in this Church and it appeared I was to be relegated to a seat in the congregation. All of a sudden, as things usually happen at Walsingham, a little gift mysteriously materialised. My new friend, the retired Archdeacon, had saved me a seat, a seat on the front row right next to the Altar. He and I would stand adjacent to the concelebrating Bishops for the Mass. It was an indescribable blessing. I took my seat and minutes later the Mass began. We sang the Angelus as the sacred ministers stood before the parish shrine of the Virgin Mother. Offered with careful and loving reverence, the Mass unfolded flawlessly. The sight was a vision to behold, the four-hundred priests and 15 or so bishops all vested in white, Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy celebrating in a modern chasuble with an image of Our Lady emblazoned on the front. A religious sister with a strong cockney accent read one of the lessons. The Vicar of Walsingham, Father Patten's successor, preached a carefully-prepared and timely sermon. Then came the Liturgy of the Eucharist itself - this was the first time I had ever publicly concelebrated the Mass since my own ordination to the Priesthood. I shall never forget as long as I live standing in that beautiful church alive with spiritual power, extending my right arm and hand and saying over the sacred gifts the words of consecration: 'This is my Body...' 'This is the Cup of my Blood...' The Eternal Sacrifice of the Son of God and Son of Mary was pleaded to the heavenly Father in the praise and worship of God and the honour of His Incarnation. Once again in the mystery of the Mass, the Word was in mystic form made flesh, under bread and wine. The very Incarnation of God, celebrated in image, symbol, paint, wood, building, shrine, sacred place, was extended, made-present, once again in time and space, by Sacrament, under the veil of earthly food. Walsingham means Incarnation, God made Man, God with us. The Reality pointed to at Walsingham became our Reality once again. At Communion, a ciborium containing the Blessed Sacrament was passed very gingerly from priest to priest as each removed a fragment of a broken host and held It until all received together. At that moment I recall adoring the Lord of Glory, the Body of Mary's Child, present in my hands, the hands of an unworthy sinner who was, in spite of his innumerable sins, a priest, an alter Christus, another Christ. Like Mary, the Catholic priest is a Theotokos, a God-Bearer. The Catholic priest is himself in a mysterious way the Incarnation prolonged in history, the icon or image of the Incarnate Lord. The Church, the Mass, the Priesthood - Our Lord, Our Lady - all unites in one amazing gift of God's disclosure of Himself to and in us. Walsingham's truth came surging forth again. The chalice was passed priest to priest and all received the Precious Blood.
As the Mass concluded with all of its splendour and solemnity, that old familiar sense came flooding back once more, gratitude, gratitude to God for His many gifts, for His love which from our birth surrounds and sustains us, for the gift of Himself in becoming Man for our salvation and in forming His Church, His Mystical Body, in which we have come to live, love, and delight, and for the grace of pilgrimage to that place, England's Nazareth, where the veil between heaven and earth is thinnest - Walsingham is as close to heaven as one comes on earth. After the pontifical blessing, the coterie of priests began to form a procession which would wind through the village streets, bearing in its midst the Image of Our Lady to her Holy House. The next great Walsingham tradition was about to begin..."
Chad+
