A hymn for those on the road to Walsingham

Fr Bede Rowe is keeping all of us up to date (by the minute almost) as the pilgrims wend their way, via few good pubs, by all accounts, to give honour to Our Blessed Mother at the Walsingham Shrine.

It seems only fitting to pray for those on the pilgrimage and to give them this hymn to send them on their way.

The first Ordinariate for Wales

Father Brian Gill, former Vicar General of the Traditional Anglican Church will be ordained by the Bishop of Menevia, Thomas Burns, on Saturday 21st July in the cluster parish of Presteigne, Rhayader and Knighton.

A small number of community members forming what is believed to be the first Welsh Ordinariate will join with Fr Gill on the day.

Remember Fr Gill and the Welsh Ordinariate in your prayers please, especially on this feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel - the following prayer may be said as a novena on behalf of the Ordinariate:

O most beautiful Flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein that you are my Mother.
O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart, to succour me in this my necessity. There are none that can withstand your power. O show me herein that you are my Mother.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us that have recourse to thee. (3 times)
Sweet Mother, I place this cause in your hands. (3 times)

Of course, this will be the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham but.......dare I suggest.....

.......that it should really be the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Cardigan as this shrine has equal standing to Walsingham and is, of course, the National Shrine of Wales.......but then, it is a long way from major cities, fast trains and motorways (!) 

The 'forgotten' shrine of Wales, Our Lady
of Cardigan - National Shrine

The five minute pilgrimage

Today we visited Cardigan, a small town on the far West coast of Wales. Famous for......um.....er.... of course! The famous Cardiganshire Corgi, a dog trained to herd cattle.

But Cardigan is also famous as the home of the National Shrine of Wales, that of Our Lady of the Taper and it has been a place of pilgrimage since the 12th century, maybe longer.

So, on this bright and sunny day we set off to visit good Catholic friends in the vicinity but stopped off first to pay our respects to Our Blessed Mother and to leave a few of our troubles and woes at her feet (and to pray for all Catholic bloggers).

I am happy to report that the Shrine looks good despite the fact that it is located in a 1970s designed church that owes much to the NCP Car Park style of architecture rather than the baroque or gothic.

Most important of all, the statue of Our Lady, candle in hand and the infant Christ cradled in her other arm, looked good, we felt as though we had returned home.

And then, after our five minute pilgrimage we were off to meet our friends in a local hostelry and to engage in Catholic badinage - as has been the custom of Catholic pilgrims since the time of Chaucer.

Did we get that the right way round? Five minutes for Our Lady and her Divine Son and a couple of hours down the pub?

Maybe, maybe not but, as we are off to the LMS Pilgrimage to Holywell as part of The Confraternity of the Holy Cross on 1st July, I thought that Our Lady would be as understanding as all mothers are and bear with us in our weakness.

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU HAVE A DEVOTION TO OUR LADY, PLEASE USE THIS PICTURE ON YOUR SIDEBAR TO HELP RAISE AWARENESS OF THIS SHRINE WHICH IS SECOND ONLY TO WALSINGHAM IN ENGLAND AND WALES. 

 IT MATTERS NOT IF YOU LIVE IN ENGLAND, THE USA OR ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD.

                                  Shrine Prayer

                   My soul glorifies the Lord,

               Henceforth all ages will call me Blessed.

                The Almighty works marvels for me:

                           Holy His name.

                   Behold the handmaid of the Lord.

              Be it done unto me according to your word.

Father, Your Son Jesus born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit is the Light of the world. May the same Spirit lead us to imitate Mary’s faith love and humility, that, guided by her example, we may follow the light of her Son on our Journey through life and come at last to see you as you are, and praise you in the everlasting kingdom of heaven.

Amen

Holy Mary Mother of God, you offer your Son for our adoration

May we too treasure His word in our hearts and help bring His light.

              Our Lady of Cardigan         Pray for Wales

              Our Lady of Cardigan         Pray for us

A question for the Bishops of Wales

.........What is the difference between Walsingham and Cardigan?

Ah! the infant Christ is seated!

  

But.....He is also seated here!

Hmm…..well, one is in Wales and one in England….correct but what else?.....err……can’t think…what is the difference?

Well, sorry to try tricking your Lordships with a dummy question….you see….they are both the same.

Walsingham is the English National Shrine of Our Lady and Cardigan is the Welsh one….simple?

Actually, not so simple; there are distinctions…..Walsingham receives many pilgrimages each year and is constantly featured on blogs as a sort of Catholic stamp of identity. And that is very fine and good and right for an English blogger to do so. But for those blogs who are a little international in flavour or for Catholic organisations who represent both England AND Wales, it would be good to have a little parity for Our Lady of the Taper.

I must admit that Walsingham has it as far as style of chapel is concerned, poor old Cardigan Church makes a 1960s multi storey carpark look mystical and holy. I think it was thrown together in the 70s after the architect suffered from a long weekend on Welsh whisky (don't try it). The building is hideous but, of course, it is home to the Son of God and his Mother represented by the statue of Our Lady seated with the infant Christ on her knee and one hand holding a candle.

 We cannot desert or ignore this House of God just because it is a glorified tractor shed!

What is quite hard to understand is how the Catholic Church in Wales appears to be quite happy to have Our Lady’s shrine in this awful mixture of concrete blocks, wooden beams and glass. Are the Bishop’s proud of this shrine? At present the shrine (wisely moved on Bishop Burns’ advice from an ante room outside to a side chapel in the main church) is to the right of the main altar. Trouble is, apart from the statue there is nothing shrine like about its position, physical or spiritual.

Who would wish to travel several hundred miles to worship at a place that calls itself a shrine but has none of the trappings of one? What awaits  at the end of the journey?

Well, if you consult the very informative website you will see that the church also houses a stone from Calvary plus a stone Benedictine cross, from the remains of a long deserted Monastery at nearby Llechryd but that still, to my mind, is not enough to make it a full blown site of pilgrimage.

What is very necessary is for the three Diocese of Wales to put money in a pot to create a brand spanking new Church and Shrine that has some style and bezazz about it (by bezazz I mean a good and sound base in traditional architecture).

Then the Bishop of Menevia (in whose Diocese lies the shrine) might graciously consider permission for indulgences to be gained for those visiting the holy place. I am uncertain of the procedure here but I am sure it must be possible.

Maybe consideration might be given at this stage, for a marketing programme that firsts looks at the holistic offer; local hotels and restaurants for the overnight pilgrims, processional routes back to the original riverside Abbey (now an Anglican church but I am sure a deal could be struck) – thanks to Michael Lord of the LMS for this suggestion, and a campaign to have the shrine listed on all official pilgrimage web pages.

The Parish Priest might like to compose a series of Our Lady of the Taper prayers to be incorporated into literature and the website.

Now the framework of a fully functional shrine begins to emerge.

And for the piece de resistance? – a special Tridentine Latin Mass to be celebrated on the feastday of Our Lady of the Taper – 15^th June.



Our Lady of the Taper meets the Holy Father
at Westminster Cathedral September 2011

 So where does one go from here? Perhaps our new Archbishop, His Grace, George Stack, might like to bring his two fellow Bishops together to discuss how to raise the money – after all, nothing is impossible where the Almighty is concerned.

And, if you agree that this should take place, please remember to say the shrine prayer below to ask for Our Lady’s intercession.

A brief history of Our Lady of the Taper may be read on the

Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma blog.

                                        Shrine Prayer

                                 My soul glorifies the Lord,

                        Henceforth all ages will call me Blessed.

                           The Almighty works marvels for me:

                                         Holy His name.

                             Behold the handmaid of the Lord.

                       Be it done unto me according to your word.

 Father, Your Son Jesus born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit is the Light of the world. May the same Spirit lead us to imitate Mary’s faith love and humility, that, guided by her example, we may follow the light of her Son on our Journey through life and come at last to see you as you are, and praise you in the everlasting kingdom of heaven.

Amen

 Holy Mary Mother of God, you offer your Son for our adoration. May we too treasure His word and help bring His light to the world.

Our Lady Vanishes

No this is not a remake of that old film, good as it was, starring Angela Lansbury. This concerns OUR Lady...or, to be more precise, Our Lady of the Taper - the statue that is the focal point for the National Shrine of Wales.

Our Lady of the Taper - Ora pro nobis
Our Lady of the Taper - Where are you?

The statue normally resides in the shrine which is at a side altar in the distinctly 70s retro shed church in North Road, Cardigan. Without the statue there is nothing....except an empty plinth which, according to reliable sources now hosts a Ronnie Corbett sized version of the statue.

Where has Our Lady gone to? Does anyone know? No parishioner has been informed. What happens if you happen to be a pilgrim en route through the lovely Welsh countryside in a quest to give honour to the Mother of God at the National Shrine no less? You will arrive to see a pygmy sized replica sitting on a massive plinth. The authentic shrine statue has vanished.

Has the statue been stolen? Are we witnessing a modern miracle? Is Our Lady trying to tell us something about the way she is treated at the National Shrine?

Nope. I think she has gone walkabout to visit other parishes in Wales.

 You can just see this happening at Walsingham or Lourdes or Fatima can't you?
Pilgrims arrive to find the source of their visual inspiration gone! Out of sight....gone away.....not there.

I believe that Bishop Stack* has taken up his new role as Archbishop of Cardiff today. Perhaps he can find Our Lady for us!
* As reported by Whispers in the Loggia, Ecumenical Diablog and
A Reluctant Sinner

Bring her back to her throne in Cardigan - pdq!

A little parity for Wales?

Now as I am English (or maybe English with a dash or two of Irish) it may seem strange that I am flying the flag for Wales but, I do have a strong sense of fair play (it's the English part of me) and I notice that just about every blogger...and even the LMS., feature strongly Our Lady of Walsingham and England.
Fine. But, England and Wales are linked not just by the Severn Bridge(s) but also by, what's the phrase?......ecclesiastical union?......you know, the Catholic Bishops Conference is not just England but England and Wales!

Our Lady of Cardigan - pray for parity!

And here in Wales we have, of equal status to Walsingham,
Our Lady of Cardigan, Patron of Wales - Our Lady of the Taper as she is known for an obvious reason - she holds a candle in her right hand.


Admittedly, the shrine is not quite so grand as Walsingham, in fact, it's definitely quite a long way down market compared with Norfolk......I don't know why the Catholic Church in Wales doesn't put a shade more effort into making the shrine a more desirable place to visit....not for me to reason why although I think the word apathy might come into it somewhere. Lack of vision may be another reason.
However, I am drifting off the point, my plea to other bloggers (and to the Latin Mass Society of England and WALES, who may  feature Our Lady of Walsingham on their site), is, please remember Our Lady of the Taper.
And I am sure she will also remember you!