Ascension : From St Mary's Church
Submitted by The Islander (Clive & Jenny Duncan) 08.10.2009 (Article Archived on 22.10.2009)
My dear friends,
It is a great joy for me to be back on Ascension Island and a wonderful privilege to act as your Parish Priest during Canon Clive and Jenny’s leave overseas.
I have just returned from the UK where I spent most of my time in a village in north Norfolk, Little Walsingham. A medieval village with many of the buildings still standing and lived in by villagers. It was here in the 11th century that the Lady of the Manor, Richeldis, had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in which she was told to build a house, representing the house the Holy Family lived in at Nazareth. The dimensions were given in the vision and the place for its erection was indicated by a spring of water. The house was built and soon became a place of pilgrimage. A huge Augustinian Priory Church was built next to the Holy House and Walsingham became the greatest place of pilgrimage in England and was known as ‘England’s Nazareth’. Thousands of people visited the place over several centuries. Many monarchs visited the shrine, including Henry VIII. But it was on Henry’s orders in 1538 that the shrine was destroyed and the priory building destroyed. The only part remaining today is the Arch of the East end of the Church.
It was in 1921 that a new Parish Priest was appointed to the living of Walsingham, Fr Hope Paten. He was keen to start pilgrimages to Walsingham again and had a statue carved of the Blessed Virgin Mary with Jesus sitting on her lap, styled on the image of the great Priory Seal now in the British Museum. He placed this statue in the Parish Church and pilgrims started to come back to Walsingham. Eventually he obtained land and built a replica of the Holy House only a few yards away from where the original had stood and placed the statue from the Parish Church in it. During the excavations a medieval well was unblocked and water began to gush forth. A Shrine Church was built over the Holy House and now forms the Anglican Shrine of our Lady of Walsingham. Accommodation for pilgrims was built and adapted from existing structures. Today, many thousands of pilgrims again visit this Holy Place every year. The Roman Catholic Church obtained the original Slipper Chapel (a mile outside the village] which was not destroyed in the pillage of 1538 but was used as a barn. It is so named because it was here that people removed their shoes and walked barefoot to the Shrine in medieval days.
The message of the Shrine of our Lady of Walsingham is the same today as it was in the Middle Ages, namely, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” God became man and was born of the Virgin Mary. Because of Mary’s Yes, God was able to become part of his creation. Jesus, though he was God, was a human being just like you and me. He knows our trials and temptations because he has experienced them himself and therefore he is able to make real intercession for us.
Mary is blessed for all generations because she said Yes to God. She points us to her child, the Son of God. Walsingham has become an important beacon in a world which is overrun with materialism and secularism – where Christian standards and values are being continually undermined. It is a wonderfully peaceful and serene place, where one can feel the presence of God amidst a hostile and unbelieving world.
The Church needs to be such a beacon in every community. St Mary’s needs to stand out for the truth that God became Man in the life of the Ascension Island Community. We have a beautiful church which is peaceful and serene and always open! Use it for private prayer and come along to one of our Services and experience the fellowship of our Christian Community.
May God richly bless you all.
Bishop John St Helena
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