Walsingham, England...Where it All Began....
The story of Our Lady of Walsingham begins in 1061 when the Blessed Mother appeared to Richeldis de Faverches, a Saxon noblewoman living near Walsingham, England. Our Lady told Richeldis to build a replica of Mary’s house where the Archangel Gabriel visited her. Not long after, the site became one of the most important pilgrimage sites in England, receiving royal visits from a long list of kings and queens. Pilgrim houses sprung up to give hospitality and shelter to those visiting the shrine.
By the time King Henry the VIII reached the throne, it was one of the four important places of pilgrimage in Britain along with St. David's in Wales, Canterbury, and Glastonbury. However, in 1538, the shrine was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries instituted by Henry. The statue of Our Lady of Walsingham disappeared, and the pilgrimages came to an end for the next few hundred years.
Pilgrimages Restored
In 1897, the Roman Catholic church restored the Slipper Chapel where medieval pilgrims took off their shoes to walk the last mile to the original shrine. The Anglican part of the shrine came into being when Hope Patten became the Vicar of Walsingham in 1921. He commissioned a new Walsingham statue based on a medieval seal of the Walsingham priory. The statue was set up in 1922 at the Parish church of St. Mary and four hundred years after the destruction of the original shrine, pilgrims made their way to Walsingham. Not long after, the Orthodox Church established a shrine, making Walsingham one of the few places on earth where Anglicans, Romans and the Orthodox joined their voices in prayer and pilgrimage.
Pilgrimages in Wisconsin
Not long after the founding of the Anglican shrine, a priest from Wisconsin, A. Parker Curtiss, took a pilgrimage to Walsingham. He decided to create an American shrine by adding on to Grace Episcopal in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Further, he commissioned an exact replica of the Walsingham statue, which was made based on a medieval image of Our Lady of Walsingham. In 1950, the first pilgrimages began and have taken place every year since during October. The reconstituted Guardians of the Shrine are planning for the future, which will include The Walsingham Way-Wisconsin, a pilgrim path stretching from Nashotah House west of Milwaukee to the shrine itself.
The shrine is generally open Sunday through Thursday from 7:15 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. Corporate rosary is held Mondays at 5:30 p.m. Please email or call the parish office at 920-452-9659 to confirm availability. The Office is staffed weekdays from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Central Time.