WALSINGHAM ASSOCIATION OLDHAM BRANCH.
FOUNDED 1981.

Photograph used with the kind permission of

http://www.walsingham.org.uk/

The story so far...
England's national shrine of OUR LADY of WALSINGHAM, in north Norfolk, England (U.K.) was established in the reign of St. Edward the Confessor in 1061 in the grounds of what is now the destroyed Augustinian priory (now privately owned by the Gurney family).
. According to legend Richeldis de Faverches, a lady of Walsingham, felt the Mother of God "took her in spirit to Nazareth, and requested that a replica of the Holy House at Nazareth be built at Walsingharn." This became "England's Nazareth', a place of prayer and reconciliation and one of the four great pilgrim places of Europe in the middle ages.
England was given the title of "Our Lady's Dowry" by St. Edward, a title solemnly renewed by other monarchs.
History shows us Henry III made at least 11 pilgrimages to Walsingham and so followed many Monarchs of England up to and including Henry VIII.
Following the Act of The King's Supremacy, - on August 4th 1538, Walsingham was desecrated and destroyed. Its famous statue was taken to Chelsea and there burned, along with many other notable images.

Some notable dates

1837 the shrine was officially restored in the church of the Annunciation, Kings Lynn under the authority of Pope Leo XIII.
1894 a pious Anglican lady Miss Charlotte Boyd arranged to purchase the remains of the Slipper Chapel - where pilgrims in Medieval times removed their shoes (slippers) to walk the last Holy Mile barefoot to the Priory in the village.
Miss Boyd was received into the Roman Catholic Church later that year. She brought back the chapel to the Church and wished to make it a place of prayer and repentance for the sins of Christian division.
1921 Anglican devotion was revived by the Vicar of Walsingham Rev. Alfred Hope-Paten. He built a Shrine in the village, incorporating a replica of the Holy House, and as an act of reparation, embedding in it stones from many monasteries destroyed during the Reformation
1934 The Roman Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham was officially transferred from Kings Lynn to the Slipper Chapel and was inaugurated as The National Shrine of Our Lady in England by Cardinal Bourne on behalf of pope Pius XI.. On August 19th over 12,000 pilgrims travelled to Walsingham with a great concourse of clergy including Cardinal Bourne and the Archbishops of Liverpool and Cardiff. The Wa!singham Association was founded the previous year.
1948 Fourteen groups of men travelling from different towns and cities, carried on foot, 14 large oak crosses each weighing 951bs. These are the same 14 crosses in the 'Meadow of Crosses' in front of the Chapel of Reconciliation. A most extraordinary pilgrimage of Christian witness since the Reformation
1954 Perhaps the most important date yet since 'The Act of Supremacy' took away and burned the statues in 1538. The Archbishop Delegate, Archbishop O'Hara, in the name of the Holy Father, Pope Pius XII, crowned the Statue of Our Lady at an altar once again set up amidst the ruins of the ancient Priory as part of a Marian year celebration.
1981 The beautiful Church of Reconciliation was built in the 'Meadow of Crosses' beside the Slipper Chapel. It was blessed by the late Cardinal Basil Hulme, O.S.B. and later consecrated by Bishop Alan Clark.

And so the story continues
The WALSINGHAM ASSOCIATION was founded in 1933 and exists primarily to spread devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham and encourage pilgrimage to her Shrine.
Membership is open to all and offers spiritual and other benefits. The Association has some 61 branches throughout the country.
The Walsingham Association OLDHAM branch, founded in 1981. is one of them.
Our particular branch membership is open to all in the area and at present we have 95 members who are warmly welcomed and invited to;

participate in local branch activities, if they so wish.
say the daily recommended prayers of the Association
support the National Shrine
help spread devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham
encourage and support Pilgrimages to the National Shrine.

Many of our members are busy dedicating their time and energies to their own particular parish duties but still find time to come together as a branch. Through this we are able to encompass the activities of the Deanery parishes; so, many new friendships have been forged, and many diverse functions supported.
The mainstay of our branch is our monthly celebration of Mass together, which had its beginnings in March 1982.
The Walsingham Association branch Mass is offered at 12 noon on 1st. TUESDAY of each month at St. Patrick's Church, Oldham. Mass is offered in honour of Our Lady of Walsingham, and members intentions. After Mass we pray the Rosary together. We then go onwards for a social gathering.