Devotion to Mary growing among Protestants in England
LONDON, November 10 (CNA) - Devotion to Mary is growing among
Anglicans, Fr.
Noel Wynn told the New York Times. Fr. Wynn is the director of the
Roman
Catholic Marian shrine in Walsingham, known as "England's Nazareth."
Walsingham is home to two Marian shrines-one Catholic and the other
Anglican-located at opposite sides of the town.
Tradition says the first shrine was founded in 1061, when Richeldis de
Faverches, a Saxon noblewoman, had a vision of the Virgin Mary, who
showed
her the house in Nazareth where the Angel Gabriel announced the birth
of
Jesus. Mary then instructed the lady to build a replica.
Since then, Walsingham has been an important pilgrimage site in
England,
whose emphasis is not healing but on one's lifelong Christian journey.
In 1538, what is now the Protestant shrine was destroyed as part of the
Reformation under King Henry VIII. It was rebuilt in 1931, with
accommodations for 218 people.
The Catholic shrine is built around the Slipper Chapel, so named
because
historically it was there that people removed their shoes and walked
the
Holy Mile, the last mile of the pilgrimage. Some still walk it,
reported the
New York Times. This shrine has accommodations for 120.
According to the New York Times, the number of Protestant pilgrims
visiting
the Marian shrine and staying overnight has risen since 1999, from
10,000 to
12,000.
Protestant worshipers in Walsingham often belong to the Anglo-Catholic
tradition, which accords greater reverence to the Virgin Mary than
other
Protestant sects, and uses the bells and incense like in the Roman
Catholic
liturgy.
The shrines also appeal to other Christians, and the Orthodox and
Methodist
churches in the town are indicative of this.