2025 Diocesan Pilgrimage to Walsingham
The 2025 Northampton Diocesan Pilgrimage to Walsingham will take place on Saturday 14th June 2025.
Please book your seat as soon as possible by using the form below.
Book Your Seat
We have booked a 29 seater coach for this Pilgrimage - the cost per seat is £22. This must be paid as soon as possible in order to confirm your seat on the coach.
To reserve your seat or be added to the waitlist, please use the Walsingham Form below, or alternatively, please contact Derick on 01908 265819.
Making Payment
Please place your payment, name and contact details into a sealed envelope - clearly marked Walsingham - FAO Angela Tavener.
This envelope should be placed into the Sunday collection basket, submitted to the Parish Office or handed Derick Rooney or Angela Tavener.
Times
The journey time to Walsingham is approximately 3 hours. The coach will make a brief “comfort stop” on the journey in both directions.
Departure time: The coach will leave St Mary Magdalene Church in Stony Stratford at 08:00 am promptly. Please make sure that you are at St Mary Magdalene Church to board the coach (and choose your seat) by 07:40 am at the latest, as we are unable to hold the coach for any latecomers, as we need to get to Walsingham for the start of the pilgrimage events!
Return time: The coach will leave Walsingham for the return journey at 5.00pm. Again, please make sure that you are at the agreed meeting point and on board the coach on time. We expect to arrive back at St Mary Magdalene Church at approximately 8.00pm.
Volunteering to Help
We are looking for a couple of people to check people on and off our coach and help with our group. If you can assist with this, can you please complete the form below or contact Derick on 01908 265819.
Agenda
The pilgrimage will begin with Mass at the Basilica in the Catholic Shrine at midday followed by lunch and at 3pm pilgrims process from the Shrine, on the holy mile to the Abbey Grounds for the final service.
About Walsingham
The Shrine at Walsingham was established in 1061, when Richeldis de Faverches had a vision of the Holy Family’s home at Nazareth and undertook to build another one like it, to honour the Annunciation. It became a hugely popular pilgrimage site — one of the four great shrines of medieval Christendom, along with Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago da Compostella.
The original Statue of Our Lady of Walsingham was destroyed in 1538, and pilgrimages ceased. However, in 1896 Charlotte Pearson Boyd purchased the 14th century Slipper Chapel, just a mile outside the village of Walsingham for the use of the Catholic Church … and in 1897, Pope Leo XIII restored the Slipper Chapel as a shrine and pilgrimages began again that same year.
A new statue, copied from the seal of the medieval Priory, was made in 1922. And in 1954, the Papal Nuncio crowned the statue with a golden crown on behalf of Pope Pius XII.
In 2005, the Catholic Church in the village of Walsingham was rebuilt to accommodate the large number of Catholic pilgrims to Walsingham.
On the Feast of the Holy Family in 2015, Pope Francis conferred the title of “Minor Basilica” on the Shrine.
Pilgrimages:
Pilgrimages have always formed an important part of Catholic Devotion and our Parish has a long and rich history of making pilgrimages to Lourdes, Fatima and Rome, as well as joining in the annual Diocesan Pilgrimage to Walsingham.
It is good for all Catholics to try to make at least one pilgrimage a year.
