Marian shrines

By coincidence, today is the feast of St Winefride of Holywell.  The coincidence is that yesterday in the OCDS National Council we were discussing various Marian shrines as alternatives to Walsingham - because there is a possibility that we may not have the annual Walsingham Carmelite pilgrimage in 2026 and we are thinking about an alternative.  One of my early memories as a young teenager is of a visit to the shrine of St Winefride.  My family were on holiday just outside Holywell and I went for a walk on my own.   The walk led me down to the well, which I thought was curious (my family was not Catholic).  I discover that the shrine is advertised as ‘the Lourdes of Wales’, which is encouraging.  There seem to be various versions of the story of Winefride.  According to an official webside, ‘The holy well at St Winefride’s has been a place of pilgrimage since at least 1115. It is said to spring from the spot where 7th-century Welsh abbot St Beuno brought his niece Winefride back to life.  The chapel itself dates from the late 15th century. Set into the hillside, it’s a striking and unusual building, richly decorated and exceptionally well-built. On the bottom floor, the spring water bubbles up into a star-shaped basin beneath an elaborately vaulted ceiling before flowing out into a more recent outdoor pool, where pilgrims still visit to bathe in its waters with their claimed healing properties.  It is reputedly the oldest continually visited pilgrim site in Britain.’  It looks like a good candidate for a pilgrimage, although we did also talk about Our Lady of Doncaster, which was originally a shrine in a Carmelite church.

Intercessions:

Cancer: Brian Davis, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him), Jacqui, Theresa K, Fr Jon B, Catherine

Siena, Elara – sick children

Wojtek – massive heart attack leaving him incapacitated

David OCDS – housebound

Sophia – blind infant

Joy Smith OCDS – in hospital

Grace – troubling ailments, job difficulties, family (deceased mother and health of father)

Lucia – Overwhelmed by weariness

 Mark – brain infection

Joy Smith – in hospital

 Defence of the unborn and the elderly

 RIP Martin Gilham, Sue Burton, little Matthew (six years old, died of cancer)