Report on the Walsingham annual pilgrimage 2016

The SSPX GB District Annual Pilgrimage to Walsingham

The Annual Pilgrimage took place on Saturday 3rd September, which was the Feast Day of St. Pius X and also the Saturday preceding the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

It was very encouraging to see that, this year, the number of pilgrims was twice that of the year before, with 67 souls braving the rain.  The Pilgrims met at the Slipper Chapel, and then walked 1¼ miles in procession to the ruins of the Augustinian Abbey in Little Walsingham village where Mass was offered in an open field. Many of the pilgrims, children amongst them, made the journey in their bare feet along a gravelled track and through the streets of the village to where a temporary Altar had been set up beneath a small open-sided tent in the Abbey grounds. The rain fell even more heavily as the Mass progressed and there was much sharing of umbrellas.

After the Mass, Fr. Robert Brucciani led the faithful across to the plaque marking the site of the Holy House, and there he renewed the Consecration of the Society and of England to the Blessed Virgin Mary in even heavier rain.  Despite an umbrella being held over him, his digital reading device still got splashed with a few raindrops.

The pilgrims then went on their way, some to stay overnight for the 11am Mass in the Abbey grounds the next day, others to go home but one thing is certain - the penitential aspect of this pilgrimage was certainly enhanced this year.