The Shrine of the Lady of Walsingham

In Medieval England there were two religious shrines of both local and international importance, that of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury, and that of the Lady of Walsingham in the little village of Walsingham, Norfolk.  The Lady of Walsingham, honoring the Virgin Mary, was particularly sought after by women anxious to bear children or to avoid the perils of childbirth and infant mortality.

The shrine began in the 11th century, with three Marian Apparitions to a noblewoman, Richeldis de Faverches.  Richeldis believed she'd seen a vision of the home in which the Virgin Mary received the Annunciation, or announcement that she would become pregnant with Jesus.  Richeldis constructed a model of the house, which was later encased in stone.  As the fame of the shrine grew, a church was built to house the structure, along with a carved statue of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus.  Pilgrims flocked from all over England and Europe to visit the shrine as it became known as a place of miracles.  Members of the Royal Family also patronized the site, including Kings Henry III, Edward I and II, King Henry IV and Edward IV, and Henry VII and VIII.  The Lady of Walsingham became a familiar place to Katherine of Aragon, who made many pilgrimages beseeching God for a son to continue the Tudor dynasty. 

Many of these royals particularly endowed the Slipper Chapel, so called because pilgrims would remove their shoes before walking the final mile to the shrine, called the Holy Mile.  Because of its extensive patronage, the image and its surrounding shrine were covered with gold and precious gems.  In 1538, the shrine was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the original image was later burned.  However, locals continued to keep the memory of the Lady of Walsingham alive, still insisting the miracles occurred there despite the shrine having been destroyed.  In 1897, the Catholic shrine of the Lady of Walsingham was restored.  In 1938, the Anglican shrine was added.  The Eastern Orthodox church also maintains a shrine at Walsingham and pilgrims flock to the site as they did hundreds of years ago.