THE HOLY LAND OF WALSINGHAM Is Being Noticed

Developments at Walsingham, where a benefaction has paved the way for the erection of a great pilgrimage church, are outlined in the following article, wherein also recent events are recapitulated since the shrine of Our-Lady was restored in the Slipper Chapel a few years ago.
The present state of affairs at Wakingham.should be a source of great consolation for those who have the conversion of England at heart.
Barely three years ago the very name of Walsingham was hardly known to Catholics in general and one would have been hard put to it to find a single English Catholic who could say in what corner of their country it was situated.
Those few Catholics who did find their way there and who knew something of the glorious history of the place found much to make them sad—the ancient Priory in ruins, the quaint old streets of the village that had once echoed to the feet of thousands of their Catholic forefathers as they came to honour the Mother of God in the place in which she had chosen of all other places in England to be honoured, empty of all who professed the Catholic Faith.
Slipper Chapel Neglected The Slipper Chapel, it is true, was in Catholic hands, but it was often locked. When acce,ss had been obtained the Catholic pilgrim found it empty of all external signs of worship and its ancient walls that had one time resounded to the prayers of our Catholic forefathers as they stopped there for the last time to prepare themselves for entering the " Holy land of Walsingham," mildewed with the damp that found its way through the roof.
And, had they known the ancient prophecy that Our Lady would only return to England, her dowry, when England returned Walsingham, her dower house, the conversion of England must have seemed to them infinitely distant.
The Great Change
But from the day that the shrine of Our Lady was set up within the venerable walls of the Slipper Chapel by Cardinal Bourne at the head of most of the hierarchy of England and a concourse of twelve thousand Catholic pilgrims, Catholics have continued to flock to Walsingham from the remotest corners of England and often from distant parts of the world and not in ones and twos nor yet in hundreds, but in thousands.
They come by train, they come by car, and they come as their forefathers before them on foot and they come. not from idle curiosity, but to honour the Mother of God on the site where she has chosen to be honoured and to make reparation for the apostasy of the " Reformation."
This being so, can one wonder that Our Blessed Lady has been generous in the favours she has granted to those who, at the cost of such great personal inconvenience and hardship, have sought to honour her in the remote corner of Norfolk in which Walsingham is situated?
Walsingham To-Day
No longer has the Catholic pilgrim to Walsingham any cause for sadness for no longer are the streets empty of Catholic worshippers and no longer is the ancient Slipper Chapel, the only building in Catholic hands which had any connection with the glorious shrine at Walsingham, bare of all signs of devotion, for it is ablaze with the light of votive candles and with the rich offerings of grateful pilgrims whom Our Lady has not allowed to return from Walsingham empty handed.
A priest is always in attendance for the spiritual needs of pilgrims, Mass is offered daily at the shrine and -a Guest House with a chapel has been opened in the village where it is hoped to organise regular retreats for those who come to Walsingham to learn to know God through the Mother of God and to revive their supernatural values in the atmosphere of peace and prayer that pervades the place.
The Future Church Nor is this all, for owing to the generosity of a benefactress, a large site has been procured in the High Street of Walsingham only a stone's throw from the Abbey Gateway itself and it is proposed to build here a great church where pilgrims can foregather for Benediction and devotions after having visited the shrine in the Slipper Chapel.
At the present state of proceedings it is not possible to say with certainty what shape the plans for the church are going to take but in view of certain statements in the popular press and elsewhere it is necessary to etnpha.sise the . fact that the church, although it will be a great edifice worthy of the traditions of Wirlsingham, will NOT contain the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, for this has already been set up in the Slipper Chapel and the Holy Father himself has accorded rich indulgences to all who visit it there.
In Capuchin Hands The great Church in Walsingham will most suitably be in the hands of Capuchins whose Franciscan forefathers had a house at Walsingham. Quite apart from the eminently suitable choice of an Order with such an appeal to Englishmen for a characteristically English place like Walsingham the news that the Capuchins arc to come to Walsingham will be welcomed by all who have the good of the place at heart, for the holy contempt for money and all externals and the spirit of prayer that informed the life of St. Francis and informs in consequence the life of his sons cannot but be a potent influence for good in a pilgrimage centre like Walsingham.