Road To Waisingham

By a Staff Reporter The early morning quiet of Westminster Cathedral was disturbed on Saturday last by the heavy tread of hobnailed boots a* pilgrims took their 901b. oak Cross from the Sanctuary steps and started their 200-mile journey to Walsingham.
OUR LADY OF BOULOGNE
Thirty-five French pilgrims who are to take part in the pilgrimage are due to arrive at Lowestoft Harbour (Suffolk) from Boulogne, on Sunday. They are bringing with them in their trawler a statue of Our Lady of Boulogne. which has been carried throughout France by barefooted pilgrims. The statue has been taken to upwards of 18,000 parishes.
Led by the Rev. Fr. A. A. Tomlinson, Lowestoft Catholics will meet the group from Westminster at the borough boundary. They will walk
, through the town to the harbour to join up with the French party. The combined procession, accompanied by the statue and the cross, will make its way to the Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea for a service.
PARISH PRIEST HELPED The Rev. D. Kelly, parish priest, of Newcastle, Staffs, himself assisted in carrying the cross out of Newcastle and the 14 pilgrims were accompanied by about 300 people on the first stage of their journey to Clayton.
The Cross, 8 ft. tall and 6 ft. wide, had been placed at the steps of the Sanctuary the previous evening, when over 1,500 people took vart in the pre-departure ceremony of the Pilgrimage of Prayer and Penance for Peace.
The Westminster pilgrims were a mixed group ; soldiers. students. a bank manager, bench and office workers and two priests; 29 in all. They slept on Friday night on the concrete floor of the nearby Catholic Evidence Guild headquarters, and after Mass on Saturday morning started their long trek.
Each pilgrim carried a heavy pack, and wore a bright red cross on his shoulder. There were no great crowds to see them off, just a few relatives, nuns and schoolchildren.
Along Victoria Street, the early morning workers stopped and stared. Some smiled approvingly, and one remarked " What a load for those blokes to carry."
And so it was all the way through the busy City streets and on to the first stop—a bombed deserted ruin under the shadow of the great dome of St. Paul's Cathedral.
It was a wonderful sight to see the small group clustered round their Cross. praying amid the rubble and overgrown weeds, whilst London's traffic roared by.
I left them after an hour or so, they on their way to the ancient Shrine of Our Lady, 1 back to Fleet Street; a strange contrast but both part of Mary's Dowry.
Thanksgiving
Among the 30 Middlesbrough pilgrims was one walking in thanksgiving to Our Lady, and carrying the cross, as an act of Faith. He left behind in Lourdes a few months ago the plaster-jacket he had had to wear since his spine was injured on war service three years ago. He was then declared incurable.
Teachers, students, labourers, shipyard workers, a doctor, and two priests, the Rev. Peter Storey (St. Philomena's) and the Rev. Anthony Storey (St. Joseph's) were in the group.
Hundreds Knelt In Streets
Hundreds knelt at the kerbside in Birkenhead streets as the Cross, borne by 30 pilgrims, passed on the first stage of its journey on Saturday.
" This is not a stunt," said Father Doyle, in his address on Friday before the pilgrimage started, " it is a reality bringing home to us the reality of our faith. Be with these pilgrims in spirit as they make this penance on your behalf," he appealed to the congregation. "Pray for them each day and if you can face the smirks, sneers and rebuffs of others, follow the cross out of the town to-morrow to see the pilgrims on their way."
This exhortation was responded to magnificently on Saturday morning, and not only Catholics but hundreds of non-Catholics crowded the route.
Oldest pilgrim from Birkenhead is over 60, and youngest 22. They include a civil servant, an undertaker, and a musician from a nationally famous orchestra.
Cross Offered To Cinema
With Cross Number Eight, which left Birmingham on Sat
urday, was a fifteen-stone priest, 45 years old, who cheerfully sang Italian songs he had learnt in his student days in Rome.
I had misgivings about his ever reaching Walsingham with all those years and avoirdupois with him, let alone the Cross he bore on his shoulders when his turn came round
to do so, but he assured me he could do it all right—with the Grace of God—for he was an ex-athlete, exwater-polo champion, and exAlpinist. And as regards years, well, he said he was by no means the oldest in the party : there was, for instance, a professional organist with them who happened to be 55. Pilgrims told me that people looked at the Cross " as if they'd
never seen one before." Birmingham organiser, Mr. John Ash. offered it to the Gaumont Cinema for display
in their foyer for a few days prior to departure, but the cinema politely turned the offer down.
Mr. Ash carries with him a rose petal from Lisieux, sent him by St. Therese's sister, now Superior at the famous convent.
He Wore A Kilt
Pilgrims from Sunderland. Grimsby, Bradford, Bingley, Leeds. and one Scotsman in kilts from Edinburgh, made up the Leeds contingent. For three miles on the road to Bradford they were accompanied by two hundred parishioners.
WELCOME
On arrival at Sudbury, Suffolk, pilgrims from East Grinstead and Basingstoke will be greeted tomorrow evening (Saturday) by the flower-bedecked statue of Our Lady of Sudbury, and a fanfare of trumpeters from the 4th Queen's Own HUSSitrs.
The local Methodist Minister has lent his church hall for feeding and sleeping accommodation for the pilgrims during their stay.
"LIKE EASTER SUNDAY" IN CHESTERFIELD
The Church of the Annunciation at Chesterfield was " like Easter Sunday " when, on Tuesday, crowds gathered for o'clock Mass, bidding farewell to the 20 pilgrims from Glossop, who had stayed overnight there.
On the evening before, over 1,000 people attended the veneration of the Cross. Ages of Pilgrims in this group range from 15 to 60: two priests. a Dominican and a Jesuit.
are with them. One night they all slept in a barn.
Up to time of going to press Cross number 6 (Malmesbury)group have slept nightly on floors, and are complaining of blistered feet.
Cross Number 7 (Stourbridge) "Very bad feet " is the sole complaint of this group comprising 15 men and two priests, one a Marist and the other a secular, but spirits are high.
Cross Number 2 (Canterbury) : Twenty-one men. but not one of them from Canterbury itself. cornprise this group of "Canterbury Pilgrims in reverse." with one Jesuit, one secular, one Rosminian and two Rosminian novices among them. Canterbury non-Catholics showed considerable interest in their departure.
Wrexham's team of sixteen set out from St. Mary's pro-Cathedral with 231 miles to go. They were blessed at the departure ceremony by Bishop Petit.
Despite the blank indifference of black-coated City workers, the group from East Grinstead unanimously agreed that " it was more like a triumphal procession than a pilgrimage as we passed through the Greater London area."
At London Bridge on Monday morning, a passer-by acknowledged the leaflet pressed into his hand by one of the group with a " Thank you, comrade."