The first thing your brain registers each morning is the siren call of “Good morning pilgrims!! It is a beautiful day! This is your six o’clock alarm call!”
After that, you dress yourself as quickly as possible in your tent – which, by the grace of God and through the many prayers you offered to Our Lady, did not collapse on top of you from the wind and rain the night before – throw your bags outside, rush your packing and then enjoy your breakfast.
This was my early morning routine for the four days of the Latin Mass Society's Walsingham Pilgrimage 2024, which, in my case, went from Blackfriars in Cambridge to Walsingham. I loved it. It seems many others do too, with the number of pilgrims growing year upon year.
The most noticeable aspect of the pilgrimage was the demographic: of about 220 of us, the vast majority were around the age of 20 years old, with many children as young as 12 walking around 20 miles a day (the only reason why the youngest pilgrims were 12 years old is because that’s where the age limit is set; I’m certain younger pilgrims would attend if given the option.)
The LMS Walsingham Pilgrimage has three routes: some pilgrims walk from Ely (60 miles), some from Cambridge (80 miles) while others walk from London (153 miles!). The pilgrims are very committed, and the combination of youth and the traditional atmosphere has proved extremely fruitful in all sorts of ways – two young pilgrims who had been eligible bachelors only a year ago have since become seminarians for traditionalist orders: one with the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) and one with the <em>Fraternidad Sacerdotal de San Pedro</em> (FSSP).
While not all pilgrims will discover such a clear cut vocation, attending the pilgrimage can help in all sorts of ways. One young man I met, a successful and talented chemist and philosopher from Oxford, spent an enjoyable night with me while also initially being rather morose about his future projects; he cheered up immensely, however, once we met Daniel Davis from Catholic media <em>EWTN</em> who, having joined our conversation with the local Walsingham priest, nearly roped us in for an interview on television about why we – he presumed – supported the canonisation of Tolkien!
This sort of thing was not uncommon given the tremendous variety of pilgrim characters. You had the Marian Franciscan friars who were penitential and fun to be around. On the first day of the pilgrimage, we had to make sure that every one of them had a tent to himself. I’m told last year they weren’t given enough but attributed this to the providence of God and so didn’t ask for another.
There were the Scots who walked in their kilts. There were the younger children who showed tremendous spirit walking. Then there were the traditional religious walking and chanting in their cassocks, also hearing confession as they went and giving talks on the Lord’s Prayer during the (short) breaks. Then there was Sr Josephine who slept in a tent, worked as part of the cooking team and was incredibly joyful every time you met her.
Such a large group of individuals requires a huge amount of logistical support – so there was the cooking team who got up at the crack of dawn (around 4:45 a.m.), before their team meeting at 5:20 a.m., after which they prepared delicious porridge to be ready for the rest of us hungry pilgrims at 6 a.m. sharp!
The support drivers were crucial too. There they were continually waiting for us at each designated stop with water on hand and porta-loos.
This was only one part of the overall logistical organisation that was headed by Dr Joseph Shaw, chairman of the Latin Mass Society, who no sooner has the LMS Walsingham Pilgrimage ended, is planning next year’s instalment, bringing everything together, gaining permissions for walking routes and places to stay, etc., over the course of months.
He’s not that hard to spot on the pilgrimage, being over 6 foot tall and striding along in a kilt. He is an academic, a philosopher and a fulcrum for the traditional Catholic scene. Many young Catholics come to the pilgrimage right after the Catholic Summer School he also organises or after attending the Latin courses he runs.
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Quite a few of the stops turned out to be at a pub. And many of the pubs and their regulars have got to know the pilgrimage over the years and now eagerly look forward to receiving the pilgrims each year. It is always a jolly occasion for them and us: we sing very patriotic songs. The locals in general also love the arrival of the pilgrimage and ask the pub owners: “When are the pilgrims arriving?”
Of course, this sort of dynamic explains how the pilgrimage has grown so quickly; it started off with a dozen people but through word of mouth, attended by the affection it engenders – which has contributed to the close-knit sense of community on this pilgrimage – the event has grown year on year to what it is today. Everyone knows each other and everyone bids farewell while shaking hands and saying: “See you next year?” And inevitably the answer comes: “Yes, see you then!”
Given that this is the same way the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/on-the-road-to-chartres-the-annual-pentecost-pilgrimage-has-lessons-for-the-wider-church/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">phenomenally popular French pilgrimage to Chartres grew</mark></a>, I can only hope – even if the LMS pilgrimage organisers might not – that one day there might be pilgrimages heading to Walsingham with 20,000 people or more in attendance.
We walked through some of England's most pretty countryside – admittedly there was the odd motorway stretch – with some of the most lovely and inspiring scenery I have seen. We passed alongside rivers, through fields and the villages of England.
Best of all was the response it caused: wherever you walked with banners and flags flying, along with so many young people singing, the locals would look on enchanted. Cars would sound their horns in acknowledgment and people would wave.
I remember an Anglican vicar and his wife waving at us; Baptists handing out cards to us while the Franciscan Friars would in turn hand cards to them. It must have been quite a sight to many who saw us, because you don’t often see large groups of young people holding crosses high, trudging along burdened by bags, with tired feet – and all for the love of Christ. Might this have some effect on such viewers? Perhaps Our Lady's Dowry will be won by pilgrimages as well as by prayer and fasting.
Of course the most crucial bit of each day was the Mass. We had the most wonderful priests with us and they said marvellous Masses. There were too many of us to fit in most of the churches, so there were usually two masses a day, and if you didn't get to the High mass on Sunday you could always go to the low one.
The most beautiful of all the Masses was the Mass at the Slipper Chapel, the last chapel on the pilgrim route to Walsingham. There were so many of us that we couldn’t fit inside and so many knelt outside the church. When the sunlight came through the stained glass showing Our Lady, with the statue that we had carried placed inside the church with candles lit, it was the most striking and impressive scene.
When we reached the Walsingham shrine itself and walked round the Abbey – or at least, around the place where the Abbey had been – we all knelt down for a blessing; a final blessing.
There had been so many blessings throughout the pilgrimage and I shan't ever forget it. I can only recommend to everyone the LMS Walsingham Pilgrimage 2025.
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<em>Photo: Latin Mass Society's Walsingham Pilgrimage 2024 on the move; photo courtesy author.</em>
