The Latin Mass Society (LMS) Walsingham pilgrimage has reported its highest number of pilgrims yet. The event gathered 240 pilgrims, up from the previous record of 200 in 2025, having risen in popularity sharply following the promulgation of Traditionis Custodes.
Dr Joseph Shaw, LMS chairman, told the Catholic Herald that this year Mass was said in the abbey grounds, the site of the medieval priory and shrine. The change resulted from the pilgrimage’s booking at the Catholic shrine for the Sunday of the bank holiday weekend being declined, the first time since its founding in 2010.
“We were joined by more pilgrims who had come for the day and we had a congregation of about 500,” he said. “We ran out of hosts at Communion, despite filling two ciboriums!”
Dr Shaw noted that the number of pilgrims attending annually “rose rapidly after Covid and Traditionis Custodes”. “We are very grateful to Bishop Collins for his permissions for our Masses, to the Walsingham Estate for letting us use the Abbey Grounds, and all our volunteers and benefactors, for making this such a huge success,” he said.
He previously stated that, though it may seem paradoxical for a traditional pilgrimage to grow following the restrictions placed on the Tridentine Rite in 2021, the event was “shining a light on what we're doing and drawing people's attention to the Traditional Mass. It always encourages people to explore it.”
Each day, High Mass was celebrated according to the traditional Roman Rite, with devotions, chants, hymns and songs in honour of Our Lady of Walsingham. The pilgrimage, which is more than 50 miles in length, took place from August 27 to 30.
The 240 pilgrims “ate six and a half kilograms of porridge each morning,” Dr Shaw said. “On Sunday they also had more than 19 kilograms of bacon. They got a hot dinner each evening, cooked by our volunteers. We had eight support vehicles, plus two luggage vans, a special van for the sacristy, another for cooking equipment, a portable altar on a trailer, and a mobile kitchen.”
“There was a massive downpour of rain on Friday afternoon which made our blisters worse than usual, and kept our first aiders busy. As well as being the biggest, with a great sense of achievement and companionship, the weather made this year a tough one: plenty of penance to offer for our intention, the conversion of England.”
The devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham dates to 1061, when she appeared to Richeldis de Faverches and asked her to build a replica of her home in Nazareth. The Walsingham site became known as “England’s Nazareth” and was one of the four major shrines in medieval Europe alongside Rome, Compostela and Jerusalem. Though the first walking pilgrimage was in 2010, LMS has travelled to Walsingham by coach and car since the 1970s.
LMS stated that the pilgrimage is “inspired by our medieval predecessors, the contemporary Chartres Pilgrimage, and similar events around the world today”.
