Exclusive: Candle-lit Procession in Honour of Our Lady of Willesden - By Dr Geoffrey Brushwood
This is an exclusive video from the 118th Annual Torchlit Procession at the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden, north west London, which took place on Sunday 20th October 2019.
The celebration began at the shrine at 7.00pm. The homilist was Westminster Auxiliary Bishop John Sherrington.
This little known shrine was once a popular centre of Marian devotion in medieval England, second only to the Shrine at Walsingham in importance.
Although a Church dedicated to Our Lady of Willesden existed since 1170, it became identified as a Shrine around 1475-1500.
Tradition says that Our Lady appeared at an oak at Willesden and a Holy well sprang up there at which many were cured. The shrine was particularly popular at the time of the Black Death, and many miraculous cures were attributed to visits to the Shrine.
St Thomas Moore visited the Shrine in April of 1534 shortly before his arrest and beheading, no doubt to seek comfort from Our Lady of Willesden, in his resolve not to accede to King Henry VIII’s ‘Act of supremacy’ at which he declared himself the head of the Church in England.
Moore’s beloved Shrine too received the same destructive attention by the King’s court, and in the autumn of 1538, Thomas Cromwell the new Lord Chancellor, burnt the beautiful oak statue of Our Lady of Willesden along with the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Walsingham, and with other Marian images at a large bonfire he had created in Chelsea.
After centuries of persecution of Catholics in England, upon which many Martyrs were gifted to the Church, the Catholic hierarchy was re established in England by the Papal Bull Universalis Exclesiae by Pope Pius IX in 1850. Thereafter the devotion to our Lady of Willesden was rekindled, and a new statue of Our Lady of Willesden was carved from an oak that stood on the site of the former Church, and a new Shrine to house the statue was created. Cardinal Bourne dedicated this shrine in 1931.
The statue of Our Lady of Willesden stands in the apse above the Lady Altar in the Church, and inscribed around the apse are the words : ‘ imago per nefas abducta amore filiorumq reducta’ (this image looted by wicked men has been restored by the love of thy children).
England, once declared the dowery of Mary, by King Richard II in 1381 will be re-dedicated as the dowery of Mary at the feast of the Annunciation in 2020, so that the true faith looted from England will be restored in this great land once more.
The celebration began at the shrine at 7.00pm. The homilist was Westminster Auxiliary Bishop John Sherrington.
This little known shrine was once a popular centre of Marian devotion in medieval England, second only to the Shrine at Walsingham in importance.
Although a Church dedicated to Our Lady of Willesden existed since 1170, it became identified as a Shrine around 1475-1500.
Tradition says that Our Lady appeared at an oak at Willesden and a Holy well sprang up there at which many were cured. The shrine was particularly popular at the time of the Black Death, and many miraculous cures were attributed to visits to the Shrine.
St Thomas Moore visited the Shrine in April of 1534 shortly before his arrest and beheading, no doubt to seek comfort from Our Lady of Willesden, in his resolve not to accede to King Henry VIII’s ‘Act of supremacy’ at which he declared himself the head of the Church in England.
Moore’s beloved Shrine too received the same destructive attention by the King’s court, and in the autumn of 1538, Thomas Cromwell the new Lord Chancellor, burnt the beautiful oak statue of Our Lady of Willesden along with the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Walsingham, and with other Marian images at a large bonfire he had created in Chelsea.
After centuries of persecution of Catholics in England, upon which many Martyrs were gifted to the Church, the Catholic hierarchy was re established in England by the Papal Bull Universalis Exclesiae by Pope Pius IX in 1850. Thereafter the devotion to our Lady of Willesden was rekindled, and a new statue of Our Lady of Willesden was carved from an oak that stood on the site of the former Church, and a new Shrine to house the statue was created. Cardinal Bourne dedicated this shrine in 1931.
The statue of Our Lady of Willesden stands in the apse above the Lady Altar in the Church, and inscribed around the apse are the words : ‘ imago per nefas abducta amore filiorumq reducta’ (this image looted by wicked men has been restored by the love of thy children).
England, once declared the dowery of Mary, by King Richard II in 1381 will be re-dedicated as the dowery of Mary at the feast of the Annunciation in 2020, so that the true faith looted from England will be restored in this great land once more.