Our Lady's Mirror 1953

Walsingham was most fortunate during the terrible storm and floods which devastated so many places around our coasts. The havoc at Blakeney, Cley and Salthouse was appalling; a house in which the Administrator stayed some years back was literally bashed in by the force of the great wave which inundated the low-lying places in that district. A Requiem Mass was sung in the Shrine for the repose of the souls of all those who lost their lives in or through the storms and floods at home, in Belgium and Holland.

The Requiem for departed members of the S.O.L.W. is offered each month in the Society’s chapel of S. Anne, and is always followed by the absolutions. Members of the Society might like to help furnish the chapel; more vestments and frontals are badly needed. The Endowment Fund grows very slowly, but by next July we hope to start the monthly envelopes again. This endowment should be large enough to provide at least a part-time priest to help at the Shrine.

The 892nd feast of the Holy House, the Annunciation, was heralded on the eve by Solemn Vespers and Benediction. The next day, March 25th, there was High Mass, with the usual presentation and blessing of the Guardians’ candle which, as our readers will remember, is lighted each evening during the Rosary.

In the Parish Church a Mass of Requiem followed by Absolutions was sung for H.M. Queen Mary on Saturday, March 29th.

It is expected that the Pilgrimage Office, at present in the High Street will be transferred to a house in the Common Place, looking down the full length of the main artery of the village. If this is done it will place all the administrative work under one roof, as there is room for the Administrator’s, the Bursar’s, the pilgrimage office, the Enquiry Bureau, etc., as well as ample storing places and it is considered it will be a good move to centralise all these departments.

It is hoped to commence work on the dilapidated cottages adjoining the College, if the necessary permits are forthcoming. Should this be done it will make all the difference to the College enclosure and tidy up a very disgraceful blot in the street of the Knight, upon which they abut.

Great improvements have recently been made to the Hospice. Some of the doors have been raised – they were a perpetual menace except to dwarfs: a new room has been made by dividing a larger one. In the course of work a delightful little Tudor window was discovered and opened out.

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has been anointed and crowned on June, 2nd. An all-night vigil was kept before the blessed sacrament exposed in The Parish Church at Walsingham, concluding with a sung Mass for God’s Blessing on our Queen and Country. The candle set up for her in the Holy House burns brightly.

articles: Fr Reggie Kingdon, 'The Memorable Nights'; 'En route for Rome'; Fr F H Reader, 'An answer to Our Lady's Prayer'; Howard, SSF, 'Ruins and Reparation'; 'Simon of England'
photographs: George Long [above]; Bishop O'Rorke's requiem; three photographs in and around the shrine