March 2004
Shrine brings pilgrims to Ipswich | |
|  | | A special service to celebrate |
| | A restored Shrine has seen a special pilgrimage to Ipswich. |
| | | In the Middle Ages Ipswich was the second most popular destination for pilgrims wishing to visit a Shrine dedicated to Mary. (Walsingham in Norfolk being the most popular).
Many prestigious visitors, including Sir Thomas More and Henry VIII visited Ipswich's Shrine of Our Lady of Grace just off Westgate.
All that is left of that Shrine today is a plaque on the wall of a shop in Lady Lane. But now that the Shrine has been restored at the nearby St Mary at the Elms Church, pilgrims are once more returning to this ancient town.
A group of 25 pilgrims made their way to the Shrine from Great Bardfield in Essex.
Fr John Timmins, the Roman Catholic priest and Fr Robert Beaken, the Anglican priest said:
"We wished to bring an ecumenical group to this Shrine in Ipswich, at the start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, to show that as Christians we all revere Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, under whose roof we can worship our Lord, and bring closer the day when we shall all be one."
Our Lady of Grace goes on holiday »
| | | |  | | | Top | Community Index | Home | |  | | | | Susan Houston Texas
I am from Ipswich, and live in Houston Texas. I am a convert to catholisism, about 25 years ago, And I am very active in My community of St Andrew in Channelview. I really never knoew about our Lady of Grace. And when I realised I used to walk by this plaque on the wall of Lady lane almost weekly, and never aknowledged her, it nearly made me cry. So about three years ago, when I was there, the first thing I did, was take flowers to the shrine. Malcolm Ellis from the Netherlands
I found your site by chance, and it is good to see that you are endeavering to join the believers through ecumene in revering our Holy Mother The Virgin Mary. If only that can happen here in Sittard where I live. I havr left the U.K. since 1963, and lived here ever since. Please go on with the ecumene! Fr. David
It is a joy that Our Lady has been restored to Ipswich. I pray that she will draw all Christians together as we witness for peace and justice. Our Lady of Ipswich pray for us. |
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