A wonderful donation to St. John's

For the Feast of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), March 25th, an anonymous donation of a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham was given to St. John's.

Walsingham, in Norfolk, England, is the home of a 11th century Shrine of the Holy House of the Holy Family of Nazareth. It was a place of great devotion and pilgrimage for Kings, Peasants, and everyone in-between.

At the Reformation the Shrine was destroyed and the treasury sacked to pay Henry VIII's increasing debts. The ground, but not the memory of this Holy Place, lay fallow until the early 20th century. It was then that Fr. Alfred Hope Patten, parish priest of Walsingham, revived the Shrine and had it rebuilt. Once again it has become a place of great pilgrimage, holiness and devotion to Our Lord and his Mother. Walsingham is the only apparition site recognized by the Anglican, Roman, and Orthodox Churches, all of whom have a presence there.

The Walsingham Statue has been placed in the Chapel, in the oratory under the Annunciation Window.

Info on the English Shrine can be found at

http://www.walsinghamanglican.org.uk/intro.htm

The American Proto-Shrine can be found here

http://www.grace-walsingham.com/