The Slipper Chapel - Walsingham - geograph

The Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham, informally known as the Slipper Chapel or the Chapel of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

basilica in

Houghton Saint Giles Houghton Saint Giles is a village within the civil parish of Barsham, Norfolk, Barsham in the English county of Norfolk. It has also been referred to as Houghton-le-Dale or Houghton-in-the-Hole. The villages name means 'hill-spur farm/settlemen ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Built in 1340, it was the last chapel on the

pilgrim A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the adherent of ...

route to

Walsingham Walsingham () is a civil parish in North Norfolk, England, famous for its religious shrines in honour of Mary, mother of Jesus. It also contains the ruins of two medieval monastic houses.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 251 – Norf ...

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

granted a

canonical coronation A canonical coronation ( la, Coronatio Canonica) is a pious institutional act of the pope, duly expressed in a bull, in which the pope bestows the right to impose an ornamental crown, a diadem or an aureole to an image of Christ, Mary or J ...

to the venerated statue of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother ...

under the title of

Our Lady of Walsingham Our Lady of Walsingham is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus venerated by Catholics, Western Rite Orthodox Christians, and some Anglicans associated with the Marian apparitions to Richeldis de Faverches, a pious English noblewoman, in 1061 in t ...

presently enshrined within the chapel on 15 August 1954.

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...

raised the sanctuary to the status of a

minor basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

via an apostolic decree on 27 December 2015.

Early history

When the Slipper Chapel was built, Walsingham was second only to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

in the ranks of importance in English pilgrimage. In 1538, after

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

, the chapel fell into disuse and was variously used as a poor house, a forge, a cowshedCatholic Tradition website
/ref> and a barn.
/ref> In 1863, the chapel was identified by a wealthy local woman, Miss Charlotte Pearson Boyd (1837–1906), a convert to Catholicism from

Anglicanism Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

. She bought the building from the farm owner in 1896, restored it and then donated the chapel to

Downside Abbey Downside Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in England and the senior community of the English Benedictine Congregation. Until 2019, the community had close links with Downside School, for the education of children aged eleven to eighteen. Both ...

for Catholic use. On 6 February 1897, the chapel was re-established as a shrine authorising the image for public veneration by

papal rescript Papal rescripts are responses of the pope or a Congregation of the Roman Curia, in writing, to queries or petitions of individuals. Some rescripts concern the granting of favours; others the administration of justice under canon law, e. g. the ...

from

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-ol ...

. It was restored in 1904 by

Thomas Garner Thomas Garner (1839–1906) was one of the leading English Gothic revival architects of the Victorian era. He is known for his almost 30-year partnership with architect George Frederick Bodley. Early life Born at Wasperton Hill Farm in War ...

. On the Feast of the Assumption, 15 August 1934, the

Bishop of Northampton The Bishop of Northampton is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Northampton in the Province of Westminster, England. The see is in the town of Northampton where the bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of Our Lady and ...

Laurence Youens Laurence Walter Youens (14 December 1873 – 14 November 1939) was an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Bishop of Northampton from 1933 to 1939. Born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, on 14 December 1873, he was recei ...

celebrated the first public

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

in the Slipper Chapel for four hundred years, and two days later Cardinal

Francis Bourne Francis Alphonsus Bourne (1861–1935) was an English prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the fourth Archbishop of Westminster from 1903 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1911. Biography Early life Francis Bo ...

led a national pilgrimage of the Catholic bishops of England and

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and more than 10,000 people to the shrine. From this date it became the Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady.The Catholic Walsingham website
/ref>

Canonical coronation of the image

Twenty years later on 15 August 1954,

delegated his Papal nuncio, Monsignor

Gerald O'Hara Gerald Patrick Aloysius O'Hara (May 4, 1895 – July 16, 1963) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (1929-1935), as bishop of the Diocese of Savannah in Georgia ...

to crown the venerated image of the Virgin Mary under the same title in his apostolic name, funded by gold donated by female devotees and accompanied by his papal bull from the

Sacred Congregation of Rites The Sacred Congregation of Rites was a congregation of the Roman Curia, erected on 22 January 1588 by Pope Sixtus V by '' Immensa Aeterni Dei''; it had its functions reassigned by Pope Paul VI on 8 May 1969. The Congregation was charged with the ...

. Moments after the coronation ceremony, two white doves descended on the lap of the image, which was considered miraculous by devotees. The ceremony was accompanied by both British and American pilots who sponsored the security for the event, and devotees who processed

barefoot Barefoot is the state of not wearing any footwear. There are health benefits and some risks associated with going barefoot. Shoes, while they offer protection, can limit the flexibility, strength, and mobility of the foot and can lead to h ...

in the "Holy Mile" leading into the shrine.

Holy Mile

Many modern pilgrims remove their shoes at the Slipper Chapel and walk the last mile, called the "Holy Mile", into Walsingham barefoot. The Slipper Chapel contains a stone statue of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

carved by Marcel Barbeau. The statue was taken to

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

to be blessed by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

when he visited England on 29 May 1982. Each year on 8 September, on the Feast of the Birth of Our Lady, the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham is carried for several miles in a procession which begins at the Slipper Chapel. The

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

presbytery was built in 1904, probably by Garner. Today, the complex surrounding the Slipper Chapel includes a Chapel of Reconciliation, built in 1982, which can seat up to 350 people for services and can be opened towards the pilgrimage area in occasion of bigger ceremonies; a bookshop; and a tearoom. In 2007 the Slipper Chapel featured in the BBC documentary series '' How We Built Britain'', presented by David Dimbleby.

Status as a minor basilica

raised the sanctuary to the status of a

on 27 December 2015, along with the Catholic shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham via a pontifical decree from the

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments it, Dicastero per il Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti , type = Dicastery , seal = Coat of arms Holy See.svg , seal_size = 100px , seal_caption = Coat of arms of the Holy See , logo = , p ...

Rector

#1964–1968: Peter Harris (Westminster) #1968–1978: Roland Connelly #1979–1984: Clive Birch #1984–1992: Peter Allen #1992–2000: Alan Williams #2000–2008: Noel Wynn #2008–2015: Alan Williams #2015–2020: John Armitage (Brentwood) #2020–present: Philip Moger.

Interior

File:Our Lady of Walsingham.JPG, The venerated image of

granted a

Canonical coronation A canonical coronation ( la, Coronatio Canonica) is a pious institutional act of the pope, duly expressed in a bull, in which the pope bestows the right to impose an ornamental crown, a diadem or an aureole to an image of Christ, Mary or J ...

on 15 August 1954. File:Slipper Chapel, Houghton St Giles, Norfolk - East end - geograph.org.uk - 319688.jpg, Inside the shrine's east end

References

External links

Catholic National Shrine and Basilica of Our LadyThe Slipper Chapel on the Walsingham website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsingham, Our Lady Religious buildings and structures completed in 1340 14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Christian pilgrimages Chapels in England Shrines to the Virgin Mary Roman Catholic churches in Norfolk Religion in Norfolk Minor basilicas in the United Kingdom Roman Catholic chapels in England Grade I listed churches in Norfolk Walsingham 14th-century church buildings in England Conventual Franciscan churches in the United Kingdom Roman Catholic shrines in the United Kingdom