Petition from Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales to create Our Lady of Walsingham feast day
The Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales is set to petition the Holy See in Rome to upgrade the memorial of Our Lady of Walsingham to become a Feast in England.
In a resolution from the Bishops’ Autumn Plenary held in Hinsley Hall, Leeds, last week (early November), the Bishops’ Conference has asked the Department for Christian Life and Worship to prepare the necessary texts and other materials to petition the Dicastery for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments to grant the recognitio for the memorial of Our Lady of Walsingham to be celebrated as a feast in England.
The memorial of Our Lady of Walsingham is celebrated on September 24.
The move has been warmly welcomed by Mgr Philip Moger, the Rector of the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady, in Walsingham.
He said: “I am delighted that the Holy See has been petitioned by the Bishops’ Conference to upgrade the memoria of Our Lady of Walsingham to a feast.
“Clearly, both at the national shrine and in the Diocese of East Anglia, September 24 is already an Important feast. But having it as a feast nationally will help make the message of Our Lady’s Annunciation, and the 11th Century shrine at Walsingham which honours it, even more significant for our country.”