King's Lynn celebrates a foundation and a prophecy

Slipper Chapel, Walsingham

Source: Diocese of East Anglia

Our Lady of the Annunciation in King's Lynn is soon to mark the 125th anniversary of its foundation and of the restoration of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Bishop Alan Hopes will be celebrating a Mass in King's Lynn at 12 noon on Friday June 10 to mark the historic anniversary.

The year 1897 was when Pope Leo XIII made a prophecy concerning Our Lady's Shrine, which was initially restored in King's Lynn and then moved to Walsingham.

As Pope Leo signed the rescript for the Restoration of Our Lady's Shrine he said, "When England goes back to Walsingham, Our Lady will come back to England."

A newsletter from the Shrine in Walsingham comments on the significance of his words: "The presence of Our Lady of Walsingham invites us all to meditate on the missionary role of Our Lady of Walsingham for the re-evangelisation and conversion of England.

"Catholic England is yet to truly awaken to this call. Many thousands during the Dowry Tour of Our Lady of Walsingham greeted Our Blessed Mother of Walsingham in the various English Catholic Cathedrals, and hundreds of thousands have gone on pilgrimage to her hallowed Shrine in Walsingham. What remains is for all Catholics of all parishes in England, Mary's Dowry to acknowledge her and the great calling upon them as Catholics of England, Mary's Dowry.

"For it is only when Catholics awaken and become holy that we can hope for the conversion of the entire Realm."