American Proto-Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham
Grace hosts visitors every October for the annual pilgrimage to the
American Proto-Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, which is located in our building.
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2024 Pilgrimage: October 11-12
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Friday, October 11
Quiet Day of Prayer
Meditations led by The Reverend Paul D. Aparicio
9:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M. - Informal welcoming of the Pilgrims
9:00 A.M. - 11:00 A.M. - Confessions heard
12:00 P.M. - Service for Noonday and Meditation
1:00 P.M. - Confessions heard
3:00 P.M. - Order of Service of None and Meditation
5:00 P.M. - Holy Rosary
6:00 P.M. - Solemn Evensong and Meditation
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Saturday, October 12
10:30 A.M. - Procession of the Image of Our Lady of Walsingham and Solemn Pontifical Mass
- Celebrant: The Right Reverent Matthew A. Gunter, 12th Bishop of Wisconsin
- Preacher: The Reverend Mother Brit Bjurstrom Frazier, Rector of St. Luke's, Sister Bay
12:00 P.M. - Luncheon: $20; advanced registration required. Sign up here.
2:00 P.M. - Anointing with Walsingham waters and Healing Prayers, musical offering and Benediction
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Walsingham Chapel at Grace Church
Our Lady of Walsingham - Norfolk, England and
Grace Church, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
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In 1601, the Lady Richeldis de Faverches, lady of the manor near the village of Walsingham, Norfolk, England, was taken in spirit to Nazareth. There, Our Lady asked her to build a replica, in Norfolk, of the Holy House where she had been born, grew up and received the Annunciation of Christ's impending birth. Lady Richeldis immediately constructed a house, 23' 6" x 12' 10", according to the plan given to her. Its fame slowly spread and in 1150 a group of Augustinian Canons built a priory beside it. Its fame continued to grow and for centuries it was a point of pilgrimage for all classes and the recipient of many expensive gifts.
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By order of King Henry VIII, during the Reformation in 1538, the House was stripped of its valuables and its statue of the Virgin taken to London to be burned.
The present statue of Our Lady was enshrined in Walsingham in 1922, beginning an era renewed pilgrimage and cooperation at the shrine between Catholics and Anglicans.
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In 1929 the parish priest, Fr. A. Parker Curtiss, launched the idea of installing the first exact copy of Our Lady of Walsingham at Grace Church. Since that time, there have been daily prayers said at our American Proto-Shrine referencing the prayer requests brought by our parishioners and by the many annual pilgrims that visit every fall when the Grace Walsingham Pilgrimage is held.
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