The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Pictured alongside a Priest wearing Watts' 'Pugin Gothic' Chasuble in white. Image courtesy of LAJ.
With the sun starting to shine again and the throes of summer calling us to trample well-trodden paths, a pilgrimage might be on the mind. Whilst it is becoming too hot for many to do the Camino or Via Francigena, with the approach of Whitsun, there is something closer to home that might prove an attractive calling: Walsingham.
Nestled in the borders of Norfolk, Walsingham became one of the most important pilgrimage sites in England in the Middle Ages, calling people from all levels of society from pauper to royalty. Whilst founded in the Anglo-Saxon period, the shrine peaked in popularity in the Later Middle Ages. It gathered momentum with dogma percolating Annunciation traditions, as outlined by the late-medieval Marian specialist, Laura Saetveit Miles; the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham evoked a national consciousness of ‘solitary enclosure, participatory piety, women’s devotion, visionary experience and lay spiritual practices.’
Although the original shrine was destroyed during the English Reformation, the tradition of pilgrimage to Walsingham was revived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, the shrine is marked with a statue of Our Lady, remaining an important place of worship and devotion for both Roman Catholics and Anglicans.
The continued importance of the shrine is celebrated at Watts in our Full Gothic Chasuble in Cream 'Holbein' with Blue & Gold 'Gothic Trellis' Orphreys with Embroidery. This hand-embroidered, bespoke chasuble features a hand-embroidered image of Our Lady of Walsingham: the statue which occupies the central focus of veneration at the shrine. Made with orphreys of our Blue & Gold Gothic Trellis, both the late medieval English foundation and the Marian spirit are celebrated in the vestment design.
A Full Gothic style chasuble in our Cream 'Holbein' Silk Damask features a hand-embroidered image of Our Lady of Walsingham. Handcrafted in our workroom with orphreys made in our Blue & Gold Gothic Trellis.
The image of Our Lady of Walsingham has very specific iconography which, through intricate embroidery work, we have sought to accurately include. The iconography is as follows:
The Rainbow of the Covenant: Crowning the enthroned Virgin, the arched back of the throne denotes a rainbow. The rainbow speaks to God’s conversation with Noah in Genesis 9:12-17: ‘I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.’
Pillars of the House of God: The throne has two spindles on either side which visually symbolise Revelation 3:12: ‘He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.’ Signifying permanence, the pillars remind us that when we overcome we gain a permanent place in our eternal home, Heaven.
The Seven Sacraments: The two spindles of the throne are punctuated by seven rings representing the sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick and Holy Orders. These are the rites through which God can communicate his grace to an individual, allowing us to channel God’s grace every time we take part in a sacrament.
Our Lady of Walsingham, at the Catholic Basilica of Our Lady
The Seat of Wisdom: Simultaneously, the Virgin sits atop the Seat of wisdom on the throne, as well as becoming the Seat of Wisdom herself. This name for the Madonna has origins in the Byzantine prototype of the Chora tou Achoretou (“Container of the Uncontainable”), an epithet mentioned in the Acathist Hymn of the Greek East by the early 11th century, the earliest known depiction is in the The Cross of Mathilde, a crucifix made for Mathilde, Abbess of Essen (973-1011).
A Saxon crown: Quite simply, the crown denotes Mary’s Queenship as is commemorated in the last of the Glorious Mysteries of the Holy Rosary—the Coronation of the Virgin as Queen of Heaven and Earth. The Saxon-specific design evokes the date of the founding of the shrine in 1061.
Three-fold lily-sceptre of virginity/sovereignty: The lily has long been associated with the Virgin Mary, referring to the Song of Songs 2:2 where the lily represents the bride, ‘who lived a lily among the thorns’, standing out in her purity and grace amidst a world that can be harsh and sinful. The sceptre, specifically, is the perfect abandonment to the divine Will.
The Christ child: Mary’s role as Mother of the saviour of mankind becomes the central tenant of iconography. Mary gestures towards her son, whilst Christ extends His arm in a double gesture of blessing and protection of His mother and, as the Word became flesh (John 1:14), holds the Gospels. Expression of the Virgin as the Mother of the Word become flesh underpins her medieval role as ‘queen’ over the three liberal arts of the trivium. In the Middle Ages she was imagined to be present as a teacher, muse, and orator at many levels of liberal arts instructions.
Cross of Otto and Mathilde, c.1000, Essen Cathedral.
The Toadstone: As the East Anglian symbol of evil (Gen.3:15), the toadstone is topographically an anchoring presence, grounding the pilgrim in the verdant landscape the shrine occupied, in what is otherwise an intensely theological experience.
Similar in the way that a wearer of our chasuble can feel closer to the presence of the Madonna, the small chapel at Walsingham provided pilgrims with a simulacrum of the devotional space of the Virgin, making her presence feel more tangible. By enveloping yourself in this chasuble, much like entering the physical space of the chapel, the human body shares space with the spiritual plane of such a momentous moment in Luke 1:26.
Hand-embroidery of Our Lady of Walsingham, completed in appliqué.
Ultimately, pilgrims would embark on this journey to the shrine with the hope of envisioning one’s self as present at the Annunciation. But, much more than this, the East Anglian landscape, as referenced in the iconography of Toadstone gave Mary’s presence a local topography. The medieval mystic John Ludgate invited Mary to ‘Enyr in England, thy dower with reverence’ in Ave Regina Celorum. As understood by Saetveit Miles, ‘to think of England’s green and pleasant land as Mary’s marriage portion expresses the feeling of familial participation which prompted the English not only to recreate Mary’s little room on their soil as the shrine at Walshingam.’
This can be understood in the foundation of the chapel. Laying out the narrative of how the first chapel came to be, The Walsingham Ballad – the name usually given to the earliest written account of the chapel’s construction – recounts the reported Marian apparition experienced by Lady Richeldis de Faverches, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman, in 1061 in Walsingham, Norfolk, England.
Gabriel appearing in front of the Virgin Mary, from a Book of Hours. Manuscript. France, c.1430-40, V&A.
Author unknown, the ballad was written in the mid-fifteenth century (c.1460) and so was written after the firm sacred status of the shrine had both been established and proliferated with international prestige. By the end of the century, as per the shrine’s popularity, the story of how the shrine was founded was circulated through the three different printed interpretations of the original ballad. These came to be known as the Pynson Ballad, the Raleigh Ballad, and the Arundel Ballad. Of these three, the one printed by Richard Pynson is believed to be the closest to the original ballad and describes the events surrounding the building of the shrine, rather than the devotion experienced by pilgrimage to Walsingham, as in the Raleigh and Arundel Ballads.
According to tradition, the Pynson Ballad recalls how the Lady Richeldis received a vision from the Holy Mother, in which she is described the visual appearance of the Holy House in Nazareth where she received the Annunciation. Mary then directly petitions Lady Richeldis to build a replica of the Holy House where Gabriel greeted Our Lady. Interestingly, it is not so much a direct order but a gentle suggestion;this is not a command but a gracious appeal. Unwavering in her devotion, the Lady Richeldis did what was asked of her, and this is how the shrine at Walsingham came to be:
Noble wydowe, somtyme lady of this towne,
Called Rychold, in lyvynge full vertuous,
Desyred of Oure Lady a petycyowne
Hir to honoure with some werke bountyous,
This blyssed Virgyn and Lady most gracyous
Graunted hir petycyon, as I shall after tell,
Unto hir worschyp to edefye this chapell.
In spyryte Our Lady to Nazareth hir led
And shewed hir the place where Gabryel hir grette:
"Lo doughter, consyder" to hir Oure Lady sayde,
" Of thys place take thou suerly the mette,
Another lyke thys at Walsyngham thou sette
Unto my laude and synguler honoure;
All that me seke there shall fynde socoure…
Where shall be hadde in a memoryall
The great joy of my salutacyon.
Fyrste of my joys grounde and orygynall
Rote of mankyndes gracious redempcyon,
When Gabryell gave to me relacyon
To be a moder through humylyte.
And goddys sonne conceyve in virgynyte
This visyon shewed thryse to this devout woman.
In mynde well she marked both length and brede;
She was full gladde and thanked Oure Lady than
Of hir great grace never destytute in nede.
This forsayd hous in haste she thought to spede,
Called to hir artyfycers full wyse,
This chapell to forge as Our Lady dyd devyse…
However, despite this divine ascent for the building of the chapel, the workers struggled to lift the stones to build the house from the Widow’s vision. In despair, that evening the Widow duly prayed to the Holy Mother, recognising Mary as the true builder of the chapel house:
All nyghte the wydowe remayninge in this prayer,
Oure blyssed Lady, with hevenly mynystrys,
Hirsylfe beynge here chyef artyfycer,
Arerid this sayd house with aungellys handys,
And nat only reyrd it but set it there it is,
That is, two hundred fote and more in dystaunce
From the fyrste place bokes make remembraunce.
Early the next morning the workers went back to the building site to try again, only to find a miracle had occurred: the chapel had been built in its entirety! In reverence, the builders returned home and thanked the Holy Mother for her great grace:
Erly whan the artyfycers cam to their travayle
Of this sayd chapell to have made an ende,
They founde eche parte conjoyned sauns fayle
Better than they coude conceyve it in mynde;
Thus eche man home agayne dyd wynde,
And this holy matrone thanked Oure Lady
Of hir great grace shewyd here specyally.
Moving away from the Anglo-Saxon origins of the chapel’s foundation, the second half of the ballad brings its reader/listener back to the contemporary realm. Two stanzas are dedicated to the extensive miracles that have since occurred for those who have made the pilgrimage to Our Lady of Walsingham in the 400-year gap between the building of the chapel and the writing of the ballad. Specifically, the ballad understands that these are not isolated incidents, but a kind of daily grace shown to any man or woman, of every age, who is prepared to make the journey:
And syth here Our Lady hath shewyd many myracle
Innumerable, nowe here for to expresse
To suche as visyte thys hir habytacle.
Ever lyke newe to them that call hir in dystrsse.
Foure hundreth yere and more the cronacle to witnes
Hath endured this notable pylgrymage,
Where grace is dayly shewyd to men of every age.
Rounding the conclusion of the ballad, the narrator offers a collection of thoughts on the meaning of pilgrimage, the spiritual importance of the Annunciation, and the reverence of the continuation of tradition from times of old. In particular, the narrator highlights the impact of the presence of the house of the Annunciation in the landscape of England, declaring this sacred presence as the “newe Nazareth:”
Therfore every pylgryme gyve your attendaunce
Our Lady here to serve with humble affeccyon.
Your sylfe ye applye to do hir plesaunce.
Remembrynge the great joye of hir Annunciacion.
Therwyth concevynge this brief complacyon.
Though it halte in meter and eloquence.
It is here wryten to do hyr reverence.
All lettred that wyll have more intellygence
Of the fundacyon of this chapell here,
If you wyll aske bokes shall you encence
More clerely to undersclnde this forsayd matere;
To you shall declare the cronyclere
All cyrcumstaunce by a noble processe
Howe olde cronyclers of thys bere wytnesse.
O Englonde, great cause thou haste glad for to be,
Compared to the londe of promys syon,
Thou atteynest my grace to stande in that degre
Through this gloryous Ladyes supportacyon,
To be called in every realme and regyon
The holy lande, Oure Ladyes dowre;
Thus arte thou named of olde antyquyte.
And this is the cause, as it apereth by lyklynesse,
In the is belded newe Nazareth, a mancyon
To the honoure of the hevenly empresse
And of hir moste gloryous salutacyon,
Chyef pryncypyll and grounde of oure salvacyon,
Whan Gabryell sayd at olde Nazereth 'Ave',
This joy here dayly remembred for to be.
O gracyous Lady, glory of Jerusalem,
Cypresse of Syon and Joye of Israel,
Rose of Jeryco and Sterre of Bethleem,
O gloryous Lady, our askynge nat repell,
In mercy all wymen ever thou doste excell,
Therfore, blissed Lady, graunt thou thy great grace
To all that the devoutly visyte in this place.’
The narrator rings the stirring spirituality of the shrine with a palpable national pride. For such a wondrous likeness to not only be erected 400-years prior - in a period where Marian devotion was comparatively scarce in this late medieval context - but to be executed at the cost of a female patron, offers an intensely feminine visualisation of English spirituality.
Indeed, the continued spiritual presence of such a wondrous shrine speaks to the importance of the familiar dialect with which the human anxieties around expectancy might mingle with the divine.
Ultimately, this continued worship at Walsingham creates a sense of enclosure for men and women alike: the physical architecture of the house of the Annunciation, supported by the familiarity of the English vernacular. It is this sense of all-encompassing enclosure that our chasuble elicits, both for the wearer who remains close to the image of Our Lady, but also for the congregation who benefit from the English vernacular of the liturgy that is shared by the wearer. It is for this reason that the chasuble creates a spiritual landscape that allows Christians to safely abide in the comfort of this mystical relationship.
