Articles - From the Vicar

August 2000

Sin is where Our Lady sat,
Heaven turned is to hell.
Satan sits where Our Lord did sway;
Walsingham, O, farewell.

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary was widespread in late medieval Europe but nowhere more so than in England, or 'Mary's Dowry' as the faithful in England were encouraged to think of their country. The shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, known as England's Nazareth, was by far the most popular destination for pilgrims in medieval England; and meditations and prayers on the Joys of Mary - which included the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Resurrection and the Ascension - were used very effectively as teaching aids.

Protestant reformers in the sixteenth century disapproved of the veneration of saints, viewing it as so much superstition. Under Edward VI (1547-1553) Thomas Cranmer radically pruned the number of saints' days in the calendar. Shrines were abandoned, images of saints in churches were smashed and pilgrimages became a thing of the past. A wistful poem by Philip, Earl of Arundel (the last four lines of which introduce this piece) laments the loss of the shrine at Walsingham.

Since the fourth century the fifteenth of August had been set aside by the Church as the day on which the Blessed Virgin Mary was remembered. However, because this date had become associated with what were regarded by Protestants as unscriptural doctrines about Mary, Cranmer made the fifteenth of August an ordinary day in the religious calendar - and so it remained in the Church of England until the new calendar for Common Worship (see last month) restored Mary to her ancient date: that is why you will find a celebration of the Eucharist on 15th August in this month's parish calendar.

Remembering the Blessed Virgin Mary in this way does not imply a return to the devotional excesses of the late Middle Ages. Rather it reminds us that, in honouring the mother of Jesus, we are honouring one whose radical 'yes' to God can be the pattern for our own discipleship, our own growth in love for her son and our Lord.

Mary who sang to the God of the poor;
Mary homeless in Bethlehem.
Mother of the longed for Saviour;
Mary, exiled from her native land;
Mary, pilgrim with her people:
Blessed are you among women