The
Sisters of the Society of St Margaret - An Update
Sister Mary Teresa writes:
2010 proved to be a really
difficult and challenging year for the Walsingham Priory
sisters. The New Year looked promising, with four serious
young aspirants considering a possible vocation to the
Religious Life with us in Walsingham. After several years
with no new vocations we were filled with fresh hope and a
sense of expectancy.
At the end of May 2010, Sister
Phyllis fell and needed surgery for a broken femur. This
healed well, but left her very confused, a confusion which
advanced with such rapidity that she very soon lost all her
reasoning powers and needed 24 hour professional care. She
was admitted to a local Care Home and has settled well.
Almost two years ago, Sister Joan Michael had major surgery
for cancer - which suddenly recurred and she began to lose
her long and courageous battle. We nursed her at home as
long as we could, but she too had to go into care for her
last few weeks and died peacefully on December 7th in
Cranmer House, Fakenham.
Just before the death of Sister
Joan Michael, the first of our aspirants, Mary-Rose Ellis,
was received as a postulant. Three weeks later, Mother
Carolyne Joseph told the Chapter that she, Sister Wendy
Renate and Sister Jane Louise had decided to enter the Roman
Catholic Ordinariate. From that moment things moved very
fast and they left the Community on December 2nd. RC Bishop
Alan Hopes arranged for them to stay with the RC Sisters of
Our Lady of Walsingham at Brentwood, Essex, for the next
three months, during which time they were to be prepared for
reception into the Roman Catholic Church. This took place on
January 1st. They are now staying in an enclosed Community
of Poor Clares in Barnet, hoping in due course to be the
pioneers of the first Community of Religious within the
Ordinariate.
This left just four older
Sisters in the Walsingham Community, plus Rose, our
postulant. The future for us looked very bleak indeed, but
we knew it was not the time to make any hast decisions. We
needed time and space to review the whole situation in order
to discern the way ahead.
Not one of us felt we could just
give up, close down this Autonomous House of the Society,
send Rose away and tell the aspirants there would be no
future Noviciate. In addition to all this, Sister Caroline
Jane, from St Peter's, Woking, had for some time been
considering a transfer to Walsingham and now made her
decision to ask to do so. Just to give up now was certainly
not the spirit of our founder, John Mason Neale, nor that of
SSM! echoing in our ears was his maxim - "The impossible
must be done!" With that in mind we have decided to
elect a Mother in due course, re-open the Noviciate, accept
Sister Caroline Jane to start her preparation to transfer to
us - and wait to see what transpires. we now have Carol
Stead preparing to join us in the autumn.
Humanly speaking, we know this
must seem quite mad. Under God what might have seemed an
apparent death must issue in resurrection, whatever the
outcome. We are well aware of our fragility: we know
postulants do not necessarily stay the course, but we are
more than prepared to take the risk, and so, it seems, are
they. Who knows? God is the God of the impossible. Whatever
happens eventually we shall be able to rest in the peace and
the certainty that we have tried to do what we feel to be
God's Will - and that is all that really matters.
'All shall be well and all
manner of things shall be well.'
A QUESTION OF ATTRIBUTION
The
Madonna and Child
painting thought to be by Giovanni Antonio Bazzi which hangs
in the Chapel of S. Francis has returned after painstaking
restoration at the Hamilton Kerr Institute (part of the
Fitzwilliam Museum) in Cambridge. The painting - given to
the Shrine in 1950 by Frida Brackley - was suffering from an
excess of incense and general old age, not surprising as it
was painted in 1510! Emma Boyce, the restorer, spoke to
members of the Walsingham Partnership about her on-going
work in February this year. As she completed the work she
had doubts about the attribution to Bazzi; experts from the
National Gallery and the Fitzwilliam agreed and now think
the painting is by Martino Piazza, a contemporary of Bazzi
working in Lombardy, northern Italy. The conservation work
was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
THE MILNER WING OPENS
The new building - the Milner Wing and the Welcome Centre
- was handed
over to the Shrine by the builders (J S Hay of
Norwich) in October 2008. Work had taken 16 months. And what
do we have? An amazing L-shaped building that beautifully
completes the various ranges of buildings which encircle the
Shrine gardens. Entering through the tower archway (renamed
The Brandie Gate) the visitor finds him or herself on a open
space, flanked on the left by the Milner Wing. Simple finger
post signs point to the Welcome Centre, the new Reception
Area, to the Shrine Church. Previously this area had been a
very neglected area (once home to the old pre-fab refectory)
full of odd sheds, dustbins and the Shrine's original public
lavatories. All is now transformed.
 This
development (Phase II of the 'Big Plan') comes eight years
after the new refectory, St Anne's House and the Barn Chapel
were built or renovated (Phase I). Designed by architects
Cowper Griffith of Whittlesford, Cambridge, building started
in June 2007 and the contractors - plus the giant crane -
coped magnificently with the small site and lack of access.
On the ground floor/basement level (the ground level rises
steeply along the length of the Milner Wing so that what is
the ground floor at the south
end has become the basement at the north) is the Welcome
Centre lying parallel with the street, the Hospitality and
Development offices and a large Reception area for Pilgrim
arrivals and a Membership desk. Both the Welcome Centre and
Reception have power-assisted doors to help wheel-chair
users. At the 'basement' end are generously proportioned
public lavatories - including facilities for the disabled
and a baby-changing room.
 On
the two upper floors are 27 bedrooms, a mixture of twins,
singles and disabled rooms with carer rooms interconnecting.
The interior design - wall colours, fabrics and furnishings
were the work of Kate Samengo-Turner in conjunction with the
architects. Throughout the building different shades of oak
have been used - including green oak for the outside Pergola
Balcony on the second floor. Each room contains - in
addition to a bed - a simple oak veneered console desk and a
Lloyd Loom chair plus an en suite - shower, wash hand
basin and lavatory. Several different - but colour- and
design-related - fabrics have been used for the bed-covers
and curtains. The overall effect in one of light and
airiness. All
the bedrooms are named after an angel or an angelic
appearance. Sir William Milner - the building is named after
him in thanks for his outstanding generosity to the Shrine -
was born on the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels (2nd
October) and had a life-long devotion to angels. So you
might stay in a room simply called "Seraphim" or "The Angel
of the Lions' Den".
Access to the bedroom floor is by staircase (built in the
semi-circular apse which pushes out from the front of the
building) or by lift. The bedroom first floor can be entered
(at ground level) from the St Joseph's end of the building.
The window in the staircase apse will be of specially made
stained glass (Michael Coles - he also made the stained
glass in the refectory and the garden round tower). The
window is due to be completed and fitted in late April 2009.
At the lower level this will depict the earliest days of the
Shrine - the Lady Richeldis welcoming a group of the first
pilgrims to the Holy House. At first floor level rich dark
blue hues will convey the dark night of the destruction of
the Holy House and the Priory in 1538. An owl and a serpent
(imagery from the famous poem "In the wrack of Walsingham .
. . " thought to be by Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel and
written circa 1578*) surround the broken Priory seal; stars
and a new moon provide the only light. Above this we see Fr
Patten with Sir William Milner (with his Labrador dog,
Bracken) kneeling beside him, looking at the new built
Shrine Church of 1931. High above, surrounded by a radiant
orb of yellow light is Our Lady of Walsingham with Jesus on
her knee.
 An
important feature of the upper floor of bedrooms is the
Pergola Balcony. Four bedrooms open out on to a balcony
which is marked out by a green oak pergola.
One important aspect of the architect's designs for the
building was to create an extra storey on the archway tower.
This room - the highest in the Shrine - is a comfortably
furnished sitting room, named after the Oratory of the Good
Shepherd. Lower down the tower, the archway is in the
process of being completely refurbished. Painted lime
plaster walls, a York stone 'extra' arch and an oak diamond
patterned ceiling plus sensitive lighting will completely
transform this main entrance into the Shrine grounds. It is
due to be completed mid-March.
In the narrow space behind the Milner Wing and the wall of
Mileham House there is an intriguing piece of horticultural
planting - two swirls of box with yellow coronilla, blue
salvia, miscanthus grasses and vines. It has been designed to be viewed
from the upper windows of the Milner Wing
and is called by its creator a 'What You Will' - (make of
this what you will!) because it is thought provoking and
poses a question. Perhaps you would like to think about it when you
are next in Walsingham!
* The full text of this Lament for Walsingham
can be found in the Walsingham online Archive.
Welcome!
The Shrine's Visitor Centre - known as the Welcome Centre
- opened to the public in November 2008. It is staffed for
most of the day by a team of volunteer stewards and, to
everyone's surprise, during the winter months a stream of
visitors to Walsingham have passed through the doors. The
comments from visitors have been very positive many
suggesting that "at last - we now know what Walsingham is
all about!"
The four large wall display panels will give visitors
sufficient basic information about the rise, fall and
restoration of the Shrine. Underneath each display is a
Delve Deeper book which gives more information on the
history of Christianity and the Shrine. Between each of the
displays is a quiver of scrolls - each scroll when unrolled
gives a little more information, helping to build up a
complete picture of the development of Walsingham.
 A
touch-screen Kiosk is proving very popular with both
children and adults. One can explore topics of interest
about both the village and the Shrine - just touch the
screen in the appropriate place and new information and
pictures are displayed. The images lead one on into
investigations of greater depth. There is an 'overflow'
monitor screen which acts as a secondary display and enables
bystanders to join in the the touch-screen presentations.
The architects have created a small video room off the
main room. Running on a continuous loop is an eight minute
film which traces the history of the Shrine from 1061 to the
present day. The film - made by the Shrine's Visitor
Services Officer, Claire Wheeler - has entranced everyone
who has seen it. Using assorted members of Shrine staff to
play the parts of medieval and Tudor characters plus archive
and modern film footage,
is perhaps the best introduction for those who have never
visited Walsingham before. And, needless to say, it is also
being enjoyed by those who have been on pilgrimage many
times! Displayed in the video room is a portrait of Father
Patten, the restorer of the Shrine and replicas of the old
Walsingham Priory seal - the design of which enabled Fr
Patten to have the present image of Our Lady of
Walsingham in the Holy House carved in the 1920's.
 Younger
visitors are fascinated by the Pilgrimage Way display.
A series of large footprints (which can be lifted to reveal
displays hidden underneath) act as a pilgrimage
time-line. At the far end of the footprints one reaches a
model of the Holy House. Its roof can be lifted to reveal
the interior.
By the doors is displayed a large scale version of Enid
Chadwick's map of the village of Walsingham, first produced
in 1935 and then updated on several occasions. The version
on display dates from 1963.
The Welcome Centre was largely funded from a grant from
the Heritage Lottery Fund.
|
It
is now possible to renew your Holy House Lamp - and Lamps of
the Chapels and Shrines - on-line. 
