Pope Benedict meets Mons. Newton
for the first time since
Ordinariate was established
April 1, 2011
Monsignor Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, was received in a private audience today by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.
During a scheduled visit to the Holy See, Mgr Newton met with the Holy Father and presented him with a number of gifts on behalf of the Ordinariate.
Mgr Newton was accompanied by the Episcopal Delegate of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales for the implementation of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, Bishop Alan Hopes, and the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, William Cardinal Levada.
It was the first time that the Ordinary had met with the Holy Father since his nomination as Ordinary of the first Personal Ordinariate in January this year.
During his time in Rome, Mgr Newton has been attending meetings and engagements to aid the ongoing establishment of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Other news from the Ordinariate:
Anniversary of Mary's
apparition at Walsingham
March 26, 2011 marked the opening of six months of celebration for the 950th anniversary of the appearing of Our Lady of Walsingham to Richeldis.
Hundreds of faithful, many of them on their way towards the full communion of the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate, attended Mass at Westminster Cathedral for the occasion.
The image of Our Lady was brought to WSestminster Catehdral from Walsingham for the anniversary Mass, escorted by the Guardians of the Anglican Shrine, in an ecumenical gesture.
A packed Cathedral fell silent as the Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, together with the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, Monsignor Keith Newton, and many other clergy, celebrated a beautiful Mass in honour of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Later this year, Mgr Newton will preside at the Pilgrimage of Reparation and Consecration at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham on Saturday 16 July 2011.
The Mass, celebrated at midday, will be offered in thanksgiving for the foundation of the Ordinariate and for the graces of the State Visit of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.
ABOUT OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM
The image of Our Lady of Walsingham at the Slipper Chapel, which is the National Shrine of Our Lady in England.
In 1061, Mary appeared in a vision to Richeldis de Faverches, a devout Saxon noblewoman, in the village of Walsingham in Norfolk, England. According to tradition, Our Lady asked for a replica of the house of the annunciation in Nazareth to be built in Walsingham. It soon became a shrine and a place of pilgrimage even for English monarchs up to the time of Henry VIII.
In the mid-14th century, a wayside chapel - the one now known as the Slipper Chapel - was built and dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria, to serve the pilgrims on their way to England's Nazareth. St Catherine was a patron saint of pilgrims to the Holy Land and her Knights protected the routes to Nazareth during the crusades.
After the Reformation, the Chapel was used as a poor house, a forge, a cow shed and a barn. It was not restored as a chapel until 1896, but the first Mass since the Reformation was not celebrated in the Slipper Chapel till August 15, 1938, when Pius XI designated it as the National Shrine of Our Lady for England. (There is a separate Anglican Shrine in Walsingham).
The image now venerated in the Slipper Chapel is a modern statue based on 15th-century designs, and was crowned by Pius XII's Apostolic Delegate on August 15, 1954.
[Until the pictures taken at Westminster Catehdral, I did not realize that the image was a small one!]
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 01/04/2011 23:18]