About 200 pilgrims are expected to fill the streets of York on Saturday in honour of St Margaret Clitherow and the York martyrs.
The pilgrimage will begin with traditional Latin Mass at St Wilfrid’s Church, after which pilgrims will process over the Ouse Bridge where the late saint was crushed to death for harbouring Catholic priests following the English Reformation.
Latin Mass Society chairman Joseph Shaw said: “Pilgrimages are central to traditional Catholic spirituality. Through them we connect with the holy places of our country, honour Our Lady and the saints and martyrs, and walk in the footsteps of our Catholic predecessors.
“Nowhere is this more important than in England, whether it is journeying to our medieval shrines restored in modern times, such as Walsingham and Holywell, or honouring our English martyrs, such as at Tyburn, York, Oxford, and Padley.”
St Maragaret Clitherow converted to Catholicism at the age of 18, in 1574.
In 1586 she was arrested for harbouring Catholic priests in her home in York. She was crushed to death on Ouse Bridge on Good Friday of that year.
Following her death her hand was removed and is now housed in the Bar Convent, York.
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