Thousands of people flocked to venerate the relics of two Sacred Heart saints in London last week.
The relics of St Margaret Mary Alacoque and St Claude de la Colombière SJ, from Paray-le-Monial, France, arrived at the Jesuit Farm Street Church before stopping off at Our Lady of Victories, Kensington, Wormwood Scrubs prison, Tyburn Convent, the Hospice of St John and St Elizabeth, London Oratory School and St Patrick’s Church in Soho.
Auxiliary Bishop John Wilson of Westminster celebrated the welcoming Mass at Farm Street. This marked the start of a Sacred Heart of Mercy mission in London by the Emmanuel Community, a Catholic association of the faithful founded in France in 1976.
St Claude was a Jesuit priest who served in London during penal times. He was also the spiritual director of St Margaret Mary Alacoque, a nun and mystic whose revelations led to the devotion to the Sacred Heart.
In 1676, St Claude was sent to England to become the private spiritual guide of Mary of Modena, soon to be Queen of England, But two years later St Claude was accused of being part of the non-existent “Popish Plot”. He was imprisoned for more than a year, with a detrimental impact on his health. He was released from prison but died three years later aged 41. He was beatified in 1929 and canonised in 1992.
Initially, St Margaret had been dismissed when she spoke of her visions, but St Claude supported her. The devotion to the Sacred Heart was officially recognised 75 years after her death.
Our Lady of Walsingham to be given a place at Cathedral
Our Lady of Walsingham is to be given a place in Westminster Cathedral.
In a ceremony on December 8, presided over by Bishop John Sherrington, a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham will be enthroned in the Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs.
Cardinal Bernard Griffin, the sixth archbishop of Westminster, commissioned the cathedral statue of Our Lady of Walsingham in 1954.
Its location in the martyrs’ chapel is thought to be fitting as the original Walsingham shrine was burned to the ground during Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries.
A shrine returned to the site in 1934, when Cardinal Francis Bourne led a pilgrimage of 10,000 people to the Slipper Chapel and declared it a national shrine of Our Lady.
Last year the shrine at Walsingham launched a £10 million appeal. It is hoped that £6 million would pay for upgrading buildings, with a new cloister, refectory, conference and retreat centre, and new accommodation for the disabled.
The rest of the money will be spent in developing the work of the shrine.
Guide to nuns’ habits released
A Cambridge theology graduate and a graphic designer who spent three years in seminary have joined forces to produce an ultimate guide to nuns’ habits. Looking Good: A Visual Guide to the Nun’s Habit identifies and illustrates the dress of more than 40 Catholic communities of nuns and sisters. It is the work of author Veronica Bennett and artist Ryan Todd and the design publisher GraphicDesign&.
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