News Item: : Wedding Anniversary Pilgrimage to St. Winefride's Well
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
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Saturday 29 April 2017 - 19:13:48

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We celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary with a pilgrimage to St. Winefride's Well in North Wales.

We went there specifically to renew our Wedding Vows to Jesus and to each other; to ask for St. Winefride's protection for our marriage in these times; to pray for Mum to receive healing if it were to be good for her immortal soul; for the specific intentions of various people by name; and to ask for God's blessing on all who kindly take the time to read this blog-page.

There is a peaceful little chapel in the grounds of the ancient Holy Well, which features these beautifully coloured stained-glass depictions of St. Winefride and her uncle, St. Beuno.
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The tradition of St. Winefride's Well states that, during the 7th-Century, St. Winefride had to defend her purity from the wicked advances of a local nobleman called Caradog. It is said that he beheaded St. Winefride, at this location, and that a miraculous spring burst forth where the saint's head fell.

St. Winefride's uncle, St. Beuno, was an active missionary priest in the area. We've already mentioned his historical church at Clynnog Fawr in earlier articles. St. Beuno miraculously restored St. Winefride's head and brought her back to life. Images of St. Winefride often portray this miraculous healing by showing a scar-line on her neck. If you look closely at the above stained-glass image, you can see that it, too, depicts the marks of the scar on the neck of St. Winefride.
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I was intrigued, this time, to notice the golden coloured bell at the feet of St. Beuno in the above image.

In the historical St. Grwst Church at Llanrwst in Wales' beautiful Snowdonia region, which we wrote about last May, there is an ancient bell, which is believed to date to the 5th-Century.

The famous archdeacon Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales), writing in the 12th-Century, had posited that such ancient bells in churches had originated as cattle bells in Ireland. He suggested that these had been adapted later for ecclesiastical use by travelling Celtic missionaries, who were spreading the Faith throughout this part of Wales.

St. Winefride herself went on to live as a nun for a further 22 years. For a time, she even served as the prioress of her community.

Post-moderns often scoff at such miracle stories; not least because St. Winefride's story existed in oral tradition for around 500 years, before appearing in the written historical record.

Clearly, whilst acknowledging the obvious dangers of manipulation and naivete, it remains the case that this suspicious hermeneutical tendency undervalues both the reliability of oral traditions, which were first handed down by committed and honest members of religious communities, and the fact that so many miracles have been claimed and recorded at St. Winefride's Well, down through the many centuries of its existence.

Indeed, as in the French town of Lourdes and the Irish parish of Knock, the on-site museum at Holywell houses dozens of wooden crutches from pilgrims who claimed to have received miraculous healings in the 18th and 19th-Centuries.

Again, the shrine's library contains hundreds of letters and other documents, relating to numerous cures that have been claimed, through St. Winefride's intercession, during the last 150 years alone.

To be honest, we have something of a miracle story of our own in relation to St. Winefride's Well and the little chapel with the stained-glass windows.

In that grace-filled chapel, hanging high on the wall is a wonderful crucifix of Our Lord. It is coated with the soot of countless votive candles that have burned in that small chapel in recent decades. It is moving to look up to behold this image and reflect on all the prayers which have so tangibly settled, in the form of thick candle soot, on the very corpus of Jesus on the Cross.
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Although the background details might require a separate article, it is worth mentioning that I first travelled to St. Winefride's Well in the summer of the Year 2000. It was just over one year after I had left Ushaw seminary in a state of deep distress over all the Modernistic shenanigans in the place.

During his summer vacation of 2000, my late friend Fr. Mike Williams, who was at that time still a seminarian, guided me over the border to Wales for a day of prayer at Holywell, and then navigated the route several miles further on to conclude the day in the National Shrine of St. Padre Pio, at the Franciscan Friary in Pantasaph. These constituted my first-ever visits to these two holy places, which would come to play such an important part in my life later on.

Being at that time more attached to the world than Fr. Mike was, I suggested that, when the peaceful day of prayer which we spent in these holy places was over, I could drive us on for another 40 minutes trip along the A55, just in time for us to make it for a fish and chip supper on the waterfront at Llandudno!

I was disappointed when Fr. Mike emphatically said that, having done what we had set out to do with a day of peaceful prayer, we should quit while we were ahead and travel quietly back home to Liverpool in time for the evening.

Within minutes of my getting home after dropping Mike at his parents' house, I received a phone-call from a friend that I had known through Ushaw seminary. He unexpectedly announced that he was over in Liverpool for two days and asked if we could meet up for something to eat.

About an hour later, I was with John and some of his other friends who had travelled over from the north-east of England.

This was exactly six weeks before John was to be married to his fiancee Stephanie.

It would be at that wedding that I would meet Angeline for the first time. The point is that one of the friends that John had with him that night would later become an important link in Angeline and I getting together.

Had I not listened to Mike, and persisted in us going off to Llandudno instead, I would not have been back in Liverpool that evening to meet this mutual friend; who later played such a key role in Angie and I becoming man and wife!

As the years have gone by, I have begun to discern and wonder at the influence of St. Winefride in all of this.
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But there is still more to this story!

I had so much enjoyed my visit to St. Winefride's Well with Mike that day, that I booked myself into the convent/guest house next door to St. Winefride's Well for a three-day retreat; to begin a couple of days after my friend's wedding in August.

Although North-American readers will think nothing of the distances involved, this would mean a fair bit of driving: from Liverpool to the north-east for a few days for the wedding and catching up with old friends, back to Liverpool for an overnight stop with Mum and Dad and a change of luggage, and then on again to North Wales for the retreat.

Still, I had no idea that I was going to meet my future wife at that wedding; nor that she would even catch the Bouquet! Neither did I know that I would be head-over-heels in love when I returned to Holywell just over 6 weeks later!
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Anyway, I was just that when I returned to pray at Holywell that August!

In fact, I was so convinced that I wanted to marry Angeline, that I stood beneath that prayer-soaked crucifix, just a few feet from this beautiful statue of Our Lady and the Christ Child, and said to Jesus that, if Angeline were the right woman for me, and should eventually become my wife, I would return to the foot of that crucifix to give thanks to God.

Now, distracted worldling that I am, I shamefully forgot that promise during the two years that followed.

However, Angie and I are convinced that it was God's grace which brought us together when He did.

By God's grace, we were eventually married at St. Helen's church in Liverpool, on 27th April, 2002.

We spent the first night of our honeymoon in a Victorian-era hotel near Southport. That meant going to Sunday morning Mass in a local parish before driving at a relaxing pace down to an 18th-Century fishing-cottage which we had booked on the coast of Wales, not far from Portmeirion; the Italianate village famous as the setting for Patrick McGoohan's cult 1960's TV-series, The Prisoner.

At least, that was the plan...

We were rather troubled to see that, even though it was just 15-minutes before the start of the local parish's main Sunday morning Mass, the priest was casually walking around in a brown and cream check-patterned shirt and tan-coloured slacks. Even worse, he merely bowed instead of genuflecting before the Tabernacle... When Mass started, the priest had rearranged everything: there was no Penitential Rite and an abbreviated version of that day's Gospel was read by a deacon as soon as the priest and servers reached the sanctuary. Then the priest sat down and invited all the children to gather round him for that day's reading from ''Scraggy the Cat''!

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't ever remember seeing that book listed in the Canon of Sacred Scripture...

And so the priest read a long and embarrasing section from this text to a group of equally embarrased looking kids, some of whom looked to be about 11-12 years of age, that he instructed to sit on the sanctuary around a chair he had placed there.

At this point, and as the priest began to ''preach'' about what we could all learn from Scraggy, I looked around to see what the reactions of the local parishioners were. Behind me was a holy looking old man, clutching and praying his Rosary near to his face. I really felt for that old gentleman. On the other hand, everyone else looked just as happy as Larry...

All of a sudden, the priest was up with an illicit set of earthenware chalices and plates for the Eucharistic Prayer. When he began to make up his own thing instead of praying the Canon, Angie looked at me and asked if this was at all valid. I said not and, after a pointed glare in his direction, we got up and left.

That was the only time in my whole life until then that things had been so bad that I actually walked out on a ''Mass''.

Then we were faced with the problem of where to go for Sunday's Holy Mass. I calculated that, with some judicious but perfectly legal driving, we could postpone our arrival at the holiday cottage, take a detour, stop off to pray at Holywell in North Wales and then make it over to Pantasaph in time for their evening Mass.

Although I grumbled about that priest for a good deal of the journey, I was amazed when I stood with Angeline under the crucifix at Holywell and suddenly remembered that I had promised Jesus to come there and give thanks if we were ever to get married!!!

I remember thinking that, even though I had forgotten after a couple of years, here I was anyway. It struck me that God really does have everything in hand and can bring good out of evil.

More than that, when we got to Pantasaph, the Franciscan priest's sermon spoke out against those who deny the Word of God to the people!
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The Franciscan Friary at Pantasaph in North Wales. Although we could never have known it at the time, we would live near the friary from 2007-2009, in order to be close to the monastic prayer and evangelization team which was working out from there. Indeed, Torch of The Faith was launched there, during a Day of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in the summer of 2008.

It all seemed somehow poetic.

As a little conclusion to this story, it was well past nightfall by the time we finally reached our honeymoon cottage. I remember the headlights picking out masses of tree trunks as I drove rapidly through unknown and shadowy woods, and wondered if we would ever find the place in the dark. It seemed like a scene from the night-time sections through the Kielder Forest during the RAC Rally!

Thankfully we did, however, find our digs before it got too late. Still, when I opened the curtains the next morning, I was a little startled to see a military tank parked across the way!

It turned out that we were near to a military museum on a former RAF base, which had been used to defend the northwest region from intruding air-raids during the Second World War.

A splendid start to marriage! But then again, I am still in awe of how I was so unexpectedly brought to keep my promise, and be there standing beneath that crucifix, on the first day of my marriage to Angeline!

Anyway, the growing realization that St. Winefride must always have had her hand on us, itself later confirmed by the fact that we ended up living in a Welsh village just a few miles away from Holywell between 2007-2009, was one of the key reasons that we decided to renew our Wedding Vows there this week.

Another proof of the miraculous and holy nature of Holywell is the fact that it has remained as a place of continuous and uninterrupted pilgrimage for over 13 centuries! It is the only place to boast such a record in the whole of Great Britain!
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Even during the revolutionary era which is popularly described as the ''Reformation'', the authorities could not prevent the steady flow of pilgrims travelling to Holywell.

In the first years of the 16th-Century, St. Winefride's Well was enclosed with a star-shaped well-basin and covered with the 2-storey building shown in these pictures. It is in the Late Perpendicular Gothic style, featuring a chapel above the well, and is the only construction of its kind in the whole world. As the pictures show, there is also an outer pool leading up to the well chapel to facilitate penitential bathing. Understandably, this has to be arranged with the Well's custodians at certain times of the week.  
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There is a beautiful Litany to St. Winefride beneath the fine statue of the great virgin-martyr saint. It was here that we renewed our Wedding Vows on Thursday and prayed for all of you and your intentions. May God bless you for reading each day!

One chilly and overcast September morning in 2003, Angie and I actually went through the waters of the well three times in honour of the Blessed Trinity, to pray for purity of heart, and to ask for St. Winefride's intercession with a programme of chastity-education which we were then trying to offer in schools and youth groups around Britain. 
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Just off the picture of the star-shaped well basin here, there are stone steps down into a deeply immersed walkway, leading through to another set of steps back out of the pool. We can tell you that, although it was mighty cold, so much that it felt like your heart would stop after the second of three dips, it was well worth it to have had the chance to have done it.
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Being now in 2017 well into our middle years, we decided to just say our prayers at the pool's edge and collect some water in our little St. Winefride bottle this time around! Anyway, Mum seemed to enjoy the visit.
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The pool's tall roof is punctuated with ceiling bosses and images that may have been provided as votive offerings in the past.

This image of a sick pilgrim being carried to the waters on the back of a helper is particularly interesting. Sadly, the moist air is taking its toll on the features of the two unusual-looking characters.
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The stone ones, I mean!

It was nice to be there to say some prayers with and for Mum. We met a couple of folks who were visiting the place for the first time. They took this picture of the three of us and were very kind to Mum. Please say a prayer for those souls to find Christ's peace and love.
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Towards the end of our pilgrimage, the Shrine's custodian came out and kindly took a picture of Angie and I for our family album, with which to remember our 15th Anniversary and the many ways in which St. Winefride has helped us in our lives.

We discovered from him that this man-and-wife custodian team are soon to retire from their 16 years of living and working in the Custodian's House on site.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for the many beautiful things they have done at the well and museum over the years, and for all the care and love that they have shown too. May God bless them with a happy and holy retirement.  
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We had a great anniversary together at St. Winefride's Well. We highly recommend the ancient shrine as a place to visit and pray.

There is a sign on the main road into Holywell, which announces the town as the ''Lourdes of Wales''. We must admit that the Holy Well of St. Winefride, and the little prayer-soaked chapel with the crucifix, are places in which we have received many graces and experienced the same intensity of sanctity and peace as one does in the Domain and Grotto at Lourdes. The beauty is that St. Winefride's Well is such a quiet and peaceful place to spend time. Travellers will likely appreciate the local Catholic parish and the hostel run by the Bridgettine nuns up the road. There is normally a Traditional Latin Mass in the parish on the 4th Sunday of each month (not July). It is always important to check before travelling. 

In a time when chastity, marriage and religious life are so scorned, St. Winefride's Well stands as a great lasting testament to the deep spiritual value of all these things.

Its longevity and popularity, even through the long and difficult era of the Reformation, also bear witness to the power of God's grace to overcome heresy and error, in a way which nevertheless exudes charity and gives much peace.

Even today, in the times of post-modern Britain, St. Winefride and her miraculous well continue to draw a small but steady flow of pilgrims each day of the year. People are still being healed and finding peace with God. There is still much prayer being offered in that silent and grace-filled sanctuary.

Dear readers, wherever you are reading this from, try and get there if you can!
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Even if you cannot, and wherever you are based, may we recommend St. Winefride to you as a powerful intercessor and friend in this difficult time of trial for the faithful.

St. Winefride of Wales - Thank you and Please Pray for us!



This news item is from Torch of The Faith
( http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php?extend.1633 )