Diocesan Pilgrimage to St Winefride's Well 2017
Sunday 25 June, Bishop Peter Brignall along with clergy from the Diocese of Wrexham, led pilgrims from around North Wales and further afield on the annual Pilgrimage to St Winefride’s Well Shrine, Holywell.
Pilgrims turned out in their hundreds and packed the marquee erected on the grounds to celebrate the annual Mass, at what is believed to be one of the oldest sites having an unbroken pilgrimage history in the UK.
During his homily, Bishop Peter echoed the words of the Holy Father, Pope Francis in a motu proprio entitled Ecclesia in Sanctuarium, published on 1 April, stating that ‘Shrines are places of discovery, having enormous symbolic value in the Church, representing a genuine place for evangelisation’.
With the progressive secularisation and the process of de-Christianisation of society, Bishop Peter concluded that St Winefride’s Well Shrine continues to be a ‘pearl in the life of the Diocese of Wrexham, a place of strengthening faith, which over the centuries has continued to draw people to Christ and therefore a beacon of light in the proclamation of the New Evangelisation.’
Following the Mass, Pilgrims processed to the crypt of the Well for a blessing and to venerate the relic of St Winefride.
Pilgrims turned out in their hundreds and packed the marquee erected on the grounds to celebrate the annual Mass, at what is believed to be one of the oldest sites having an unbroken pilgrimage history in the UK.
During his homily, Bishop Peter echoed the words of the Holy Father, Pope Francis in a motu proprio entitled Ecclesia in Sanctuarium, published on 1 April, stating that ‘Shrines are places of discovery, having enormous symbolic value in the Church, representing a genuine place for evangelisation’.
With the progressive secularisation and the process of de-Christianisation of society, Bishop Peter concluded that St Winefride’s Well Shrine continues to be a ‘pearl in the life of the Diocese of Wrexham, a place of strengthening faith, which over the centuries has continued to draw people to Christ and therefore a beacon of light in the proclamation of the New Evangelisation.’
Following the Mass, Pilgrims processed to the crypt of the Well for a blessing and to venerate the relic of St Winefride.
