May 22, 2010, starting at 11am

There will be a Jubilee Pilgrimage from the village of Osmotherley to the Lady Chapel (2 mile uphill walk) in thanksgiving for Mary Ward and all the favours her sisters have received from God in the last 400 years.

This will be an Ecumenical Pilgrimage to the Lady Chapel above Mount Grace Priory in honour of and in thanksgiving for the life of the Venerable Mary Ward.

The York Community of the Congregation of Jesus would like to invite you to join them in a day of prayer and reflection in thanksgiving.

We know that in 1642, after recovering from a serious illness, Mary Ward herself walked up the hillside from the village of Hutton Rudby to pray in thanksgiving for her renewed strength. We as part of our 400 Jubilee celebrations would like to follow in her footsteps and pilgrimage in her honour.

So there will be a pilgrimage in honour of Mary Ward and in thanksgiving for her life on Saturday May 22nd 2010, starting at 11am, starting and finishing in the village of Osmotherley

A walk through the village and up the hillside, following part of the Cleveland Way (approx. 2 miles, uphill) to the pre-Reformation Lady Chapel where Mary Ward herself prayed. Once at the top there will be prayer and reflection in thanksgiving for her life and her legacy of spirituality, education, service and care during the last 400 years.
This will be followed by a picnic (please bring your own – drinks will be provided). There will be time to share stories and meet new people before returning to the village for 3pm. Folding chairs or rugs to sit on might be helpful.

There is Mass (vigil of Sunday) at 3.30pm for those who wish to stay but this is not part of the pilgrimage.

TRANSPORT: a coach will leave the Bar Convent at 10am and will return at approximately 4pm. There will be a charge of £5 towards the cost of the coach, payable on the day. We hope there will be a minibus to take those who cannot climb the hill up to the Lady Chapel.

Car parking will be available in the field at the bottom of Rueberry Lane at the top of the village, towards the Lady Chapel. Please do not park cars in the village.

For seats on the coach and further information please contact Sr Mary Walmsley CJ, at the Bar Convent York; tel: 01904 46919 or email marywalmsley.cj@bar-convent.org.uk

Mary Ward and Mount Grace

In 1642, Mary Ward and a few sisters were living in the small village of Hutton Rudby, near Northallerton in North Yorkshire while the Civil War raged around her.

Winifred Wigmore, one of her companions at this wrote an account of Mary Ward’s own pilgrimage to Mount Grace at this time of upheaval and suffering for the community:

About the middle of October she fell very Sicke as her life was held in great danger and her recovery attributed to a pilgrimage made for her to the above said Mountgrace, a place to this day of great devotion and where many graces are granted, though so destroyed and defaced and only the bare four walls remaine without roofe or cover, and in regard to the great height of the Mountayne on which it stands exposed to very great winds. Yet shall you find Catholics praying there howers together, and this Pilgrymage herself made when recovered from the above sayd sickness.

The Lady Chapel has been a place of pilgrimage to this day and is now the Diocesan Shrine for the Diocese of Middlesbrough.

For more information or to book your place please contact Sister Mary Walmsley at the Bar Convent York Tel: 01904 464919 or email her at marywalmsley.cj@bar-convent.org.uk