Pilgrimage to the Holy Land 1930
from Our Lady's Mirror, Spring Summer Number 1929
In 1971 the Walsingham Review described a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, led by the then
Administrator Fr Charles Smith, as the first ever from the Shrine.
The editor obviously did not know about these early attempts.
A Pilgrimage is being arranged to visit the Holy
Places during the month of June, 1930. Father Hope
Patten, Vicar of the Pilgrimage Church of Our Lady of
Walsingham, has kindly consented to act as Chaplain.
Major Adderley, who has already taken out three
pilgrimages, will make all arrangements and act as
conductor.
As in previous years, seventeen days will be spent in the
Holy Land itself. This has been found necessary in order
to avoid undue rush and to enable pilgrims to form lasting
impressions of what they have seen, and to have time to
revisit places more than once.
The month of June has again been chosen. At that time
the climate is settled. There are no rains. The sirocco,
which so often makes May unbearable, is finished, and in
its place a cool wind blows each day from the
Mediterranean which, combined with the altitude of the
country, prevents the temperature from rising above 90
degs. at midday. The evenings and nights are quite cool.
The tourists who visit the country in March and April have
left, and the whole country is seen under normal
conditions. The “harvest” is passing, the “time of summer
fruits” (Jeremiah viii, 20) is at hand. The country people
are seen in the “fields” with their flocks and herds,
reaping and gleaning the harvest. The threshing floors are
heaped up, and threshing is in progress.
“Behold, I shall make thee a new sharp threshing
instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains,
and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff.
Thou shalt fan them, and the winds shall carry them
away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them”. – Isaiah xli,
15, 16.
At dawn, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, pilgrims will be
approaching by sea the Holy Land, off Jaffa. It is hoped to
arrange a Mass at that time.
The journey to Jerusalem will be made by road, through
the orange groves of Jaffa, across the maritime plain, and
up into the hill country of Judea. Near Kirjath-Jearim a
halt will be made, to say the gradual psalms, within sight
of the “hills which stand about Jerusalem”, Ps. cxxv, 2.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is visited, and the Holy
Sepulchre and Calvary venerated. The “Coenacolum” will
also be visited on Corpus Christi.
The first few days will be spent at Ain Karem, five miles
from Jerusalem, famous as the birthplace of St. John
Baptist and the scene of the Visitation. The village is
situated in a valley of exceptional beauty, within easy
reach of Jerusalem. It is also a good centre from which to
visit Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho, the Jordan Valley, the
Dead Sea, besides Emmaus and Kirjath-Jearim. Miss
Carey has very kindly invited the pilgrimage to stay in her
house, which is situated in the compound belonging to the
Russian convent.
Two nights, at least, possibly three, will be spent in
Nazareth. The journey there from Jerusalem is made by
road, through Samaria, past Jacob’s well. One whole day
will be spent in Galilee and Capurnaum.
The remaining days will be spent in Jerusalem itself. Visits
will be paid to the Holy Sepulchre Church, both on arrival
in Palestine and again in order to visit all the shrines, the
Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, the Church
of the Ecce Homo, the Pool of Bethesda and Church of St.
Anne, the Tomb of the Virgin, the Temple Area, the
Armenian Convent Library and Cathedral of St. James, the
House of Caiaphas, excavations on Mount Sion, the Tombs
of the Kings. Pilgrims will take part in the Stations of the
Cross along the Via Dolorosa, and in a devotional walk by
night from the Coenacolum to the Garden of Gethsemane.
Pilgrims will have the privilege of being at the birthplace
of St. John Baptist at the time of his feast, and good
walkers will be able to hear Mass at the desert place, to
which a pilgrimage is made each year on the eve of his
feast. On July 2nd pilgrims will be in Jerusalem and
arrangements till be made to revisit the actual shrine of
the Visitation at Ain Karem on that day.
Mass will be said daily while at Ain Karem and it is hoped
that, while in Jerusalem, the use of the altar in the Chapel
of Abraham (attached to the Holy Sepulchre Church) will
again be granted to the pilgrimage, and, while in
Nazareth, that the Metropolitan of Nazareth will again
allow us the privilege of using his private Chapel. It is
hoped to arrange daily Masses on board ship, by
permission of the Captain. Facilities will be provided for
priests to say their own Masses as far as possible and
they are asked to bring their own missal, alb, amice, alb
and girdle.
There is no mention of this pilgrimage in later
editions of Our Lady’s Mirror. It appears that Fr
Patten was not well enough to go, but a later
pilgrimage took place, under the chaplaincy of Fr
Fynes-Clinton.
TIME TABLE
Thursday, June 12th 1930 –
Pilgrimage leaves London
(overland) after Mass
And Blessing of Pilgrims, at a time
and place announced later.
(Pilgrims can leave London June
6th, via Tilbury and Gibraltar).
June 13th – Embark P & O,
Marseilles.
June 18th – Arrive Port Said.
June 19th (Corpus Christi) – Arrive
Jerusalem.
17 Days in Palestine
July 6th (Sunday) – Leave
Jerusalem.
July 7th – Embark P & O, Port
Said.
July 13th (approx) – Arrive in
London, via Marseilles.
July 19th to 20th (approx) – Arrive
London, via Gibraltar, Tilbury.
The journey will be made by Paris (short
sea route), Marseilles, and P & O line to
Port Said. But pilgrims may extend their
time by starting a week earlier by sea
from Tilbury Docks and doing the same
on the return journey. They can also
have the option of returning
independently (within a certain time
limit). The journey from Port Said will be
made by sea to Jaffa, provided a
connection is possible, as in former
years. The return journey will be made
by land, via Kantara and the desert.
The cost of the whole pilgrimage is 66
guineas. One guinea reduction is given
to all who book before March 1st 1930.
Special terms are arranged for priests
and religious. The terms include
everything, namely, second class travel
throughout (first class on channel boat
and Port Said to Jaffa), embarkation and
quarantine fees, meals en route, all
gratuities, transfer of luggage, board,
lodging, motors, entrance fees. This does
not include any extra days, should the
return P & O boat be late in departing
from Port Said.
Any further information can be obtained
from Major Adderley, Lound Hall,
Lowestoft. As the numbers taken on the
pilgrimage are limited, early booking is
advisable.
The journey will be made by Paris (short
sea route), Marseilles, and P & O line to
Port Said. But pilgrims may extend their
time by starting a week earlier by sea
from Tilbury Docks and doing the same
on the return journey. They can also have
the option of returning independently
(within a certain time limit). The journey
from Port Said will be made by sea to
Jaffa, provided a connection is possible,
as in former years. The return journey
will be made by land, via Kantara and the
desert.
The cost of the whole pilgrimage is 66
guineas. One guinea reduction is given to
all who book before March 1st 1930.
Special terms are arranged for priests
and religious. The terms include
everything, namely, second class travel
throughout (first class on channel boat
and Port Said to Jaffa), embarkation and
quarantine fees, meals en route, all
gratuities, transfer of luggage, board,
lodging, motors, entrance fees. This does
not include any extra days, should the
return P & O boat be late in departing
from Port Said.
Any further information can be obtained
from Major Adderley, Lound Hall,
Lowestoft. As the numbers taken on the
pilgrimage are limited, early booking is
advisable.
The “Major [Hubert] Adderley mentioned here later became a Guardian in 1935.
He is better known by his title, Lord Norton, which he inherited in 1945. His son John
inherited the title on his father’s death in 1961, and later became a Guardian also. It is
after him that the Norton Room (Norton’s Café Bar) is named.
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