Chartres Pilgrimage 2017

Clifton pilgrims in the Channel Tunnel

The annual Pentecost Pilgrimage from Notre-Dame de Paris to Notre-Dame de Chartres was particularly well-attended this year, with around eighty people from England and Wales among the 9,000 who prayed, sang and chatted their way through the French countryside. 

Seven of us (pictured above, minus Deacon Seth Phipps, FSSP) were from Clifton Diocese, including Fathers Alexander Redman and Bede Rowe, who led meditations and the Rosary, and heard confessions as we walked.

The Traditional Liturgy is always an integral part of the Chartres Pilgrimage. We started bright and early on Friday morning, 2nd June, with Low Mass in the crypt of Westminster Cathedral, before setting off on a coach to Dover for the ferry crossing to Calais.

The pilgrimage proper began on Saturday morning with Solemn High Mass in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. High Mass on Pentecost Sunday was in a field near the town of Rambouillet, celebrated by Monsignor Michael Schmitz, Vicar General of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest in the United States.

Cardinal Burke giving his sermon in Chartres Cathedral

The culmination of the pilgrimage, as always, was the final Pontifical High Mass in Chartres Cathedral, this year celebrated by His Eminence Cardinal Raymond Burke.

After a meal and a good night's sleep, the British chapters concluded our pilgrimage with High Mass in the chapel of Notre-Dame de Sous-Terre, in the crypt of Chartres Cathedral.

Next year's pilgrimage will be from Friday 18th to Tuesday 22nd May. Find out more at http://chartresuk.blogspot.co.uk/.