Walsingham: Rogation for the Nation

“The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send labourers into his harvest.” Luke 10:2

Rogation days are days of prayer and fasting in Western Christianity, remembering the passion of Our Lord and the harvest of souls awaiting redemption. They are traditionally observed with processions and the Litany of the Saints. The word rogation comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning “to ask”.

Rogation days of abstinence and penance were officially adopted into the Roman Rite in the reign of Pope Leo III. The faithful typically observed the days by fasting and abstinence in preparation to celebrate the Ascension, and farmers often had their crops blessed by a priest at this time.

A medieval custom on these days would have been the ceremony of ‘beating the bounds’, in which a procession of parishioners, led by the priest, would proceed around the boundary of their parish and pray for its protection in the forthcoming year. There were often obstructions and violations of boundaries and this day helped to resolve these issues. This theme also developed into the tradition of seeking reconciliation in personal relationships.

At the time of Michaelmas, the harvest time in autumn, it was customary practise to call upon the powerful intercession of Holy Michael the Archangel to bless and protect the harvest.

At one time, Eucharistic Marian processions around village fields and ending in Benediction at the parish church were very common throughout Christendom to honour these days. This was an important part of our liturgical heritage. Other names for these days evolved including “cross days” to signify the processions with crosses and banners.

Rogating with Richeldis

Walsingham has been a place of pilgrimage since the Middle Ages – one of four great shrines of medieval Christendom, ranking alongside Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago da Compostella.

In 1061 the Lady of the Manor, Richeldis de Faverches, had a series of visions of the Virgin Mary, who showed her the house in Nazareth where the angel Gabriel made his angelic salutation to the Mother of God. Our Lady asked Richeldis to build a replica of the holy house to serve as a perpetual memorial of the Annunciation.

According to the Pynson Ballad (c 1485), Richeldis prayed and asked that she might undertake some special work in honour of Our Lady. These visions were the answer to her rogation and a deepening of her vocation.

A shrine and vast religious heritage grew up around this rogation in response to Our Lady’s words to Richeldis “All who are in any way distressed,or in need, let them seek me there in that little house you have made for me in Walsingham. To all that seek me there shall be given great succour. And there at Walsingham in this little house shall be held in remembrance the great joy of my salutation when St Gabriel told me I should through humility become the mother of God’s Son.”

England: Mary’s Dowry

Throughout the history of the shrine the vocation of parenthood and family life has been desired by many pilgrims who are barren, seeking wombs to be opened through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Bringing forth life is the essence of vocation, whether this is by physical or spiritual parenthood. Seeking to unite our ‘yes’, our FIAT with that of Our Lady in Walsingham is the rogation for the harvest of souls in our nation. Our Lady invites each one of us to participate in her joy of the Annunciation, the joy of a rich harvest and banquet to come.

Walsingham is a centre par excellence to rogate. A centre point to disern, deepen and dedicate your vocation, uniting your particular call in union with the Mother of God. The Walsingham Way opens an invitation to participate in the conversion of the nation, Mary’s Dowry, which is destined to have her ancient splendour restored once again.

Charlotte Pearson Boyd is the third woman in the story of Walsingham, whose vocational rogate bore fruit in the purchasing of the Slipper Chapel post the Reformation destruction of the shrine at Walsingham. Her charism was the conversion and restoration of the Dowry of Mary with Walsingham at its heart.

A Harvest Annunciation

The harvest is precious, symbolic of bounty, health and abundance. Not only was the harvest of people vast as Jesus looked upon it, but he was moved with compassion to the depth of his being. The current population of England stands at around 53 million. The Catholic population currently stands around the size of the population of Birmingham at just over a million.

God expects a crop from our vocation; He waits for a great harvest. To produce fruit from our vocations we must labour in response to this call to discipleship. We must be expectant like our Lady. The seeds of our vocation need watering in order for germination and growth to take place. Pray, Pray, Pray.

The Annunciation is the birthplace of the harvest. Walsingham is the cradle of the conversion of England and a perpetual memorial of the Incarnation. The harvest of ‘Our Lady’s Dowry’ indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send labourers into this harvest.

The harvest of our lands can be thought about in the agricultural sense as well as the metaphysical and supernatural sense of our spiritual lives. Responsible stewardship is needed more than ever before.

The Conversion of England

The statue of Our Lady of Walsingham is currently on a two-year tour to Cathedrals around the country in preparation for the re-dedication of England as Our Lady’s Dowry by the Bishops of England and Wales. This will take place on the Solemnity of the Annunciation in 2020.

You can prepare for this by offering your ‘yes’ to God with the FIAT of Our Lady for the conversion of England, seeking the divine will of God in your life and for its purpose for the nation.

You can rogate for unanswered vocations through praying England’s prayer, the rosary and offering up your holy hours and days of fasting, and praying as rogate days to send labourers into England’s harvest.

You can come on pilgrimage to Walsingham to consecrate your vocation to Our Lady of Walsingham.

“Unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies. It yields a rich harvest.”

EDITOR’s note:

The LMS will be organising our annual Walking Pilgrimage from Ely to Walsingham, to be held during the August Bank Holiday weekend (22-25 August), as well as a Day Pilgrimage from London on the Sunday. See our website for details.