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 PILGRIMAGES

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PILGRIMAGES

unnamed pilgrims testify even more to its popularity. It is still held in honour (Champagnac, I, 918-22).

Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, in its splendid ca- thedral guarded the relics of its bishop, St. Hugh. At theentombment in 1200, two kings and sixteen bishops, at the translation in 1280, one king, two queens, and many prelates took part. The inflow of pilgrims w;is enormous every year till the great spoliation under Henry VHI (Wall, 130-40).

Loges, iSeine-et-Oise, France, was a place much fre- quented by pilgrims because of the shrine of St. Fiacre, an Irish solitary. In 1615 it became, after a lapse of some three centuries, once more popular, for Louis XIII paid several ^^sits there. Among other famous worshippers were James II and his queen from their place of exile at St.-Germain. The chief day of pilgrimage was the feast of St. Stephen, protomartyr (26 December). It was suppressed in 1744 (Champa- gnac, I, 934-5).

Loreto, Ancona, Italy, omng to the ridicule of one half of the world and the devotion of the other half, is too well-known to need more than a few words. Nor is the authenticity of the shrine to be here at all dis- cussed. As a place of pilgrimage it will be sufficient to note that Dr. Stanley, an eyewitness, pronounced it to be "undoubtedly the most frequented shrine in Chris- tendom" (Xorthcote, "Sanctuaries", 65-106; Dolan in "The Month", August, 1894, 545; cf. ibid., Febru- ary, 1867, 178-83).

Lourdes, PjTenees, France, as a centre of pilgrimage is without a rival in popularity throughout the world. A few statistics are all that shall be recorded here. From 1867 to 1903 inclusively 4271 pilgrimages passed to Lourdes numbering some 387,000 pilgrims; the last seven years of this period average 150 pilgrim- ages annually. Again within thirty-six years (1868 to 1904) 1643 bishops (including 63 cardinals) have vis- ited the grotto; and the Southern Railway Company reckon that Lourdes station receives over a million travellers everj- year (Bertrin, "Lourdes", tr. Gibbs, London, 1908; "The Month", October, 1905, 359; Februarj', 1907, 124).

Luxemburg possesses a shrine of the Blessed Virgin under the title of "Consoler of the Afflicted". It was erected by the Jesuit Fathers and has become much frequented by pious pilgrims from all the country round. The patronal feast is the first Sunday of July, and on that day and the succeeding octave the chapel is crowded. Whole villages move up, headed by their parish priests; and the number of the faithful who frequent the sacraments here is sufficient justification for the numerous indulgences with which this sanc- tuary is enriched (Champagnac, I, 985-95).

Lyons, Rhone, France, boasts a well-known pilgrim- age to Notre-Dame-de-Fourvieres. This shrine is supposed to have taken the place of a statue of Mer- cury in the forum of Old Lugdunum. But the earliest chapel was utterly destroyed by the Calvinists in the sixteen-th century and again during the Revolution. The present structure dates from the reinauguration by Pius VII in person, 19 April, 1805. It is well to remember that Lyons was ruled by St. Irenaeus who was famed for his devotion to the Mother of God (Champagnac, I, 997-1014).

Malacca, Malay Peninsula, was once possessed of a shrine set up by St. Francis Xavner, dedicated under the title Our Lady of the Mount. It was for some years after his death (and he was buried in this chapel, before the translation of his relics to Goa, cf. "The Tablet", 31 Dec, 1910, p. 1055), a centre of pilgrim- age. When Malacca passed from Portuguese to Dutch rule, the exercise of the Catholic religion was forbidden, and the sanctuary became a ruin (Champagnac, I, 1023-5).

Mantun, Lombardy, Italy, has outside the city walls a beautiful church, S. Maria delle Grazie, dedi- cated by the noble house of Gonzaga to the Mother of

God. It enshrines a picture of the Madonna painted on wood and attributed to St. Luke. Pius II, Charles V, the Constable of Bourbon are among the many pilgrims who have visited this sanctuary. The chief season of pilgrimage is about the feast of the Assump- tion (15 August), when it is computed that over one hundred thousand faithful have some years attended the devotions (Champagnac, I, 1042).

Maria-Stein, near Basle, Switzerland, is the centre of a pilgrimage. An old statue of the Blessed Virgin, no doubt the treasure of some unknown hermit, is famed for its miracles. To it is attached a Benedictine monaster)' — a daughter-house to Einsiedeln (Cham- pagnac, I, 1044).

Mariazell, Styria, a quaint village, superbly situated but badly built, possesses a tenth-century statue of the Madonna. To it have come almost all the Habs- burgs on pilgrimage, and Maria Theresa left there, after her visit, medallions of her husband and her children. From all the country round, from Carinthia, Bohemia, and the TjtoI, the faithful flock to the shrine during June and July. The Government used to de- cree the day on which the pilgrims from \'ienna were to meet in the capital at the old Cathedral of St. Stephen and set out in ordered bands for their four days' pilgrimage (Champagnac, I, 1045-7).

Marseilles, France, as a centre of pilgrimage has a noble shrine, Xotre-Dame-de-la-Garde. Its chapel, on ahill beyond thecity, dominates the neighbourhood, where is the statue, made by Channel in 1836 to take the place of an older one destroyed during the Revolu- tion (Champagnac, I, 1055).

Mauriac, Cantal, France, is visited becau.se of the thirteenth-century shrine dedicated to Xotre-Dame- des-Miracles. The statue is of wood, quite black. The pilgrimage dav is annually celebrated on 9 May (Champagnac, I, 1062).

Messina, Sicily, the luckless city of earthquake, has a celebrated shrine of the Blessed \'irgin. It was peculiar among all shrines in that it was supposed to contain a letter written or rather dictated by the Mother of God, congratulating the people of Messina on their conversion to Christianity. During the destruction of the city in 1908, the picture was crushed in the fallen cathedral (Thurston in "The Tablet ", 23 Jan., 1909, 123-5).

Montaigu. Belgium, is perhaps the most celebrated of Belgian shrines raised to the honour of the Blessed Virgin. .\11 the year round pilgrimages are made to the statue; and the number of offerings day by day is extraordinary.

Montmartre, Seine, France, has been for centuries a place of pilgrimage as a shrine of the Mother of God. St. Ignatius came here with his first nine companions to receive their vows on 15 Aug., 1534. But it is famous now rather as the centre of devotion to the Sacred Heart, since the erection of the National Basilica there after the war of 1870 (Champagnac, I, 1125-16).

Montpellier, Herault, France, used to possess a famous statue of black wood — Notre-Dame-des- Tables. Hidden for long within a silver statue of the Blessed Virgin, life-size, it was screened from public \'iew, till it was stolen by the Calvinists and has since disappeared from history. From 1189 the feast of the Miracles of Mary was celebrated with special Office at Montpellier on 1 Sept., and throughout an octave (Champagnac, I, 1147).

Monl Sl-Michcl, Normandy, is the quaintest, most beautiful, and interesting of shrines. For long it was the centre of a famous pilgrimage to the great arch- angel, whose power in times of war and distress was earnestly implored. Even to-day a few bands of peasants, and here and there a devout pilgrim, come amid the crowds of visitors to honour St. Alichael as of old (Champagnac, I, 1151).

Montserrat, Spain, lifts itself above the surrounding