A parish priest from Cardiff has celebrated fifty years of annual pilgrimage to Walsingham.
Canon Graham Francis, of the Diocese of Llandaff, celebrated his 50th annual pilgrimage to the Shrine Of Our Lady of Walsingham in July this year in the presence of 170 pilgrims from Llandaff Diocese.
One of the last of the Clerks of the Holy House, Canon Francis first travelled to the Norfolk Shrine as a fifteen year old schoolboy from Port Talbot in 1960.
When presented by the Llandaff Diocesan pilgrims with a cheque to enable him and his wife, Eleri, to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, Canon Francis said that, when he first arrived at Walsingham all those years ago “I immediately knew that this place was going to play a significant part in my life and in my spiritual journey.”
Tributes were paid to the work Canon Francis has done over the years to encourage pilgrims from Llandaff and the South Wales area to visit the Shrine, and to the great ministry of welcome and hospitality his family have shown within the Diocese of Llandaff over the last forty years.
His daughter, unable to be present with her mother and brother to witness the event, sent a poetic message, based on the hymn “He who would valiant be” explaining how the whole family became involved with the work of organising the pilgrimage in the frantic days before the coaches left for Walsingham: and another pilgrim, Mrs Gill Rabjohns, who as a young girl was present in 1960 on that first pilgrimage, sent a letter telling how the 15 year old school boy had impressed her with his knowledge of what was taking place.
The Llandaff Pilgrimage is one of the largest single groups to visit the Shrine in mid week, and many other parishes from the Diocese travel each year on their own pilgrimage. Four members of the Cathedral Chapter at Llandaff and a retired Dean of Llandaff were present at the presentation – all regular annual pilgrims.
