AmericanPapist Comments
Several of my sons and my husband went on the annual Chartres pilgrimage, a grueling 2 and a half day walk of 120 kilometers from Paris to Chartres. It is amazing. The streets of Paris are closed for the procession of some 15,000 pilgrims. Priests accompany them the whole way. Confessions are heard walking along. The extraordinary Mass is read every day, culminating in the glorious Mass at Notre Dame du Chartres with at least a Cardinal and hundreds of bishops and priests.About 20,000 faithful are there. My sons were able to sing with their German choir at that Mass and be right next to the altar the last time they were there. A veil worn by our Lady is there in the cathedral at Chartres, too.
Still time to go to it. This Saturday morning, May 10 at 6:00 am the pilgrims will leave Notre Dame in Paris and set off for Chartres.It is very well-organized, with food and bid tents provided underway and trucks to carry the sleeping bags and other heavy items. On Pentecost Monday, baguettes and red wine are provided for snacks!
Neat picture.....
Here in Upstate NY, there is an 'equal' to the Chartres Pilgrimage: the "Pilgrimage for Restoration". It's held in the fall, with pilgrims walking from Lake George, NY (named "Lake of the Blessed Sacrament" by St. Isaac Jogues, one of the North American Jesuit Martyrs) to the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, NY.
I walked just once, on my first pilgrimage in 2000 (thought I needed to do some 'penance' for the Jubilee Year!). It was the last stretch, from the Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine in Fonda, NY, to Auriesville. But my legs died and I nearly collapsed from exhaustion three-quarters of the way! So I rode on a shuttle back to Auriesville, and waited for everyone else to arrive. Since then I've gone direct to Auriesville and waited for the walkers to arrive. The Mass is in the Extraordinary Rite, with the massed banners of the different 'brigades' named for saints in procession....I'm an 'honorary member' of the "St. Joan of Arc Brigade" and carry a replica of St. Joan's battle standard in the procession from the main gate of Auriesville Shrine to the main church. We had a TON OF PEOPLE in attendance last year!
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