Mary in Monmouth: Mair O Aberteifi- Our Lady of the Taper, Assumption Pilgrimage (15 August)EF LATIN MASS

PODCAST IMMINENT OF THE VISIT OF THE RELICS TO CARDIFF

I took recordings of the various Masses and liturgies in the Church as the relics were being received in Cardiff on Tueday and have only lightly edited them. I was doubly glad so many people, who were not able to get in and hear the service of reception and so forth will have the possibility of listening to the Masses for Priests and Vocations, Evangelisation, and personal sanctity, Angelus, Rosary , Litany and Benediction. It was extremely crowded, but I think it captures all the excitement of that day when thousands descended on Cardiff, clapped the little saint for her Christian witness and brought her candles, red roses and many other flowers, incense and beautiful music at the evening Mass.People streamed in until the Cathedral closed at Midnight, and devotions continued all evening, with people praying for conversion of sinners, confessions, praying for priests and praying that all would accept Jesus as their personal friend and Saviour. A Mediaeval style day none will forget. And Bravo to the superb organist!

DO YOU KNOW WHY BISHOPS WEAR POINTY HATS CALLED MITRES?

Truth about Relics

Relics have often been a stumbling block for people trying to understand the church. It is no different than keeping a special photo, item or clothing etc from a loved one when they have passed on. Kissing a picture or reverencing it, lighting a candle next to it or putting a poppy by it on remembrance day, just brings them alive again to you, shows them honour and respect. In the case of relics, if you can ask a living person to pray for you, then we can ask the souls who have made it to heaven to pray for us too, Having a small item which has actually touched their body or even a part of that body brings them especially close to them. The Holy Spirit has completely infused their body, So you ask this person to add their prayers to yours up above, and sometimes there are miracles as a result, although it is the prayer to Almighty God that works the miracle if there is to be one and it is his Will.

Hello! The first ten pictures

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Mair O Aberteifi- Our Lady of the Taper, Assumption Pilgrimage (15 August)EF LATIN MASS

I have been asked to remind everyone living in the UK of this pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Taper in CARDIGAN on the West Wales coast.At 12 Noon Mass will be celebrated in the Extraordinary form(Tridentine) YOU WILL NEED A PACKED LUNCH. Mass, the Great Mission begins at 12 noon.

DIRECTIONS TO THE SHRINE

Our Lady of the Taper,
North Road,
Cardigan
SA43 1LT,
UK
Tel: 01239 612615
Fax: 01239 6159417
E-mail: info@cardigantaper.org
or: Parish@taper2.freeserve.co.uk
Cardigan is in west Wales, 20 miles north of Fishguard. Important in the middle ages, it is now a pleasant market town of 4500 people. Catholics are few, and Mass attendance is only 150 although the parish stretches 30 miles along the coast.
From London take the M4, and then the A48 to Carmarthen, where you find the sign to Cardigan, which is 30 miles distant. If travelling from the north, head for Aberystwyth. Cardigan is 38 miles south on the A487.
The church is on the road running north-south through town. It lies towards the northern end, opposite the rugby field. The shrine chapel and church are open daily from 9:00am.

If you are staying overnight there are several good B and B guest houses nearby in addition to local hotels.

Here is some of the History of this ancient Shrine from their blog
www.ourlady of the Taper.org

During the middle ages there was a notable pilgrimage in honour of Our Lady in Cardigan. A beautiful legend describes how a statue of Mary was found by the side of the river Teifi, "and her sonne upon her lappe, and the taper bernynge in her hande". It was taken to the parish church but would not remain there, returning three or four times to "the place where now is builded the Church of our Lady", the present St. Mary's church. A chantry priest sang Mass daily in honour of Our Lady for pilgrims who came to pray and leave gifts. They lodged with the Knights Hospitallers of St. John, where the Angel Hotel now stands.

St. Mary's dates from 1158. If it was built to hold the statue then Our Lady of Cardigan is indeed ancient. It resembles an earlier shrine in the city of Arras, which was then in Flanders. Did Flemish merchants, who settled in Cardigan and traded in Welsh wool out of the port, bring the statue back with them?

Outside town, on the old pilgrim track, lie the ruins of a building by a stream. It is called Capel Bach (Little Chapel), and may have been an oratory where travellers prayed before walking the last mile to the shrine. It is the same distance from St. Mary's as Walsingham Slipper Chapel is from the shrine there.

St. Mary's was a priory church of Chertsey Abbey. Benedictine monks cared for it until 1538, when they were expelled and the shrine destroyed.

Devotion to Mary was once universal in Wales. Many places are called Llanfair or Capel Mair (Mary's church, chapel), and dozens of flowers and plants bear her name. No girl was given the name Mair (Mary), as it was reserved for Our Lady.
There was a lesser taper shrine in Haverfordwest. The most notable is at Cagliari in Sardinia, where in 1370 a Catalonian ship foundered offshore, and a statue of Our Lady of the Taper was brought to land. A church was built for it on a headland, and named Santa Maria di Bonaria (of the good air), for people said its presence had cleared the place of a pestilential atmosphere. Spain controlled Cagliari, and its sailors adopted Santa Maria di Bonaria as their shrine.

Ransomer priests cared for it. They were great seafarers, as their vocation was to rescue Christian captives from the Moors. They became chaplains to the Spanish navy, and sailed with Columbus, bringing their devotion with them. They founded a shrine in Cuba. Others, named La Candelaria, are to be found in Tenerife, Guatemala and Rio de Janeiro. Buenos Aires was once called Santa Maria de los Buenos Aires (the Spanish name for the Cagliari shrine).

We do not know how the devotion transferred to Barcelona and Cagliari. In the 1320's and 1330's Catalonian sailors had thronged British waters. Did they come to Cardigan, see the shrine and copy it?

In 1904 Breton monks, in exile near Cardigan, revived the devotion, giving the title Our Lady of Cardigan to their abbey church and also to the little church they opened in town in 1912. They left in 1916, and another generation passed before the name was heard again. More information at:

http://www.ourladyofthetaper.org