HOLYWELL WELSH NATIONAL PILGRIMAGE TO ST WINIFRIDE's WELL

Reviewing the post below, there were few people actually around the altar area, since most people were sitting in the shade, so the numbers look a bit sparse in the pictures. It was a terrifically hot day.








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Holywell remains of great interest to Welsh Catholics and British Catholics generally. St Winifride one of the early young virgin saints, remains a Patron Saint of Wales. Holywell, built by Henry VIII's grandmother (the present shrine) remains in Mediaeval glory and has become known as the Lourdes of Birtain, because of the many miracles wrought by the prayers of St Winifride of her people in Wales. Ever since her martyrdom, in fighting off a rape attempt, she has continued to pray for Wales and its people. St Paul tells us nothing can stand in the way of the love of Christ for his people, especially those who love him as did St Winifride who had consecrated her life to his service. Somehow she survived the attempt to cut her head off and lived to become Abbess of the small monastery founded by St Beuno at Gwytherin, pictured in the recent 'Cadfael' episode 'A Morbid Taste for Bones'. The church at Gwytherin was seized at the Reformation by Henry VIII and has now been closed by the Anglican authorities because of a small congregation. This is a rebuild of the earlier church, which needed refurbishment.

There are two main Monmouthshire links with Holywell:

1. St Beuno, who according to one source received his theological training at Caerwent in the college of St Tatheus, as there was at that time no similar college in North Wales He returned there to begin to found his abbeys.

2. During the wrecking of the Monasteries and knockdown sales to wealthy landowners, many precious relics, vestments pyxes etc were taken there for safety, even some relics of St Winifride herself were carefully salted away by devout people, so that there were remains of these things for when the persecution would end. A cross and some vestments of Monmouth Priory were returned when the new Catholic Church was built at Monmouth, the first since the 'reformation'.

With this in mind, I set off last week to the National Pilgrimage, trying to recapture the essence of a mediaeval pilgrimage. I stayed the night before at the St Winifrid'es Guest house, although thunder and lightning assailed me as I drove up the M5/M6/M54 to Chester and then to Holywell. I had a very friendly greeting. I knew Mother Julia from my time at Maryvale and I was relieved to gt into my bedroom, quite snug but cosy and warm and with a TV! Not the thing for a pilgrimage I know. I was up early and went to Mass at St Winifred's Church right next to the Guest House and it was in the Extraordinary Form. I loved the singing and the reverence of it and it was very restful after a very stressful week. It was a the Feast of St Peter and St Paul , martyrs and apostles and a lovely celebration. Father Salvatore of the vocationist fathers celebrated Mass with the Deacons. To the right of the altar was the statue of St Winifride, beautifully carved representation of the Saint, with flowers and ready to be carried in procession that afternoon. After that I had a bit of a wait but decided not to go anywhere, as I would lose my car space. In a strange way, I found myself surrounded by Irish camper vans and people with big dogs. On chatting to them, I found some of them had travelled over from Ireland to this pilgrimage. The sun was out in glorious golden hue over the whole shrine, but it was so hot that many of the pilgrims had actualy seated themselves off the field in the shadows around the walls for shade- a very sensible thing as I understand from the St John's Ambulance people that many people faint every year in the son. So there were about 300 in the field around the shrine before the procession arrived. The people there were generally those with children. I had thought to bring a chair-my knee needed it. It really was hot, and there seemed to be no discipline as far as the children were concerned.Some of the language was quite 'choice'.

Anyway gradually at about quarter to 3 the procession came down. Leading it the children who had made their first communions this year from the diocese, followed by other notables, Knights of St Gregory, the Bridgettine Nuns, the Vocationist Fathers, Deacons, Bishop Regan and Bishop Salvatore with microphone intoning the rosary and singing the Ave Maria. It was a huge procession with hundreds of people and banners and very impressive.

As the people filed in it began to fill up. The wheelchairs in the shade next to the well and other pilgrims also trying to find shady places to sit. I had a good view to start but was obscured by people standing in front of me, so I was constantly moving. The occasion was tremendous, but apart from 'Soul of My Saviour'I did not know the hymns at all, which was a shame as I love singing, but the behaviour of some pilgrims was disappointing -answering mobiles furing the liturgy of the Eucharist was a a big 'no no' and I had the feeling I was in an episode of Ballykissangel when I heard a woman say in a strong Eire accent'Oooh, mother, can't talk now, I'm at the holy well'on her mobile. In fact Bishop Regan was very patient and had to tell people they had to be quiet at the consecration.There was for that moment of consecration a huge and silent and profound stillness that settled on everyone. Then when the priests came out with the consecrated hosts it was suddenly a scramble and rather than lining up in the normal way, crowds of pilrims rushed around the priests rather like fish rushing to their food, but then I thought in a way it was wonderful -very biblical.At the end of Mass, Bishop Regan walked up to the shrine with the relic of St Winifride kept at the church. Stewards from the shrine allowed a few people in at a time and inside you can see pictured the beautiful display of candles , with prayers to God for which pilgrims had requested the Saint also pray. I remember thinking, 'St Winifride will be busy today!' On one wall were large candles with labels requesting help will illnesses , marriages, almost anything bereaved people etc.Flowers adorned the mediaeval statue and the scent of the flowers was quite intoxicating. It was moving to see the mixture of people, a huge contingent from Ireland. They had christened Holywell 'The Lourdes of the British Isles' . All milled together -men with Mohicans and tatoos, women dressed in hot pants and tea shirts ,Knights of St Columba, more well off people and the happy sense of Communion there.

There were, of course, a number of people difficult to control. When people had finished venerating the relic of St Winifride, thereby thanking her for her sacrifice for Christ, the Rite of Bathing began. Father Salvatore tried to keep a lid on this and a number of people queued to walk into the icy water in their full clothes and pray for healing. Many prayed devoutly for healing. I had planned to but did think I had a long drive back to Gloucestershire and no way of drying myself, so I resolved to come back privately and ask Father Salvatore, perhaps before a session of prayers at the shrine.




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Poor Father had his work cut out to 'police the pool'. Some children went into the bathing cubicles, came out and jumped into the pool of the well trying to swim, while the pilgrims were walking round praying.. He had to explain to children it was not a swimming pool, which disappointed them, but was not insured as such or was designed for this use.

There were some humerous moments. A lady came up to the small ante room and said 'Confessions?' to a big Irishman standing nearby. He smiled at her and she went in to make her confession only to find a rather bemused St John's Ambulance team inside. The ambulance man was heard to remark as she hurriedly left- 'Come back, I can do you a good confession!' Everyone laughed at his remark, even the lady. Then at one stage a man leapt out and dive bombed right in the middle of the pool, focing a lot of water out of the pool and splashing the pilgrims! Father Salvatore seemed to know him and called him out of the water. I did wonder at one point, whether the pool needed 'bouncers'.However the man seemed to be a bit mentally challenged, and so was sick and I hoped St Winifred would work for him as the people prayed.


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Finally the sun went down over the hills in a glorious red sky. The well lies right in the middle of a group of mountains and as I got back into the car and made my way down, I remembered the procession, the banners, the sound of all those people praying the rosary, the very beautiful Tridentine Mass in the Morning, the holy Bishop Regan, a Welsh speaker, the moment of the consecration, the candles, the flowers and the prayers and the friendship and care of the Bridgettine sisters. The pilgrims who had travelled from Ireland for long hours.Echoing in my head was the Victorian hymn to St winifred. In the nineteenth century when the wells were restored composers dug up all sorts of ancient tunes and texts. Here is one translated by E.Caswell, who I think was an Anglican clergyman. It is from the ancient pilgrims' hymn: VIRGO VERNANS VELUT ROSA

St Winifred

1.More fair than all the Springtime flowers
Embosom'ed in the dales
St Winifred in beauty bloomed
The rose of ancient Wales

2.With every loveliest grace adorn'd
The Lamb's unsullied bride
Apart from all the world she dwelt
Upon the mountain side.

3.Till Caradog with impious love
Her fleeting steps pursued,
And in her sacred maiden blood
His cruel hands imbrued.

4.He straight the debt of vengeance paid
Engulfed with yawning flame;
But God a deed of wonder worked
To her immortal fame.

5.For where the grassy mound received
The Martyr's severed head,
This holy fountain upwards gushed
Of crystal veined with red.

6.Here miracles of might are wrought;
Here all diseases fly;
Here see the blind, and speak the dumb,
Who but in their faith draw nigh.

7. Assist us glorious Winifred
Dear virgin, ever blessed
The passions of our heart appease
And lull each storm to rest.

God is glorious in his saints, all saints canonised and not, and in his martyrs. St Winifride is always shown in statues and iconography with the palm of a martyr.

Saint Winifride's Holy Well -a 'Baptismal font for the World'

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Heaven's fruitfulness before the cooling of the body
Is the virtue of Chastity.'

Following the trip to St Asaph, the following morning, after another comfortable stay at St Winifride's House and an excellent early breakfast, we went down to the shrine itself. There was a piety shop, very well stocked by two lay men who were able to furnish us with guidebooks and information and I bought some holyu medals for friends who had requested prayers. The museum was very interesting telling the story of the shrine from the beginning.The many crutches also stayed there, of people whose illnesses had been cured.

The guidebook begins with the following quote from Caxton's first printed version of the Life of St Winifride

....and after the hed of the vyrgynge was cut of and touchd the ground , as we have said, sprang up a welle of Spryngynge water largely endurying unto this day , which heleth all langours and sekenesses , as well in men as in bestes , which weele is named after the vyrgyne and is called St Wenefredes Well.....(1485)


I have explained the legend in a previous post. When men were still talking and writing Old English, they were building this fine perpendicular Gothic Chapel over the most famous healing well of the British Isles.It may have been the first chapel over the well, though for centuries there was one alongside in the place where the parish church continues to stand.It is here that St Beuno would have built the first wooden chapel in the 7th century. He no doubt used the well as a baptistery.

A stone church was, however what the Countess Adeliza of Chester gave to the Benedictine Monks of St Werbergh's Abbey, Chester in 1093 and it would have been this church, or a successor to it that was 'falling down' in the early fifteenth century. By the end of the 15th century the parish church was rebuilt , of which only the tower remains today -but the present well chapel was also constructed here. This chapel was the final testament to the cult of pilgrimage that had grown steadily through the Middle Ages. St Winifride's Well was already famous when in 1115 was written:

'Earl Richarde intended all thing to the best to visit Sainte Winifride , in herte desirous upon his journey went (myn authour sayth thus) devoutly to Holywell in pilgrimage for his great merite and gostly advantage'.

Attacked by ht e Welsh

When Earl Richard return four years later, he was attacked and fortunes of war affected the ownership and care of the well and church for more than a century.

Henry II rebuilt the castle at Basingwork 1157 but Owain Gwynedd and the Welsh destroyed it again.

Knights Templar

King Stephen during he time in Chester established the Knights Templar in Basinwerk to protect pilgrims, but Owain destroyed it again.

Monks from Savigny in France at Basingwerk

In 1131, these monks came to live in Basinwerk and became Cistercian in 1147.However at Basingwerk archeologists have found Saxon remains , showing a much earlier cell. Since St Beuno laboured to established Catholicism in a framework of monastic settlements , it is not impossible that this was the monastic cell he founded centuries earlier.(Check out Settlements of the Cetic Saints by Porfessor E.G.Bowen)

The link seems to be very old and Mass may have been continuous , except for the wars of England and wrangles with Chester Abbey . Ranulf , the third Earl of Chester built a castle on the hill above the well in 1209 because the monks of Chester had complained to Archbishop of Canterbury Hubert Walter (1193-1209) that:

'In the wars with the princes of Wales they have lost their Church at Hallewell which was £100 value'.
(Chartulary of the Abbey of St Werburgh)

The castle did not survive long. The monks of Basingwek were confirmed in their possession of the Well Church by Dafydd ap Llewellyn in 1240 and nothing remains of the castle except the name Bryn y Castell. It is an obvious defensive site.

Winifride(Gwenfrewi's) Parents house

This is believed to be the site of the parents of the saint and these were Tewth ap Eylud and Gwenlo. This was the childhood home of St Winifride.


On the right hand side were some changing cubilcles on the left a chapel, with a stained glass represent ation of St Winifride and St Beuno, and a large Statue of Our Lady and on the other wall a huge crucifix of Our Lord. Our Lady was almost covered in flowers.

I lit some candles and walked around the 15th century chapel, which had been the scene of numerous healings and the hopes of recusant Catholics.The tradition remained unbroken all the way up until today.

THE RITUAL INTERCESSION AND NOVENA PRAYERS AT THE SHRINE

You need to stop before the entrance to the shrine and make the sign of the Cross. Then you go to the front of the Well and make your intentions and recite the Apostles Creed. Then as you walk around the shrine three times , reciting the rosary, Our Father and Glory Be and today the Fatima Prayer.

If you yourself are the patient looking for healing, you are meant to do this in the pool, kneeling on the saint's stone in the well pool, or immersed in the deeper water up in the shrine itself. It has a high reputation for healing. Follwing a mining disaster in the 18th century the streams course was temporarily cut off, then found again, but the pool does not gush out as it used to in the old drawings.

Along all three walls are many votive stands bearing candles, and there is an ancient statue of the Sainton a large scale in the chapel surrounded by candles and with medals on her feet. The walls were blackend with the effects of candles over the centuries. The Museum is most interesting giving you the details and history. It was a cold February day, so my son poured the water from the well over my knees - it certainly freshened up my legs, but I know healing works in all sorts of ways. I loved the well and the Latin Mass that followed was the icing on the cake.

The Welsh poet Iolo Goch wrote a 'cywydd' poem

There ran from the earth
A God-given event-sweet are its graces-
A spring of water of which one drop excels all wealth
It's water, light , transluscent,
Is like that of the Jordan, under a fair elm tree,
It is a balm against every disease.
A gracious protection to the weak and the sick;
It redeems the weariness of thousands.

A Blessed Fountain of the Faith,
A clear-shining river from the hillside,
Its water is seen from the meadows
As a wave above its gravelly bed.

Then there is a vivid description of the gushing spring water as its leaps from its source, a description which suffers tin translation.

Ieuan Bryddydd Hir, also wrote a poem about all the miracles wrought by te Saint and the well. 'Generous as the Midsummer sun on the Baptist's Feast'.

He wrote

Here is the Fountain of the Faith
A baptismal font for the World.

Tudor Aled wrote:

It is a breath of heaven in the Vale
And the breeze which comes from it
Is as the honey bees first swarming
A sweet odour over the turf
Of musk or balm in the midst if the world.

The drops of her blood are like the red shower
Of the berries of the wild rose
The Tears of Christ from the height of the Cross.

The power of the Saint's prayers spring, says Tudor, from the prayers of the Mass, offered as it was at the site of her martyrdom. Tudor explicitly relates the wonders of Holywell to the great treasury od Christ's merits. His devotion is founded on Theology.

William Byrinsa (early 17th cent) wrote

A well in a much loved dwelling
I know, that on high, it belongs to Gwenfrewi. (Winefride)

Other poets wrote about the healing of bodily wells because of the prayers and intercessions of St Winefride.

To have a lively and privileged life force
A worthy tenderness made warmer by Jesus
Gwenfrewi's fine well
Cleanses the soul.

The Glory of Hospitality, Family and Marriage

These excerpts of poetry are by T Charles-Edwards and his Historical background. I will finish with his words.

'The Welsh poets saw Wales as a great society composed of families; to use the metaphor of which they were so fond, as a growve of wide-branching trees, sturdy, shapely and fruitful. They saw this society as bound together by friendship and hospitality and reaching right up to the Court of Heaven , and to the very foot stool of God and in the persons of the native saints of the kindred and the countryside. It was suitable that Tudor Aled whose glory it was to see all this so clearly, should grace the cultus of St Winefride with one of the great poems of Welsh literature: for hearth and home, friendship, kindred and hospitality have for their guardian the hard and steadfast virtue of Chastity'.

Heaven's fruitfulness before the cooling of the body
Is the virtue of Chastity.'

So this makes Winefride a modern saint too as Charles Edwards writes

'It was the peculiar glory of this Welsh girl of the seventh century to defend and glorify the tradition of Chastity and the family, this tradition, in its Catholic and Christian setting, against that contemptuous list lust which is the hall mark of a barbarian, bringing to it gifts of spiritual and physical healing. ONce that is clear, it is also clear, why the cultus of Saint Winifride had outlasted the changes and chances of thriteen centuries'.

We visited one more holy place before we left North Wales, but I will write about that again as it is a slightly younger place than the holy well of the saint.Curiously I have to confess I was given this name at birth (Winifride) and really hated it. I felt it was really old fashioned and every time it wasmentioned in school , I squirmed. Yet when I was received into the Catholic Church,by Father Fitz (John Fitgerald) it was at the little Catholic Church of Our Lady and St Winifride in Aberystwyth, and at every Welsh pilgrimage , she is prayed to for intercession and the Conversion of Wales.