Message to the Faithful of Wales from Pope Benedict

Bishop Regan's Welcome to Pope Benedict from the People of Wales


18/09/2010 12:30 pm
Westminster Cathedral, Chapel of St Paul, Saturday, 18 September 2010

Your Holiness,

On behalf of the Catholics of Wales, and of Wales itself, I am immensely privileged to offer you our most sincere sentiments of loving respect and deep appreciation of all that you do for the building of God’s Kingdom on earth.

Our joy that you are here in Britain is tempered by our disappointment that you cannot visit Wales on this occasion. But that regret is itself a sign of our esteem for you and your ministry of love in truth, Caritas in Veritate.

We are delighted that you are reaching out to Wales by lighting the candle held by Our Lady of Cardigan as she presents to us her Son as the light of the world.

That light is reflected to us by all those who have lived open to God’s love, people who are represented by St. David, the Patron of Wales. In blessing this mosaic dedicated to St. David you remind modern Wales we must not forget the Christian values that formed this nation of Wales throughout its history.

Dad Sanctaidd, ar ran Catholigion Cymru, a Chymru ei hun, mae hi’n fraint arbennig iawn i mi allu cyflwyno i chi ein teimladau diffuant o barch cariadus, a gwerthfawrogiad dwys o’r hyn rydych chi’n ei gyflawni i adeiladu teyrnas Dduw ar y ddaear.


Mae ein llawenydd yn cael ei dymheru gan ein siom nad ydych yn gallu ymweld â Chymru y tro hwn. Ond mae’r siom hwnnw, ynddo’i hun, yn arwydd o’n hedmygedd ohonoch ac o’ch gweinidogaeth o gariad mewn gwirionedd, Caritas in Veritate.

Rydym yn falch iawn eich bod yn ymestyn tuag at Gymru trwy gynnau’r gannwyll a ddelir gan Ein Harglwyddes o Aberteifi wrth iddi gyflwyno’i Mab fel goleuni’r byd.


Mae’r goleuni hwnnw yn cael ei adlewyrchu atom gan bawb sydd wedi byw bywyd sy’n agored i gariad Duw, pobl a gynrychiolir gan Dewi Sant, Nawddsant ein gwlad. Wrth fendithio’r mosaig yma a gysegrir i Ddewi, rydych yn atgoffa Cymru heddiw na ddylem fyth anghofio’r gwerthoedd Cristnogol a ffurfiodd genedl y Cymry trwy gydol ei hanes.

[Here he presented the book of William Davies’ 'Y DRYCH CRISTIONOGAWL']

I have great pleasure in presenting to Your Holiness a striking reminder of those who have gone before us. Blessed William Davies wrote a book of Catholic devotion called ‘Y Drych Cristionogawl’- ‘The Christian Mirror’, which was the first book published in Wales. The romantic story of its being printed in a cave on a remote seashore has entered the folklore of Wales, and it speaks to us of a people who loved the Catholic Faith, and were prepared to sacrifice all for the one thing necessary, the love of God in truth.

This facsimile printed this year of a book printed in 1588 calls us to the same witness as we see in the lives of Blessed William Davies and the other Welsh martyrs, Catholic and Protestant.

POPE BENEDICT'S MESSAGE TO WALES
Westminster Cathedral, Chapel of St Paul, Saturday, 18 September 2010
Dear Bishop Regan,
Thank you for your very warm greeting on behalf of the faithful of Wales. I am happy to have this opportunity to honour the nation and its ancient Christian traditions by blessing a mosaic of Saint David, the patron saint of the Welsh people, and by lighting the candle of the statue of Our Lady of Cardigan.

Saint David was one of the great saints of the sixth century, that golden age of saints and missionaries in these isles, and he was thus a founder of the Christian culture which lies at the root of modern Europe. David’s preaching was simple yet profound:little things  his dying words to his monks were, “Be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things”. It is the little things that reveal our love for the one who loved us first (cf. 1 Jn 4:19) and that bind people into a community of faith, love and service. May Saint David’s message, in all its simplicity and richness, continue to resound in Wales today, drawing the hearts of its people to renewed love for Christ and his Church.

Through the ages the Welsh people have been distinguished for their devotion to the Mother of God; this is evidenced by the innumerable places in Wales called “Llanfair” – Mary’s Church. As I prepare to light the candle held by Our Lady, I pray that she will continue to intercede with her Son for all the men and women of Wales. May the light of Christ continue to guide their steps and shape the life and culture of the nation.

Sadly, it was not possible for me to come to Wales during this visit. But I trust that this beautiful statue, which now returns to the National Shrine of Our Lady in Cardigan, will be a lasting reminder of the Pope’s deep love for the Welsh people, and of his constant closeness, both in prayer and in the communion of the Church.

Bendith Duw ar bobol Cymru! God bless the people of Wales!

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