The Pilgrimage is Over! Now the Work Begins!

 

British Pilgrims at the  Shrine of Our Lady of the Pillar

Dear pilgrims,

Two thousand seventeen (2017) is an exceptional year. First of all we have the great joy and honour of being gratified by the presence of his Eminence, Cardinal Burke. Secondly, this year we can thank Our Lord for numerous anniversaries. The first one being of course the first century of the apparitions of Fatima, the second being the tenth anniversary of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, and last but not least, 2017 is the thirty-fifth anniversary of our pilgrimage. 
The apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima have a particular link with our pilgrimage. At Fatima the Virgin asked all of human kind to pray and to do penance for the conversion of Russia. She condemned communism while warning us about the misfortunes to come of the twentieth century. In nineteen-eighty-three, during the launch of the first Chartres Pilgrimage under the pontificate of John-Paul II, our founders wanted for us to be an echo to the famous polish pilgrimage of Częstochowa and therefore amplify the catholic resistance to communism. 
Our choice for the Traditional Liturgy, as one of the founding acts of this pilgrimage, was not done for a certain liturgical beauty or a sense of nostalgia or for conservatism but for faith. The Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, published by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, 10 years ago, wanted to pacify the Church with herself. We are therefore, forever grateful to Pope Benedict XVI who acted courageously and published this document which is in itself an act of faith, charity and justice. Today, 10 years have gone by since the Motu Proprio, and the Chartres Pilgrimage has become a providential event for generations of pilgrims because of the holiness of this liturgy, this extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, “the first act of the new evangelisation” to quote his Eminence Cardinal Burke. 
One last anniversary, in 1997, 20 years ago, His Holiness John-Paul II was here in France, on the grave of his beloved friend, Professor Lejeune, “We are, said the Pope, in front of a great Christian of the twentieth century,…a man for whom the fight for life became an apostolate.” Jérôme Lejeune is a modern example of this fight for christianity and Catholic teaching. Our priority today is the fight for the importance of life against abortion and euthanasia, for family against the fake “same sex marriage”, and against the gender theory. For 35 years, pilgrims from Chartres have been in the heart of this fight for christianity, vocation of our pilgrimage. 
Lastly, a few words on Notre Dame de Chrétienté : The growing numbers and new regulations make the pilgrimage harder to organise every year. Next Year, God willing, we will have to change and improve our organisation, find solutions to keep and develop the Chartres Pilgrimage which we love because of its traditions and its spirituality. We will give you more details and ask for your help very soon. Be sure to follow us on our website. 
Have a safe journey back. Come back next year in 2018. The theme will be “Saint Joseph, pilgrim and servant.”

Notre Dame de la Sainte Espérance, convertissez nous ! 

Jean de Tauriers,
Président de Notre Dame de Chrétienté

Consecrate Yourself to Our Lady!

Every year, on the evening of Pentecost Sunday, the pilgrims of Chartres consecrate themselves (or renew their consecration) to the Blessed Virgin Mary in front of the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the middle of the campsite at Gas. 

This act of consecration is very important on a personal level. It is all the more fruitful for the one who makes it if his dispositions are better. 

In this year of the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady in Fatima, the association Notre-Dame de Chrétienté has decided to offer you a totally new "preparation of the 33 days". This preparation will allow us to know more about the apparitions (each day we will have a small history) and the extraordinary means that the Mother of God has come to give us: devotion to her Immaculate Heart. 

This devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is made concrete by the devotion of the "5 first Saturdays of the month" which will be explained throughout this preparation of the 33 days. Indeed, on Saturday, June 3rd, the first day of our pilgrimage will be a "first Saturday of the month." If you wish to make this devotion of the first 5 Saturdays in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Providence has provided that between the first Saturday in June and the first Saturday in October (the anniversary month of the end of Apparitions), there are precisely 5 Saturdays. What an opportunity not to be missed during these months, and to prolong our pilgrimage, united by prayer with all the other pilgrims!

This preparation for the Consecration is an excellent means to make our pilgrimage fertile and to give it the best spiritual climate for the good of all our souls. It is also a beautiful way to thank the Blessed Virgin for all the graces she never ceases to obtain for us with her Son. 

During the 33 days before the pilgrimage, from Monday 1st May to Friday 2nd June, you will have the possibility to receive by e-mail the texts of the preparation. They will allow you to support your daily meditation and prayer. Registration for Marian Consecration.  (NB. The information from Notre Dame de Chrétienté will be in French, but you can also use information from the website "fish eaters" to make your Consecration).   

PRAYER OF POPE PIUS XII This prayer, dedicated to Mary Immaculate, was composed by the Pope for the Marian Year (December 8, 1953-December 8, 1954), which was proclaimed to mark the centenary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. 

Enraptured by the splendor of your heavenly beauty, and impelled by the anxieties of the world, we cast ourselves into your arms, 0 Immaculate Mother of Jesus and our Mother, Mary, confident of finding in your most loving heart appeasement of our ardent desires, and a safe harbor from the tempests which beset us on every side. 

Though degraded by our faults and overwhelmed by infinite misery, we admire and praise the peerless richness of sublime gifts with which God has filled you, above every other mere creature, from the first moment of your conception until the day on which, after your assumption into heaven, He crowned you Queen of the Universe. 

O crystal fountain of faith, bathe our minds with the eternal truths! O fragrant Lily of all holiness, captivate our hearts with your heavenly perfume! 0 Conqueress of evil and death, inspire in us a deep horror of sin, which makes the soul detestable to God and a slave of hell! 

O well-beloved of God, hear the ardent cry which rises up from every heart. Bend tenderly over our aching wounds. Convert the wicked, dry the tears of the afflicted and oppressed, comfort the poor and humble, quench hatreds, sweeten harshness, safeguard the flower of purity in youth, protect the holy Church, make all men feel the attraction of Christian goodness. In your name, resounding harmoniously in heaven, may they recognize that they are brothers, and that the nations are members of one family, upon which may there shine forth the sun of a universal and sincere peace. 

Receive, O most sweet Mother, our humble supplications, and above all obtain for us that, one day, happy with you, we may repeat before your throne that hymn which today is sung on earth around your altars: You are all-beautiful, O Mary! You are the glory, you are the joy, you are the honor of our people! Amen.

   

Chartres 2017

Organisation for the 35th Pilgrimage of Notre Dame de Chretiente (the 24th undertaken by British Chapters) is well underway.  Registration Form is located here.