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PÈLERINAGE DE PENTECÔTE
PÈLERINAGE DE PENTECÔTE
de Notre Dame de Paris à Notre Dame de Chartres
The Pèlerinage de Pentecôte started seventeen years ago when a group of thirty five Frenchmen and their priest walked (or rather, marched) seventy miles in three days from Notre Dame de Paris to Notre Dame de Chartres as an act of reparation to Our Lady for the dissent, confusion, Modernism and lack of faith in the modern Church.
The bishop of Chartres refused them permission to use the Cathedral, seeing in their pilgrimage an implicit criticism of the Western hierarchies. This year 20,000 pilgrims marched, coming from every province of the western Church. Two bishops, the bishop of Chartres and the bishop of St Étienne, turned out to welcome them and Chartres cathedral was thrown open. The Holy Father granted a plenary indulgence to the pilgrims, subject to the usual conditions of confession and communion.
As the result of a strange twist of fate with which I will not bore you, I found myself among one hundred British pilgrims on the march. We marched behind banners in chapters of approximately thirty people. The chapters walked twenty meters or so apart with a priest walking between the chapters to hear confessions. To say that the British marched is a little misleading: most hobbled, limped, crawled and dragged themselves the seventy miles. By the time we had finished even our blisters had blisters and some people had so much strapping and plasters on their legs and feet they looked like they had escaped from a mummifying factory. It was a little humiliating watching French pilgrims arriving at the overnight stops, singing and dancing - when many of us were barely able to stand!
That said, a nine year old boy completed the march with the British contingent and a priest in his eighties completed much of it with us. The elderly priest had a smile that came straight from heaven. One only had to look at him for one's spirits to be lifted. Young people constantly flocked round him, clearly finding the goodness, faith and joy that welled up from within this elderly man an irresistible magnet.
Indeed, it was the young people who time and again left the deepest and most lasting impression upon me. Eighty percent of the pilgrims where between the ages of fifteen and twenty five, and I have never witnessed such manifest faith and devotion. This is even more amazing when one reflects that the Masses were celebrated in Latin, which would have been something out of the norm for most youngsters. They just filled me with hope and joy for the Church of tomorrow. I have memories of a Mass in a wood where the crowd was so large that I could not see the altar, and stretching away as far as I could see to the left and right were young people kneeling on the hard wet ground silently waiting for a priest to bring Our Lord to them - and with what manifest and profound reverence was the Lord of Time received! I was moved close to tears just watching. I formed the strong impression that if one had suggested to anyone of these youngsters that they should receive the King of Kings, standing in a queue, à la McDonnell fast-food checkout, they would have been absolutely horrified.
Again, on the Sunday night, after benediction, thousands of young people took part in an all night vigil before the Blessed Sacrament. These youngsters had walked twenty six miles that day and had a further fourteen miles to complete the following day before reaching Chartres. Did I take part in the all night vigil? No - I was tucked up in my sleeping bag sound asleep, thanks to a different sort of spiritual comfort, a very welcome wee toddy courtesy of a group of Scottish pilgrims marching in full Highland dress.
There were moments of humour, as when a German pilgrim anxious to practise his English earnestly asked one of the Scottish pilgrims, if there were any Protestants in Scotland. Another time I, unable to maintain the pace, had fallen back and found myself walking with a group of French youngsters. Anxious to practise his English, one lad solemnly informed me that he was walking with his husband! Then there was the French atheist who approached Fr Christopher Basden and asked him to prove the existence of God! Father responded, "C'est un peu trop difficile pour moi en Française." Then turning to me asked, tongue in cheek, if I would like to have a crack at the arguments of St Thomas Aquinas in French. I replied that I was fairly sure that I wouldn't like to have a crack at them in English.
The next time a bishop or priest tells you that we have a vocation crisis, don't believe a word of it. I marched with hundreds of young priests, seminarians, tonsured monks, young nuns and brothers, clearly all deliriously happy and head over heels in love with the Church. As old orders loose their way and implode, new vibrant orders are springing up to accommodate vocations. One of the traditionalist seminaries in the states had to turn away fifty candidates last year because they are bursting at the seams! A traditionalist priest had six vocations in his parish! I walked with numerous seminarians who had become exiles to train for the priesthood. Two had tried their vocation in English seminaries and left in despair. A young cardiologist, who had given up medicine to train for the priesthood, summed it up in these words, "I gave up care for bodies to care for souls - I needed formation in holiness and spirituality to prepare me for the priesthood, not lectures on leadership and management!"
Those orders of nuns who purchase their habits from Marks and Sparks, preach feminism and who have helped destroy Catholic secondary education in this country may be disappearing faster than one can say the Hail Mary - but the vocation crises is a myth spread by those who need to conceal the sterile fruits of their own faithless ineptitude.
I was filled with admiration for the French scout movement who were responsible for caring for the pilgrims on route - I think they could teach NATO a thing or two about caring for large groups of people on the move. Just imagine the organization that must go into erecting, over night, tents, sanitation, washing facilities, soup kitchens, reception, medical facilities, lighting and public address systems for such a vast horde! I entertained dark thoughts of sabotaging the public address system at one time when I discovered that it principle purpose was to facilitate some sadistic French insomniac awaken everybody at 5.30am by bellowing "Reveillez, reveillez, reveillez, reveillez, reveillez, reveillez...." across the camp site!
I have so many beautiful and lasting memories: the Catholics of Chartres turning out en mass to greet us, a great crowd waving flags, cheering, singing, clapping and handing out gifts. One lady handed me a milk pudding which after a seventy mile march slid down like a torch light procession. The pews had been removed from Chartres cathedral to make room for us all and we were packed in like sardines. I have delightful memories of being dragged to my feet by eager young people who had observed that because of my age, fatigue and the crush I was having difficulty moving between sitting and standing. My most lasting memory was of three young girls, no older than fifteen, one of whom was so lame that for the last six miles she was all but dragged along by her two companions - her smile when she entered the cathedral illuminated the narthex sans electricity.
For three days I was surrounded by Catholics who genuinely and joyously embraced the faith of the Church. - including the teachings of Vatican II. The genuine Vatican II that is - not that diabolical chimera of western liberal dissent, the Spirit of Vatican II. Given such ardent love of Our Lord in the Eucharist, such filial and tender devotion to the Mother of God and such real devotion to the Holy Father, God will raise up sons of Abraham from the very stones!
I have witnessed the Spirit moving through the Church like a fire storm - Lord, now this old sinner can depart in peace! I left France more exhausted and elated than I can ever remember, with the chorus of a hymn to Our Lady sung so frequently and joyously by the pilgrims ringing in my ears:
Chez nous, soyez Reine,
Nous sommes à vous;
Régnez en souveraine
Chez nous, chez nous.
Soyez la Madone
Qu'on prie à genoux,
Qui sourit et pardonne
Chez nous, chez nous.Don McGovern (27/07/99)
May 2000 Update
The big news this year is five bishops were involved in the pilgrimage. One recently ordained Lithuanian bishop walked the entire 70 miles with the pilgrims. An Argentinean bishop was the celebrant for the Pontifical High Mass in Chartres cathedral. The bishop of Chartres, plus a Senegalese and a Tunisian bishop where also on the altar for the Mass. Just reflect that eighteen years previous the bishop of Chartres had refused permission for the pilgrims to even celebrate Mass in the cathedral. Cardinal Lustiger also gave his permission, howbeit "through clenched teeth", for the Traditional Mass to be celebrated in Notre Dame de Paris. The bastions are falling one after the other. What a joy it is to be associated with something in the Church that is so full of life and growth.
My wife and I walked this year for the return to the faith of a member of our family who had strayed far from God. Within ten days of our return, the person came to me to tell me that they had returned to the practise of the faith. Blessed be God and his Holy Mother!
If you are interested in taking part in this beautiful experience, contact::
Francis Carey, Chartres 2001, 14 Beryl Road, London, W6 8JT
Tel: 020 8741 1316, Fax: 020 8868 7158.
Email: latinmassuk@yahoo.co.uk
Pilgrims from the USA or Canada should contact: Fr John Mole: 175 Main Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K13 1C3, Canada
The pilgrimage also has its own website (but you need to be able to read French). Click here.