As is the custom at Ss Peter & Paul and St Philomena, Our Lady is crowned on the nearest Sunday to the 13th May (First Fatima Apparition, 13th May 1917).
The origins of the May Crowning are hard to pinpoint, although devotion to our Blessed Mother Mary originates in the earliest days of the church. Concerning the significance of the month of May, toward the end of the 18th century, Father Latomia of the Roman College of the Society of Jesus (in Rome) instituted the practice of dedicating this month to our Blessed Mother. His desire was to promote devotion to Mary among the students as a way to counteract infidelity and immorality. From Rome, the May devotion spread throughout the Jesuit colleges, and eventually throughout the whole church. Pope Pius VII in 1815 granted a partial indulgence for participating in either a public or private devotion honoring Mary during the month of May; Pope Pius IX made the indulgence plenary in 1859.
Immediately after the Mass and procession, the sun shone brightly through the high windows of the Dome and the bright rays fell upon the statue of the Blessed Virgin ……
In connection with the recent launch of our Calendar campaign to help raise much need funds for the restoration of the Shrine, the Mayor and Mayoress of Wirral, Councillor and Mrs Watt visited on Monday 29th April 2019.
Both enjoyed a fascinating tour of the Church and took tea with Canon Montjean and others in the Presbytery after which Councillor Watt said “I’d like to encourage our talented Wirral residents to contribute their beautiful images of the locality for this new calendar initiative. This kind of local support will really help this church gain the funding they need to complete the restoration of the Dome.”
The restoration of our Shrine Church is now in its fourth phase and needs your help.
The church is
producing a calendar, to help raise match-funding for a National Lottery
Heritage Grant to repair the dome. In keeping with Wirral as Liverpool City
Region’s ‘Borough of Culture 2019,’ the calendar, entitled All You Need Is Love’,
will showcase local talent and our beautiful Wirral. Monthly themes will be based on St Paul’s
Letter to the Corinthians – ‘Love is Patient, Love is Kind’, with a different aspect on love for each month.
Project
Manager Anne Archer said, “Initially,
we are looking for twelve stunning
images, hopefully some funny ones, some historical ones – great if they have
the Dome in them too! The competition is
open to all ages, so we hope local children will also contribute. And we have
secured exhibition space in Wallasey Central Library and The Williamson Art
Gallery Café to display more works.
Our other aim,
subject to funding, is to produce a
coffee table style hard-backed ‘reflection’ book which will include yet
more of your stunning images along with inspirational words – verses that
either make us smile or inspire us – so please do also send us your poetry,
either with your image or separately. We are keen for this book to appeal to a wide audience,
including people with dementia. So, for the poets among you, please stick with
simple language and short sentence
structure.”
The Calendar
will be sold at many local outlets including: The Post Office, Victoria Rd,
The
Sea Shanty Café, Atherton St, Literally Bookshop, Atherton St, The Light
Cinema,
Cafe
Creme on the promenade, Vale Park Café, the Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead,
the Floral Pavilion Theatre, Cards Galore, Victoria Rd, Heritage Centre, and St James Church, Albion St.
The reflection
book would be free of charge to libraries, care homes, day centres, schools and
on request.
The artwork and
photos will be chosen by a panel of judges including: Cathy Roberts (aka ‘Tugboat Cath’, local author and
illustrator), Wirral Globe’s Peter Grant and Dave Peddie from The New Brighteners. Selected works will be
displayed at Wallasey
Central Library from the 3- 27September
2019 inclusive and at the
Williamson Art Gallery during November 2019. There will be a recital session of
music and poetry at The Williamson one Sunday afternoon in November 2019, date
to be confirmed.
Image requirements and consent agreements are available when you submit your work online.
A photographic chronicle of the events and ceremonies of Holy Week at
the Institute’s International Seminary at Gricigliano, Florence in Italy
can be found here.
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