The Guild of Our Lady of Grace of Ipswich

                                                                                                  The Shrine of Ipswich,

                                                                                            at St Mary at the Elms Church,

                                                                                                             Ipswich.

                                     

 

Hail Mary full of grace, The Lord is with thee; Blessed art thou among women and Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

 

THE GUILD PRAYER

Oh Jesus, Son of Mary, you wished that all might be one as you are one with the Father, hear then the prayers of your divided family and give us the grace to be united in you.

O Mary, our Most Gracious Mother, by the love you bear your Son, pray for us that we may truly love him. Teach us by your example to accept on another in true charity, so that as one united family, we may become an instrument of God's peace.

Our Lady of Ipswich, pray for us.

 

A TIME FOR RENEWAL 

In 1977, the Guild of Our Lady of Grace of Ipswich was formed in order to pray for Christian unity and to re-establish the shrine in Ipswich, lost in the Reformation. (The group was later re-named Merymana, the house in Ephesus where Mary is believed to have lived in later life. It is now a place of Pilgrimage for Christians and Muslims). Thanks for the impressive efforts of the group, in September 2002 a modern replica of the statue of Our Lady in Nettuno (carved by Robert Mellamphy) was installed in St Mary at the Elms. As we return to the original title of the group, the aim is to continue, update and extend the firm foundations provided. It should be added that the ecumenical shrine is not owned by St Mary at the Elms; the church enjoys the honour of hosting it.

A service of re-dedication of the Guild of Our Lady of Grace of Ipswich, the shrine and the replica statue took place on March 26th 2022 at St Mary at the Elms Church, Elm Street, Ipswich.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE INVOLVED IN THE GUILD?

WHY NOT BECOME A MEMBER?

The Guild is open to new members of all beliefs and of all ages. There will be monthly meetings for prayer, fellowship, discussion and coffee/tea. These meetings will be held at 11am on the first Tuesday of each month, initially in the church of St Mary at the Elms.

The aims of the Guild are to:

1) bring honour to Our Lady of Grace,

2) to work for Unity and,

3) to promote the Shrine.

Other meetings will include themed talks and presentations. Other events will include local pilgrimage walks and pilgrimages to Our Lady of Walsingham, Norfolk and possibly a trip to Nettuno, Italy to see 'the English Lady', the reputed original statue of the shrine at Ipswich. 

The Membership fee is £10.00 per year. This will help towards the conservation and preservation of the Ipswich shrine, statue and exciting future events. If you are interested in joining or have any other membership queries, please contact the Membership Secretary, Nicholas Jardine on Tel: (01449) 761755 (answerphone) or email: nicholasjardine40@gmail.com

HISTORY OF THE IPSWICH SHRINE

Before King John awarded Ipswich its first royal charter in 1200, the history of Ipswich is one which the local people can rightly be proud of. For, it is not known by many today that Ipswich once had a magnificent shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was a widely renowned place of pilgrimage where yearly thousands of pilgrims paid honour and veneration. Towards the end of the 11th Century many towns and cities in England had a Marian shrine and most were named after one of her virtues, thus the Ipswich shrine was called, Our Lady of GRACE. The Shrine became extremely popular as it was a building of such excellent architecture and reports of many miracles took place there. From the early Medieval Ages to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Marian shrine at Ipswich was second in the country only to that of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk which was dedicated earlier in 1061.  Uncertainty remains as to the actual date as to when the original shrine was first built. However, comparing the dates to other shrines built around England at the same time, the date of 1152 seems very plausible. But we do have a precise date of when the original shrine moved to the site of the previous All Saints chapel, thanks to the story of miracles happening which reached the Pope on 29th March 1327. The contribution of monies from Pope John XXII to complete the new Our Lady of Grace shrine and its new chapel, is one of the earliest of such grants to a Marian shrine in Europe. Working with these calculations of the dates, the completion of the newer shrine and chapel takes us to around the end of the 14th century. 
There was a wedding in Ipswich in 1297 of the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King Edward I to the Count of Holland. An account mentions that the wedding took place in ‘the King’s Chapel’. Disputes between modern historians continue as to whether the venue was at the Priory of SS Peter and Paul, Ipswich or at the Our Lady of Grace shrine. Since we do not know of which religious site had a ‘King’s chapel’, we are not certain where the wedding took place. However, surely the royal family would have attended the shrine particularly the newlyweds, as pilgrims often asked in prayer that the Virgin Mary would bless their marriage bed and make it fertile (as would have been the plea by Catherine of Aragon during her visit to the shrine in 1517, in order to give Henry VIII a son to carry on the Tudor dynasty). In 1502, King Henry VII’s wife, Elizabeth of York donated half of a golden angel coin (3s 4d) to the shrine. Other visitors to the shrine included Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and Abbot John Reeve of the Priory at (Beodericsworth), Bury St Edmunds.The statue of Our Lady of Grace may have survived the demolishing of the shrine during the English Reformation. On the west coast of Italy, with equal distances from Rome and Naples, lies the little fishing town of Nettuno. There is a statue there known since 1550 as 'the English Lady' from the Ipswich shrine. It is today kept in the town’s largest church, the Basilica. The statue is commonly known as ‘Nostra Signora delle Grazie’ – Our Lady of Grace.  Stories of a shipwreck in 1550, that the image had been washed ashore and had been a figurehead of a ship – all versions tell of English sailors who had sailed from Ipswich and that the image had been saved from Thomas Cromwell's burning of idols. It is beyond belief that the Ipswich connection should have been invented. Why should the English sailors have made that up? There was no advantage to be gained. copyright from Philip Roberts book: "Cardinal Wolsey - For King and Country" Pen and Sword Books Ltd. Available to buy at all good booksellers. 

 

THE GUILD PRAYER

Oh Jesus, Son of Mary, you wished that all might be one as you are one with the Father, hear then the prayers of your divided family and give us the grace to be united in you.

O Mary, our Most Gracious Mother, by the love you bear your Son, pray for us that we may truly love him. Teach us by your example to accept on another in true charity, so that as one united family, we may become an instrument of God's peace.

Our Lady of Ipswich, pray for us.

 

A TIME FOR RENEWAL 

In 1977, the Guild of Our Lady of Grace of Ipswich was formed in order to pray for Christian unity and to re-establish the shrine in Ipswich, lost in the Reformation. (The group was later re-named Merymana, the house in Ephesus where Mary is believed to have lived in later life. It is now a place of Pilgrimage for Christians and Muslims). Thanks for the impressive efforts of the group, in September 2002 a modern replica of the statue of Our Lady in Nettuno (carved by Robert Mellamphy) was installed in St Mary at the Elms. As we return to the original title of the group, the aim is to continue, update and extend the firm foundations provided. It should be added that the ecumenical shrine is not owned by St Mary at the Elms; the church enjoys the honour of hosting it.

A service of re-dedication of the Guild of Our Lady of Grace of Ipswich, the shrine and the replica statue took place on March 26th 2022 at St Mary at the Elms Church, Elm Street, Ipswich.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE INVOLVED IN THE GUILD?

WHY NOT BECOME A MEMBER?

The Guild is open to new members of all beliefs and of all ages. There will be monthly meetings for prayer, fellowship, discussion and coffee/tea. These meetings will be held at 11am on the first Tuesday of each month, initially in the church of St Mary at the Elms.

The aims of the Guild are to:

1) bring honour to Our Lady of Grace,

2) to work for Unity and,

3) to promote the Shrine.

Other meetings will include themed talks and presentations. Other events will include local pilgrimage walks and pilgrimages to Our Lady of Walsingham, Norfolk and possibly a trip to Nettuno, Italy to see 'the English Lady', the reputed original statue of the shrine at Ipswich. 

The Membership fee is £10.00 per year. This will help towards the conservation and preservation of the Ipswich shrine, statue and exciting future events. If you are interested in joining or have any other membership queries, please contact the Membership Secretary, Nicholas Jardine on Tel: (01449) 761755 (answerphone) or email: nicholasjardine40@gmail.com

HISTORY OF THE IPSWICH SHRINE

Before King John awarded Ipswich its first royal charter in 1200, the history of Ipswich is one which the local people can rightly be proud of. For, it is not known by many today that Ipswich once had a magnificent shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was a widely renowned place of pilgrimage where yearly thousands of pilgrims paid honour and veneration. Towards the end of the 11th Century many towns and cities in England had a Marian shrine and most were named after one of her virtues, thus the Ipswich shrine was called, Our Lady of GRACE. The Shrine became extremely popular as it was a building of such excellent architecture and reports of many miracles took place there. From the early Medieval Ages to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Marian shrine at Ipswich was second in the country only to that of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk which was dedicated earlier in 1061.  Uncertainty remains as to the actual date as to when the original shrine was first built. However, comparing the dates to other shrines built around England at the same time, the date of 1152 seems very plausible. But we do have a precise date of when the original shrine moved to the site of the previous All Saints chapel, thanks to the story of miracles happening which reached the Pope on 29th March 1327. The contribution of monies from Pope John XXII to complete the new Our Lady of Grace shrine and its new chapel, is one of the earliest of such grants to a Marian shrine in Europe. Working with these calculations of the dates, the completion of the newer shrine and chapel takes us to around the end of the 14th century. 
There was a wedding in Ipswich in 1297 of the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King Edward I to the Count of Holland. An account mentions that the wedding took place in ‘the King’s Chapel’. Disputes between modern historians continue as to whether the venue was at the Priory of SS Peter and Paul, Ipswich or at the Our Lady of Grace shrine. Since we do not know of which religious site had a ‘King’s chapel’, we are not certain where the wedding took place. However, surely the royal family would have attended the shrine particularly the newlyweds, as pilgrims often asked in prayer that the Virgin Mary would bless their marriage bed and make it fertile (as would have been the plea by Catherine of Aragon during her visit to the shrine in 1517, in order to give Henry VIII a son to carry on the Tudor dynasty). In 1502, King Henry VII’s wife, Elizabeth of York donated half of a golden angel coin (3s 4d) to the shrine. Other visitors to the shrine included Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and Abbot John Reeve of the Priory at (Beodericsworth), Bury St Edmunds.The statue of Our Lady of Grace may have survived the demolishing of the shrine during the English Reformation. On the west coast of Italy, with equal distances from Rome and Naples, lies the little fishing town of Nettuno. There is a statue there known since 1550 as 'the English Lady' from the Ipswich shrine. It is today kept in the town’s largest church, the Basilica. The statue is commonly known as ‘Nostra Signora delle Grazie’ – Our Lady of Grace.  Stories of a shipwreck in 1550, that the image had been washed ashore and had been a figurehead of a ship – all versions tell of English sailors who had sailed from Ipswich and that the image had been saved from Thomas Cromwell's burning of idols. It is beyond belief that the Ipswich connection should have been invented. Why should the English sailors have made that up? There was no advantage to be gained. copyright from Philip Roberts book: "Cardinal Wolsey - For King and Country" Pen and Sword Books Ltd. Available to buy at all good booksellers. 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS ON NEXT PAGE.

 

LEADERSHIP

Treasurer - Father John Thackray

Chairman - Nicholas Jardine

Secretary - Tony James

CONTACT

Treasurer - Father John Thackray

Email: thereverendfather@hotmail.com

Tel: 07780613754

Secretary - Tony James