Travelling to England and Italy

[chrysostom]

Hi all.  I've been quiet for a long time.  Things are fine.

Question.  I just bought a ticket to London in the height of the summer.  I've been meaning to go back to Europe for years now.  I've got three weeks.  Among other things, this will be my first time back as a Catholic.  So Walsingham, hopefully, is on the ticket. 

Any other places in England you'd recommend of interest to a Catholic?

I also would like to get a flight to Rome for a week or so.  I want to get to Manoppello to see the Holy Face.

No idea of the logistics right now but hopefully it works out.  What are some can't-miss things to do in Rome, or in Italian locations within a reasonable distance?

[beatitude]

Walsingham is beautiful. It's very rural, so you will have a trek to get there on the bus, but that is part of what makes it special - a little village in the heart of the Norfolk countryside, "England's Nazareth", as insignificant as Nazareth was in Mary's day on earth. Definitely go there. I can give you contact details for some nuns to visit whose chapel is open day and night. Take some time to enjoy the Norfolk coast, too.

In London, there is the shrine at Tyburn, near the execution site where many Catholics were martyred for the faith. It is looked after by Benedictine nuns who have perpetual Adoration. They have relics of the martyrs in their crypt, so you might be interested in going there.

I don't know how far you want to travel outside of London, and if you're only wanting sites of religious interest, but I think it would be a shame to come in summer and spend all that time in the city - the West Country is absolutely beautiful, and so are places to the north, like Yorkshire, Northumberland, and the Lake District. Personally I think all the best stuff is outside of London, and as England is a relatively small place with frequent trains and high-speed rail, you can be at the opposite end of the country in just a few hours. What sort of thing do you enjoy doing?

[PhuturePriest]

This is from an article by Catholic Answers discussing the top ten must-see travel sites for Catholics, which recommends Glastonbury and Lindisfarne:

" I hesitated before including this one. Glastonbury at present is famous for black magic and for shops selling all sorts of pagan rubbish: crystals, books of spells, nasty stuff. As a result, the place has a horrible feel to it and attracts people who enjoy its grimmer offerings. But this can and must change. Glastonbury has been defiled before. And every Christian who visits there can make his own specific contribution, through prayer and pilgrimage, in restoring this place to what it ought to be.

For well over a thousand years, Glastonbury was regarded as one of the most holy places in Christendom. It is the legendary Avalon, linked to King Arthur and the Holy Grail. Legend says that Joseph of Arimathea landed here with a small band of Christians, fleeing the Roman authorities. The story is that Joseph planted his staff in the soil and it sprouted, creating the famous Glastonbury Thorn. Some versions of the story add that Joseph brought with him the chalice used by Christ at the Last Supper, the Holy Grail.

Whatever the truth of the legend, a great abbey grew up at Glastonbury. St. Patrick is said to have come here, and St. Dunstan. In the ruins of the abbey you will see the place where, it is said, Arthur and his queen, Guinevere, are buried (South Cadbury Hill, alleged site of Camelot, is not far away).

Above the town rises Glastonbury Tor, a mysterious hill, quite unlike anything else in this flat landscape. When the tyrant king, Henry VIII, destroyed all England’s abbeys and monasteries, the Abbot of Glastonbury was taken, dragged up this hill, and hideously executed: Bl. Richard Whiting, canonized in 1970, venerated today as one of the heroic Forty English Martyrs. Townsfolk of the time saw in his death—high on a hill after torture and an unjust trial—an echo of Christ’s own.

For nearly four hundred years, Glastonbury’s traditions were covered by silence. When Catholics were once again given their freedom, a church dedicated to Our Lady of Glastonbury was built, and today is a shrine where many come to pray. Join them, and visit too the abbey ruins, the Chalice Well—where some say the Holy Grail is buried, which is why in the hardest drought the water has never run dry—and walk up the Tor, praying the rosary as you go. At the top, gaze over the beautiful view, and pray to St. Michael, to whom the ruined chapel there is dedicated.

Before you go, visit the Glastonbury Thorn—it is a mysterious tree, of a type known in the Holy Land. It blooms each year around Christmastime, and a sprig is traditionally plucked and sent to Queen Elizabeth."

" You need to go at low tide—and check the times of the tides before starting to return. Lindisfarne is an island, and you can walk to it from the coast of England when the tide recedes. Here, long ago, before the Norman Conquest, holy monks lived and prayed. They created the famous Lindisfarne Gospels—with the most exquisite lettering and decorative devices—that still make us .asp at the beauty and intricacy of the work as we view it more than a thousand years later.

Lindisfarne is called "holy island" by the locals. A monastery was established here in the seventh century. St. Aidan was consecrated bishop and lived at Lindisfarne, making journeys on foot from this island across Northumbria.

St. Cuthbert lived even further out to sea, on Farne Island with which communication could be established by flashing lights. It is said that his food was just a little wheat that he managed to grow in the crevices of the rocks.

Today on Lindisfarne you can walk in the ruins of the monastery, gaze out towards Farne, listen to the pounding of the sea, and think about the men who lived here and achieved such great things: From here, the evangelization of the northern part of England was carried out. Cuthbert became a great and holy bishop, preaching, teaching, exhorting, healing, living in simplicity, and working hard. He was loved by his flock, and is said once to have healed a woman’s sick baby with a kiss.

When Cuthbert died, he was buried on Lindisfarne and his relics were treated with great veneration. One night, as Viking raiders approached, the monks knew they had to flee—they took the precious relics as they ran across the tidal shore to the mainland. Today, Cuthbert’s remains lie in the great tomb that was made for him at Durham.

For those who get caught by the tide walking back across the sands, great poles have been placed, where you can scramble up and sit in safety in a sort of cage at the top, waiting for the tide to recede (but be warned: It’s a long wait, and a cold one).

A visitor to Lindisfarne should also go to Durham. Pray in the silence beneath those great Norman arches, visit Cuthbert’s tomb and that of St. Bede, the historian, to whom we are indebted for so much of what we know—and what I have written here—of English Christian history."

[Credo in Deum]

I don't have any recommendations, but just wanted to wish you a good trip! Sounds like a lot of fun. 

[Ash Wednesday]

If you are hopping about in London at all, St. Etheldreda's in London is a very old church that has a beautiful sung mass in Latin at 11 am on Sundays.

Westminster Cathedral (not to be confused with Westminster Abbey) is the seat of the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster and the Mother Church for Roman Catholics in England and Wales. The church has absolutely stunning mosaics. I usually attend the evening mass when I'm in London on a Sunday.

[Papist]

Be sure to have coffee with your Brexit. 

[Anomaly]

You must visit Puzzlewood in Coleford in Wye Valley and eat at a the Ostrich in Newland and check out the Church and school across the street.   They filmed a few movies, (Star Wars, Jack the Giant Slayer) in Puzzlewood and the Ostrich is the epitome of a country pub.  Simply amazing.