Everything about Our Lady Of Ipswich totally explained
Our Lady of Ipswich (also known as
Our Lady of Grace) was a popular English
Marian shrine before the
English Reformation. Only the shrine at
Walsingham attracted more visitors.
Location
The
shrine was just outside the walls of
Ipswich,
Suffolk,
England. The site of the original shrine was Lady Lane just outside the west gate of the medieval town wall of Ipswich. Today this is marked by a plaque. A modern shrine is now in the
Anglo-Catholic parish church of
Saint Mary Elms, a short distance away.
History
Anglo-Saxon England sheltered many shrines to the Virgin Mary: shrines were dedicated to her at
Glastonbury in
540,
Evesham in
702,
Tewkesbury in
715,
Canterbury in
866,
Willesden in
939,
Abingdon before
955,
Ely in
1020,
Coventry in
1043,
York in
1050, and
Walsingham in
1061. By the High Middle Ages there were sixteen shrines to Mary in Suffolk alone, the shrine to Our Lady of Grace at Ipswich receiving its first recorded mention in
1152.
The shrine became important during the
High Middle Ages. In
1297 the daughter of
Edward I, Princess Elizabeth, married the Count of Holland in the shrine.
Between
1517 and
1522,
Henry VIII and
Catherine of Aragon paid separate visits to the shrine, as did
Sir Thomas More and Cardinal
Thomas Wolsey, who, incidentally, was born in Ipswich.
The shrine was suppressed during the English Reformation, and its famous statue was taken to
Chelsea to be burnt, along with the statue of Our Lady of
Walsingham on
20 September 1538. There are no eyewitness accounts of the statue actually being burnt, although it's documented that the statue arrived at Chelsea.
A wooden statue of the
Madonna and Child displayed in the local church of the
Italian seaside town of
Nettuno closely matches various descriptions of the Ipswich statue. There is also evidence in the Netunno archives that a statue arrived there from Ipswich.
It was classified as being in the English iconic style in
1938 by
Martin Gillett, an historian of
13th century iconography. Although the statue had been altered (a throne had been replaced and the posture of the Christ child had changed), details such as the folds in the material and Christ's position on the right rather than the left knee suggest that the statue came from England.
The statue is known locally as "Our Lady of the Graces" or "The English Lady". During restoration work on the statue an inscription was found on its back with the words
IU? ARET GRATIOSUS, a rendition of the Marian phrase, "Thou art gracious". Ipswich was the only Marian shrine in England dedicated to Our Lady of Grace.
There are two theories as to how the statue may have reached Italy. One theory is that it was sold by an English official (perhaps
Thomas Cromwell) instead of being burnt, although it isn't clear why it would have got as far as southern Italy.
The second theory is that the statue was rescued by English sailors before it could be burnt, and smuggled on board a ship. In the Mediterranean they met a storm and took refuge in Nettuno and they donated the statue.
The shrine itself was destroyed, although it survived in legal deeds as a boundary description until the eighteenth century.
Modern Day Devotions
In
1987, the
Guild of Our Lady of Ipswich was founded by people from the
Catholic church of
St Pancras and the
Anglican church of
St Mary at the Elms. Their two aims have been: to pray for Christian unity and to plan and achieve the re-establishment of the shrine of Our Lady of Grace at Ipswich.
On
10 September 2002 a modern replica of the Italian statue, carved by
Robert Mellamphy, was blessed and installed by the Anglican
Bishop of Richborough in the church of
Saint Mary at the Elms. The ceremony was attended by the Anglican
Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, the Roman Catholic Dean of Ipswich and representatives of the
Orthodox and the
Methodist churches.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Our Lady Of Ipswich'.
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