National Shrine of Wales

Feast Day:2^nd February

A meditation upon Five Mysteries

Commence upon the Crucifix or medal saying:

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Yn enw’r Tad a’r Mab a’r Ysbryd Glan. Amen

On the white bead in honour of St David, Patron of Wales, say:

O great Saint David, bringer of the Light of the Gospel to Wales, Pilgrim to Rome and Jerusalem; shed the Light of Christ on our way, that we may come safely to our heavenly home,

there to praise the Giver of Light in the splendour of heaven.

St David, Pray for us; that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

On the second red bead in honour of the Holy Martyrs of Wales, say:

O Holy Martyrs of Christ who shed your lifeblood for the sake of the Truth and Light of the Gospel; pray that we might be faithful witnesses to the Light of Christ as we make our journey to heaven.

O Holy Martyrs of Wales, pray for us; that we may be worthy of the promises of Christ.

On the blue bead, in honour of Our Lady of Cardigan, say:

Holy Mary, Mother of God, You offer your Son for our adoration, May we too treasure His Word in our hearts, and help bring His Light to the world.

Our Lady of Cardigan, pray for Wales. Our Lady of Cardigan, pray for us.

Sanctaidd Fair, Fam Duw, Yr wyt yn cynnig dy fab inni i’w addoli, Boed inni drysori ei air yn ein calonnau a dwyn ei oleuni i’r byd. Mair o Aberteifi, gweddia dros Gymru. Mair o Aberteifi, gweddia drosom ni.

(From the Pilgrim’s Prayer of Our Lady of Cardigan).

Say:
THE FIRST MYSTERY:
WE HONOUR THE BLESSED MOTHER
WHO PROTECTED AND NURTURED THE LIGHT OF CHRIST.

On each of the white beads of the first group say:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, the Light of the World. Amen

On the chain say one Glory be

On the black bead, and in honour of Our Lady of Sorrows, say:

Holy Mother, pierce me through. In my heart each wound renew of my Saviour crucified.

Virgin most sorrowful, pray for us! Mary most Sorrowful, Mother of Christians, pray for us.

Say:
THE SECOND MYSTERY:
WE HONOUR THE MOTHER
WHO WAITED IN THE SILENCE OF NAZARETH,
AS HER SON PROCLAIMED THE LIGHT OF HIS FATHER’S KINGDOM

On each of the white beads of the second group say:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, the author and giver of Light and Life. Amen

On the chain say one Glory be

Say:
THE THIRD MYSTERY:
WE HONOUR THE SORROWFUL MOTHER
WHO RECEIVED THE BODY OF JESUS IN DARKNESS
AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS

On each of the black beads of the third group, in honour of the Five Wounds of Christ and Our Lady of Sorrows, say:

Holy Mother, pierce me through. In my heart each wound renew of my Saviour crucified.

Virgin most sorrowful, pray for us! Mary most Sorrowful, Mother of Christians, pray for us!

On the chain say one Glory be

Say:
THE FOURTH MYSTERY:
WE HONOUR OUR LADY AS SHE HEARS OF THE GLORIOUS  RESURRECTION OF HER SON

On each of the white beads of the fourth group say:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, the Way the Truth and the Life. Amen

On the chain say one Glory be

On the black bead, and in honour of Our Lady of Sorrows, say:

Holy Mother, pierce me through. In my heart each wound renew of my Saviour crucified.

Virgin most sorrowful, pray for us! Mary most Sorrowful, Mother of Christians, pray for us!

Say:
THE FIFTH MYSTERY:
WE HONOUR OUR LADY REVEALED TO ST JOHN AS THE WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN

On each of the white beads of the fifth group say one:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, risen in splendour. Amen.

On the Centrepiece say one Glory be

CONCLUSION

On the medal or Crucifix say the Nunc Dimittis

Antiphon: To be a light to lighten the Gentiles: and to be the glory of Thy people Israel.

make the sign of the cross at the beginning of the Canticle:

Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word. For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people.

To be a light to lighten the gentiles and to be the glory of Thy people Israel.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen

Antiphon: To be a light to lighten the Gentiles: and to be the glory of Thy people Israel. Our Lady of Cardigan, pray for us!

Cymraeg

Antiphon: I fod yn oleuni i oleuo’r Cenhedloedd; ac yn ogoniant i’th bobl Israel.

Yn awr hon, Arglwydd, y gollyngi dy was mewn tangnefedd  yn ol dy air. Canys fy llygaid a welodd dy iachawdwriaeth;

yr hon a baratoaist gerbron wyneb yr holl bobl; I fod yn oleuni i oleuo’r Cenhedloedd: ac yn ogoniant i’th bobl Israel.

Gogoniant i’r Tad ac i’r Mab,  ac i’r Ysbryd Glan; megis yr oedd yn a dechrau, y mae’r awr hon, ac a bydd yn wastad: yn oes oesoedd.  Amen.

Ant: I fod yn oleuni i oleuo’r Cenhedloedd; ac yn ogoniant i’th bobl Israel.

Mair Aberteifi; Gweddia drosom ni!

Conclude by saying: + May the souls of the Faithful through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen

History of the Devotion

With as ancient a lineage as the more well- known shrine at Walsingham and an equally intriguing foundation story, this spot has been visited by pilgrims through the centuries and Our Lady honoured. legend tells of a statue of Our Lady found by the side of the river Teifi,

“and her sonne upon her lappe, and the taper bernynge in her hande”.

Despite being taken to the local Parish Church and shown honour, the statue refused to stay there. Three or four times it returned to the spot where the present church of St Mary stands.

St Mary’s Church, Cardigan (Courtesy of Chrissiewizz’s Photostream on Flickr )

‘the place where now is buylded the church of our Lady’

Mass was sung daily by a chantry priest and pilgrims soon flocked. Lodging was provided by the Knights Hospitallers of St. John, on the site of the present day Angel Hotel. The original image was situated within the church of St. Mary. This ancient building dates from 1158 and formed a Benedictine Priory Church whose mother House was Chertsey Abbey and housed the image and promoted the cult of Our Lady until the shrine was destroyed in 1538 and the image taken to Chelsea to be burned on a great bonfire along with other notable images including the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham. The church of St Mary resembles a shrine at Arras in Flanders. It is conceivable that traders in wool might have brought such a statue from Flanders, however, the story of the find in the river still holds our imagination, rich as it is with symbolism of water, light and miracle. Those conversant with the Slipper Chapel at Walsingham and the ‘Holy Mile’ walked barefoot from thence to the great abbey and shrine, will be interested to find that the pilgrim track to Cardigan has its own little chapel at about the same distance from the shrine. Known as Capel Bach (little chapel) it may well have served a similar function for medieval pilgrims to Cardigan.

Devotion restored after 350 years

The cult began to be restored in 1904 when a community of monastic exiles from Brittany settled in Cardigan far from the persecutions of the church in the Third Republic in France and named both their abbey church and the small church within Cardigan as Our Lady of Cardigan. The church in town was opened in 1912 but by 1916 the monks had returned to France. Forty years later Bishop Petit of Menevia (1895-1973) restored both shrine and image. On 27 May 1956 thousands were present at the little church, now named Our Lady of Sorrows, to witness Bishop Petit and his successor but then auxiliary Bishop Fox (1917-1997) consecrate the new church of Our Lady of the Taper. Instrumental in this had been Martin Gilbert, the later founder of the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1952 he had drawn the attention of bishop Petit to the once glorious shrine and shortly a new statue had been commissioned, blessed by Cardinal Griffin and, after a visit to every parish in the diocese of Menevia, transferred to the new shrine church. In 1970 Bishops Petit and Fox consecrated a new church of Our Lady of the Taper and a new statue made in bronze by Mother Concordia OSB was placed there. Like its predecessor, the statue was first blessed at Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral before travelling throughout Wales. It was Pentecost Sunday 18 May 1996 that the present image was installed before a congregation of over four thousand and fifty faithful and in a fitting link with the medieval period, a taper blessed in Rome by Blessed John Paul II was placed in the hand of Our Lady and then lit.

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The symbolism of the image is powerful and medieval. Our Lady is seated and wears a simple crown to denote her status as Queen of heaven.

In her right hand she holds a candle to indicate the ‘Light of Christ’ . This recalls the words of Simeon who proclaimed to Mary that her Child would be a ‘Light to Lighten the gentiles’

(Luke 2: 25-32).

On the lap of the Virgin sits her divine Son. With her arm around Him she holds his hand; on His head sits a crown, for He is ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’.

(see I Tim 6:15, Apoc. 17:14, Apoc. 19:16).

Mary presents Christ to the world as its light and the candle or taper bears symbolic witness.

Simeon recognised the Light and the Wise Men travelled through danger to worship Him. Nicodemus came to that light at night (Jhn 3:2) and he revealed His oneness with the Father on the     great Feast of Hanukkah, the Feast of Light, when He proclaimed ‘I and the Father are one’. (Jhn 10:22-30).

So, upon the lap of Mary sits God Himself; humanity filled with the divine. Pilgrims travel to Cardigan today once more to bear witness to Jesus as Light and His mother as Light bearer.

At cock-crow a woman will descend from the vault of the choir; bearing a taper which she must present to the Bishop. When he has received it, he must drop some of the wax into jars of water; which he will then give to the sick, and they shall be cured. (from the Tradition of our Lady of the taper)