Our Lady of Ladyewell

Marian vocation of Fernyhalch (Preston) (England)

La tradition places the origins of Our Lady of Ladyewell's sanctuary (Our Lady's Well) in very ancient times, linking the place to a possibly pre-Christian spring that would have been Christianized and dedicated to the Virgin Mary after the conversion of the king of Northumbria in the 7th century. According to legend pious, about 1471 a merchant who was in danger of shipwreck in the Irish Sea promised the Virgin some work of devotion if he saved his life; guided later, he would have found in Fernyhalch an apple with unheart fruits, a spring and a lost image of the Virgin with the Child, building there a chapel and spreading the pilgrimage to the sacred well.

Main data

Origin and history

La tradition places the origins of Our Lady of Ladyewell's sanctuary (Our Lady's Well) in very ancient times, linking the place to a possibly pre-Christian spring that would have been Christianized and dedicated to the Virgin Mary after the conversion of the king of Northumbria in the 7th century. According to legend pious, about 1471 a merchant who was in danger of shipwreck in the Irish Sea promised the Virgin some work of devotion if he saved his life; guided later, he would have found in Fernyhalch an apple with unheart fruits, a spring and a lost image of the Virgin with the Child, building there a chapel and spreading the pilgrimage to the sacred well.

As for the documented historythe existence of a chapel in Fernyhalch at least since 1348, considered the medieval origin of the Marian sanctuary. The modern ecclesial and heritage documentation describes Ladyewell as "one of the oldest places of continuous Catholic devotion in Lancashire," with a sanctuary established around the mid-14th century. During the English Reformation and the criminal laws against Catholics, the old chapel was demolished and the well was abandoned, although the memory of the place and the devotion to the Virgin remained in Catholic families in the area.

With the relief of the persecutions, the source and the cult were restored in the late 17th century: in 1685 it was built Ladyewell House, a house that served as a center of mass for local Catholics and as a new framework for the sanctuary, with a chapel on the upper floor. In the same context, the sacred well was recovered and again became a place of pilgrimage and of testimonies of healing attributed to Our Lady's intercession. At the end of the 18th century (1792-1794) the Catholic church of St Mary’s Church, Fernyhalghto attend to the growing number of pilgrims. Since then, Ladyewell has remained a virtually uninterrupted Marian pilgrimage centre until today.

The image and the sanctuary

The sanctuary bears the title of Our Lady of Fernyhalgh / Ladyewell, particularly linked to well of Our Lady (Our Lady's Well), which is a sacred spring located in the gardens of Ladyewell House. Invocation is, above all, a local title of the Virgin Mary associated with the place and its source, rather than a unique and universally known image, as is the case with other Marian shrines. The well has a built structure, with access by a small door in the garden, and is devotionally framed as a point of prayer, request and thanksgiving.

Within Ladyewell House a Catholic chapel (often called Martyrs’ Chapel o Martyrs chapel), on the upper floor, which functions as an oratory and retreat space. This chapel houses an altar of the 16th century (known as Burgess altar) and a remarkable set of relics of English martyrs, including authenticated relics of St. Thomas Becket. Ladyewell House also acts as a pilgrims' house, with small religious shop and museum spaces.

Very close to the well and the house, along Fernyhalch Lane, he gets up St Mary’s RC Church, Fernyhalgh (Church of Santa Maria), built in 1792-1794 to welcome the pilgrims when the chapel of Ladyewell House became small. It is a Catholic parish church of style of the Georgian era, with no rank of minor basilica or recognition as a national sanctuary; it is, however, described in diocesan documentation as a church closely linked to the shrine of Ladyewell and the local Marian pilgrimage. There is no specific statue of the Virgin with unique iconographic features that has acquired international notoriety in the consulted sources; devotion focuses rather on the Virgin Mary under the local title of Ladyewell, the holy source and the spaces of veneration of the complex (well, chapel, church).

Sponsorship and coronation

Ladyewell is, in fact, one of the main centres of Marian pilgrimage of the Catholic diocese of Lancaster and one of the oldest places of devotion in Lancashire, but the sources do not mention a formal declaration of canonical patronage of a city or diocese under the title of Our Lady of Ladyewell. In pastoral practice, the sanctuary is presented as the place of intercession of the Virgin Mary and the English martyrs by the local Church and by pilgrims throughout the country.

As for the canonical coronation of a concrete image of Our Lady of Ladyewell, in the sources consulted (official page of the sanctuary, diocesan documentation, historical synthesis) does not contain a documented canonical coronation made in the name of a particular Pontiff. Nor are the dates or decrees of the pontifical nature of such coronation indicated.

Party and devotion

The sanctuary maintains a life of intense pilgrimage throughout the year, with special influx during summer time and on various days of diocesan, parish and Marian pilgrimages. The official page describes Ladyewell as a place that, for more than a thousand years, welcomes those who seek peace, healing and deeper communion with God through the intercession of the Virgin Mary and the English martyrs. A unique date of liturgical holiday of its own for Our Lady of Ladyewell; devotion is integrated into the great Marian celebrations of the calendar (especially the Feasts of the Virgin and the memory of the martyrs), as well as on scheduled pilgrimage days.

Historically, the holy well has been associated with healing requests and special thanks, with stories of "healing miracles" that revived the pilgrimages after the restoration of the place in the 17th century. Today it remains a space of silent prayer, of blessing with the water of the well and of thanksgiving. The sanctuary combines the Marian dimension with a strong memory of the English Catholic martyrswhose relics are venerated in Ladyewell House, inviting conversion, fidelity in faith and prayer for the Church in England.

Link to the Rosary

The sources consulted do not specify a specific historical link between the advocation of Our Lady of Ladyewell and the institution of a Rosary fellowship or a unique tradition of the Rosary prayer proper to the sanctuary. For example, there are no particular historical indulgences linked to the Rosary in Ladyewell or a feast of the Rosary that is specifically linked to this advocation.

However, as in most Marian shrines, the Rosary occupies an ordinary and privileged place in the spirituality and devotional practice from Ladyewell. In a place where the Virgin is venerated next to the memory of the martyrs and where Our Lady's well is a sign of purification and healing, the Rosary is naturally presented as a school of contemplation of the mysteries of Christ with Mary, and as a persevering prayer for the fidelity of the Church in times of trial. Thus, the prayer of the Rosary, even without characteristics strictly documented for this advocation, accompanies the pilgrimage to Ladyewell as a simple and fruitful way of joining the Virgin, meditating on the life of her Son and asking for the grace of a firm faith like that of the martyrs whose memory is kept in the sanctuary.