As part of Mary's Dowry Productions filming for our new DVD about England: The Dowry of Mary, in preparation for the re-dedication of England to the Mother of God as her dowry, we went to the town of Storrington, West Sussex this morning to film a selection of presentations on location at the Priory of Our Lady of England.
We set out with good time, which was fortunate because within five seconds this lorry pulled in front of us and slowed us down so much it added loads of time, and we are literally only 15 minutes away.
The Priory and Shrine of Our Lady of England was established in the late 19th century with the return of the White canons, known also as the Norbertines and also as the Premonstratensians. Before the protestant reformation there were over 30 monasteries of Norbertines throughout England.
The 15th Duke of Norfolk, Duke Henry, gave the Norbertines a piece of land for them to build a new priory in 1902.
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| A statue of Our Lady of England blessed by Pope Leo XIII |
There are three statues at the priory of Our Lady of England. A statue of Our Lady of England stands over the door leading into the garden of the Premonstratensian Canons Monastery. The statue was blessed personally by Pope Leo XIII and is said to have brought about numerous conversions and other graces. "The Holy Virgin is venerated in this church alone under the title of Our Lady of England". A statue of Our Lady of England is also inside the Church of Our Lady of England attached to the priory which is the Catholic parish of Storrington.
According to Father Andrew of the Norbertines at Storrington, the
Shrine of Our Lady of England was in the garden of the priory on a stone rise.
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| Francis Firth collection c. 1955 |
The Shrine statue had come to England with the original Norbertines in 1890 but, within the last decade or so, the Shrine of Our Lady of England was dismantled while it was still a Norbertine priory and the Shrine statue was moved to the field where it stands today. The Shrine of Our Lady of England was once referred to as the 'Lourdes of England'.
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| Shrine statue from the Shrine of Our Lady of England |
There aren't many images of the actual Shrine of Our Lady of England on the internet so we captured some photos when filming there so as be able to share it. It's a very beautiful statue and is said to have brought about many conversion and been a great source of graces. The Shrine of Our Lady of England in the priory garden was referred to as the "Lourdes of England". Sadly, the Norbertine monks left the priory a little while ago but the Chemin Neuf community live there and very kindly gave us permission to film for an hour or two about the priory.
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| Statue from the Shrine of Our Lady of England |
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| Close up of the statue from the Shrine of Our Lady of England |
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Statue from the Shrine of Our Lady of England
This is the original statue brought to England in 1890
by the Norbertines |
We were able to give some good presentations with two of the beautiful statues of Our Lady; the statue of Our Lady of England which had been blessed by Pope Leo XIII set above the east door of the priory and the statue from the outdoor Shrine of Our Lady of England that had stood in the garden and is now in Matt's Wood. While we were recording in the garden with the priory behind us the bells rang out. There was also some building work being done but they fell quite for the most part.
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| The garden in the cloister with a statue of Our Lady |
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| Shrine statue from the now dismantled outdoor Shrine of Our Lady of England. |
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| The Mary's Dowry Productions team with the Shrine statue of Our Lady of England |
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| The Mary's Dowry Productions team with the Shrine statue of Our Lady of England |
We will be producing our film 'England: The Dowry of Mary' over the coming months. For now we will be working on our film about John Henry Newman and hope to have that available soon!
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