Account of the Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Stone Saturday May 30th

The Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary were celebrated on Saturday June 30th at St Dominic's Convent, Stone, by 150 pilgrims who came from as far afield as Warrington and Burton-on-Trent and included babies in buggies as well as residents of St Mary's residential home for the elderly.


The day began with an excellent talk, well researched and inspiring, on the history of the Rosary, given by Sr Mary Pauline Burling, the Prioress General of this Congregation.

The talk was followed by tours of the convent, church and chapel of Blessed Dominic Barberi, led by Srs M Henry, Cecily and Valery. In the convent library was a display of vestments, hand-embroidered by sisters of the community in the nineteenth century, as well as a portion of the hairshirt once worn by St Thomas More, and a baton used by Sir Edward Elgar, the composer, whose sister joined the Stroud congregation (see "Who We Are"). Blessed Dominic barberi was the Passionist priest, a missionary to England, who received John Henry Newman into the Catholic Church; as a consequence, Newman several times visited Dominic at Stone, attended Mass there and later preached the first sermon in the big church built by Mother Margaret Hallahan. Mother Margaret's grave could be seen in the sisters' choir (or chapel).

The Rosary procession to Our Lady of Stone began at 2.30 and was led off by two acolytes carrying silver processional lamps (given to the Dominican community by Cardinal Newman) and a trumpet solo, played by Br Robert Verrill, a student brother from the Dominican Priory in Oxford. Fr Leon Pereira O.P, Prior of Holy Cross Priory in Leicester was the celebrant, both at the procession and at the Vigil Mass of Penetecost which followed. Rosary banners (again, hand-embroidered by sisters in the eighteenth century) of the five Glorious Mysteries had been set up at "stations" round the convent grounds. The procession moved from station to station singing hymns to Our Lady. At each station a group of students, either from Oxford, Cambridge or Kings in London, provided a meditation and music and led the appropriate decade of the Rosary.


At the shrine itself there was the ceremony of the crowning of Our Lady and the Holy Child by Rhiannon Brown, aged 11, and Callum Plews, aged 9, both parishioners and pupils of local Catholic schools. Sr Anna Mary read a short meditation on Our Lady's glory and we sang the Salve Regina.

The pilgrimage will be held again next year - probably again on the last saturday in May. Watch this spot for future announcements!