Pilgrims retrace steps of Jesuit martyrs

Dozens of Jesuits, alongside their co-workers, friends and associates, will be heading to North Wales next month to retrace the footsteps of four Jesuit martyrs. The Holywell Pilgrimage to St Winefride's Well is taking place on May 20, to mark the 400th anniversary of the martyrdoms of St Nicholas Owen, Blessed Ralph Ashley, Blessed Edward Oldcorne, and Father Henry Garnett SJ in 1606. This group of Jesuits made a pilgrimage to the well in the late summer of 1605. The following year, in the wake of the Gunpowder Plot and with anti-Catholic feelings running high, they were all arrested. Owen died while being tortured in the Tower of London; Oldcorne and Ashley were executed near Worcester; and Garnett was hung, drawn and quartered near St Paul's Cathedral in London. The 2006 Pilgrimage will start with Mass at midday with the British Jesuit Provincial, Fr Michael Holman SJ, presiding; Fr Michael O'Halloran SJ will preach on the four martyrs. Music will be provided by the Stonyhurst College Choir. After lunch, there will be Devotions at the Well, at 2.30pm, followed by Exposition, during which celebrated local harpist Meinir Jones will play, and Benediction at 3.30pm. For more information about the pilgrimage and to book, see: www.beunos.plus.com Source: Jesuit Communications Office