Detox your soul on a local pilgrimage

by admin · December 16, 2009

By Sr Joanne Petersen ISSM

For most of us, December 16 is a very welcome break and signals the start of some serious holiday time. Certainly, getting serious is what the 16th is all about. The 16th is the day of Reconciliation. Applied within our baptismal context this means we reflect on how well we have kept our baptismal covenant with God and move towards reconciliation with him.

By this stage many are probably thinking: I know where this is heading this is an article on confession! Well, no, not really, although just before Christmas it is a good idea to go to confession. Its not just children who have to be good before Christmas after all, that is what Advent is all about. However, there are many ways of reconciling ourselves with God.

One of them is to go on pilgrimage to a holy place. There are many famous places of pilgrimage in Europe and just recently, many of them have become extremely popular again. The old pilgrims way on foot to Santiago di Compotella in Spain is one of them. What better way to detox ones soul and start afresh than to hike across Europe for a few weeks in the company of like-minded souls and really reflect on the important things of life.

But we need not go to Europe to do this. There are many places of pilgrimage some of them in stunningly beautiful settings right here in South Africa. For the sake of brevity, I will mention just a few.

In the diocese of Rustenburg, a Lourdes grotto, built by Br Joseph OMI in 1926 at the Vleeschfontein mission, draws thousands of people to prayer on the feast of the Assumption. The mission is in the middle of Madikwe Game Reserve and is built next to a waterhole. So it is not unusual to see lions, rhino, and other wildlife during Mass. The mission is referred to locally as Maropeng (our place of origin) because the first Mass among the Batswana people was said here in 1879.

The original mission church is still standing. The mission was founded by the Jesuits and was developed by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate with the help of the Holy Family and King Dominican sisters, Bishop Kevin Dowling declared Vleeschfontein an official diocesan pilgrimage site in 2004. A pilgrimage walk of 60km is prayed over two days leading up to the day of pilgrimage. The walk is very popular with the youth and is led by Br Joseph Kiely of the Tsholofelo community and Sr Cecilia Mkhonto of St Brigid Sisters.

The word Schoenstatt means beautiful place and the Schoenstatt shrines are indeed so. The original shrine is in Germany but all over the world, there are close on 200 exact copies of these Marian places of pilgrimage. You could call it a holy franchise.

The shrines are the centres for the international Schoenstatt Spiritual Movement as well as being places of pilgrimage and prayer. There are five in South Africa Bedfordview in Johannesburg, Cathcart in the diocese of Queenstown and three in Cape Town. They are open every day all year round. The shrine in Cathcart was the first to be built on the African continent and celebrates its 60th jubilee on December 16 this year.

A number of stunningly beautiful pilgrimage sites are to be found in KwaZulu-Natal. Abbot Francis Pfanner, the Trappist founder of Mariannhill, established them. It was his custom to call his new mission stations in Africa after famous European places of pilgrimage. Our Lady Kevelaer is situated near the village of Donnybrook between Ixopo and the Drakensberg. It was built in 1888. The original place of grace in Kevelaer, in northern Germany, honours Our Lady as the Comforter of the Afflicted. There are only two copies of this picture of grace one in Germany and the other in South Africa, which was installed in the church at Kevelaer in 1947.

Pilgrims at Kevelaer, near the village of Donnybrook between Ixopo and the Drakensberg.

The number of pilgrims coming to place their petitions before Our Lady, Consoler of the Afflicted, increased steadily, so that Bishop Streit of Mariannhill declared the place an official place of pilgrimage in 1953. The many plaques of thanks covering the walls of the chapel testify to Our Ladys intercession for the people of South Africa in their many needs.

Centocow is another such place and is named after the famous Black Madonna of Czestochowa in Poland. The South African shrine is situated in the Creighton district in the diocese of Umzimkulu and is where the sodality of the Sacred Heart was founded in South Africa.

The first church was built in 1892 and the new church dedicated to the Sacred Heart, in 1913. It is one of the finest of all the Trappist churches and is well worth a visit. Our Lady of Centocow is honoured as the Mother of Mercy. Centocow is the national centre for the Sacred Heart sodality and in 1995 some 10000 members came on pilgrimage to mark the centenary of their foundation

The Mission of Maria Ratschitz is situated near Wasbank, south-west of Dundee in northen KwaZulu-Natal. It is named after a shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows in the Czech republic. The South African shrine was built in 1909 and became the spiritual centre for 19 outstations and nine mission schools in the area. The annual diocesan pilgrimage takes place on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, September 15. Many pilgrimage groups also come the year around. The Way of Light and Way of the Cross are special features of the mission and were completed in 2001.

Shongweni is one of the younger places of pilgrimage in South Africa and has a completely South African history.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Fr Henri Wagner OMI was recalled to the army. He made a promise to Our Lady to start a pilgrimage in her honour if he was spared during the war. He returned safely to his mission station and he told the people of his promise.

Since it is coming dose to Christmas, in the diocese of Bethlehem, there is a place of pilgrimage dedicated to Our Lady of Bethlehem. It is situated in the Maluti Mountains near Phuthatijaba, in the village of Tsetseng. It was established as a diocesan place of pilgrimage in 1989.