Pilgrimage to St Ninian’s Cave, Whithorn
T
he Word pilgrimage can
conjure up various
images: in my mind, it
suggests Chaucer’s pilgrims en
route from London to
Canterbury or people walking
across Europe to the shrine of
Santiago at Compostela.
Two coach loads of people
setting off to Whithorn from
Glasgow and Ayrshire was not
quite like either of these.
The St Oswald’s contingent
consisted of Lesley-ann,
Ashley, Emily and myself.
Lesley-ann and Ashley
collected me and Emily bright and early on Saturday morning (shortly after 8
am) and we drove to Hamilton where we joined the rest of the party from
Glasgow including the Bishop, the Dean, Canon Woodley, Sally Gorton and
Maggie McTernan.
Fortunately, it was a beautiful day and the journey to Whithorn was a scenic
one with lovely views all the way.
After 3 hours, we duly arrived and met the rest of the pilgrims who had come
from Ayrshire and together we all went into a beautiful white, modern church
for the Eucharist celebrated by the Bishop.
The service was introduced by the Rev. David Wostenholm, Priest in Charge
of St Matthew’s Possilpark who had been responsible for organising the
whole day.
One of the hymns was in praise of St
Ninian and had been written specially for
the occasion. It was sung to the tune
“Wild Mountain Thyme” while another
was to the tune of the “Skye Boat Song”.
Before the service began I was admiring
the architecture, a nice wide building,
very light with the stations of the cross
and an image of Our Lady, vaguely thinking (a) that it was “High Church”
and (b) that I hadn’t realised that there was an Episcopal church in Whithorn.
It was only on the way out that I realised that it was actually the local Roman
Catholic Church!
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