OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM ICON IN ENCINO

Our Lady of Washingham Icon - Encino 2008 - photo by Gerald Fecht for the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley (click on image to enlarge)

OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM ICON IN ENCINO
In the year 1061, a Saxon noblewoman experienced a vision of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, near the small village of Walsingham in Norfolk, England.
The woman, Richeldis de Faverches, influenced her son Geoffrey to erect a shine at the place where her vision occurred. Monks occupied the shrine and extended the shrine's impact. Soon pilgrims came from throughout England and Europe. The great shrine was destroyed in 1538 at the order of Henry VIII, who feared that the sacred space could be used as a rallying place for the return of Roman Catholicism in England.
Centuries passed, but the devotion of Anglican and Catholics to Saint Mary did not. For thousands, the horrors of World War I turned people inward and pilgrimages to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham returned. Near the south-facing door of Saint Nicholas Episcopal Church in Encino, an icon window of Our Lady of Walsingham awaits visitors and invites residents of the San Fernando Valley, who may not have the money to visit England, to share her ancient and comforting story.

St. Nicholas Episcopal Church
17114 Ventura Blvd
Encino, CA 91316