Many will welcome Fr Rear’s book, and many of those with enthusiasm. Those who love Walsingham will be delighted to see, perhaps for the first time, photographs of the development of both the modern shrines. Fr Rear’s treatment of the history of the pre-Reformation shrine is rightly extensive, and makes a valuable contribution to the discussion of the shrine’s long history. What is still lacking is a major study of the Augustinian priory that housed the shrine. The history of the former would do so much to illuminate the latter. But while we wait there is so much here to savour.
http://www.thegoodbookstall.org.uk/review/9780854398119/michael-rear/walsingham/ (Posted on 06/03/2012)

This year we are celebrating 950 years since Richeldis’ vision which led to the establishment of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, so it is fitting that a major new work on the subject should be published now. That vision was of the Holy House in Nazareth, and it was in the Holy House in Loreto that Fr Michael Rear conceived the idea which became this book.

Walsingham, however, is older than 950. The early chapters of this book trace the development of the site as a pre-Christian religious place and then move on to the development of the importance of Nazareth and of the house in which Mary lived. This is the house which was moved by Angels to Loreto - and that is a whole story in itself! The triumphant development and growth of the Walsingham Pilgrimage as it became better and better known and undertaken by Royalty, nobility - and ordinary folk - through to the eventual destruction under Henry VIII, is meticulously and movingly chronicled. Although the Shrine was destroyed, the devotion was remembered through the dark days until, through the efforts of a very few people, beginning with Charlotte Boyd and Fr Alfred Hope Patten, the ancient devotion was awoken in the 20th Century. The final chapter looks forward to 2061, the 1000th Anniversary, with the hope and prayer that by then the present situation of two shrines - Anglican and Catholic - will be no more and that they will be one again.

Fr Michael Rear is uniquely able to be the author of this book. He has known and loved Walsingham since he was seven years old. He was Anglican Vicar of Walsingham and later, as a Catholic Priest, on the Staff of the Shrine at the Slipper Chapel. But more than this, he is an historian who knows how to do his research - his references and reasons for everything he writes make it clear that he is not just peddling his own notions as some have done before him. But this is not a dry and dusty research project; his fluent and easy to read style make this an impelling read, and his commitment not just to the historical Walsingham but to the spiritual power and meaning of the Pilgrimage to the “Holy Land of Walsingham” shine through the pages. He has also chosen a whole host of illustrations, some in colour others in monochrome, which are intelligently captioned and well reproduced. They range from the offerings left at the pre-Christian Mercury Shrine up to the beautiful etched windows which were very recently installed at the Chapel of Reconciliation and which grace the front cover of the book.

Whether you know Walsingham well and have been a pilgrim for years (and I believe that virtually every priest and many of the lay people who are joining the Ordinariate are already Walsingham pilgrims!) or whether you have never made the journey to this very special corner of Norfolk, you cannot but be interested and captivated by this book. It will certainly be the definitive history of Walsingham for many years to come. But that sounds so dull - and dull this book certainly is not.
As published in the May edition of The Portal. (Posted on 02/05/2011)