Pilgrimage and the Funeral Rite

What Is Pilgrimage?

Pilgrimage is a journey made to a sacred place for religious purposes. It is one of the oldest expressions of religious devotion across many traditions, and it plays a significant role in Catholic Christianity. Catholics go on pilgrimage to be closer to God, to seek healing or forgiveness, to pray for others, to deepen their faith, or to fulfil a vow. The physical act of journeying — leaving home, enduring discomfort, travelling with other believers — is understood as mirroring the spiritual journey of the Christian life itself: a movement toward God.

Three major sites draw Catholic pilgrims: Lourdes in France, Walsingham in Norfolk, and the Holy Land. Rome — with St Peter’s Basilica, the catacombs and the Vatican — is also a major destination for Catholic pilgrims, especially in Jubilee years.

Key Fact

Lourdes: pilgrims visit seeking healing (physical and spiritual), bathing in the spring water near the Grotto of Massabielle where Mary appeared to Bernadette. Over six million visitors a year, including many sick and disabled people brought by Catholic volunteer groups. Walsingham: pilgrims walk the “Holy Mile” barefoot as an act of devotion and visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Lourdes: Healing and Community

Lourdes in southern France became a major pilgrimage site following 1858, when a fourteen-year-old girl called Bernadette Soubirous reported eighteen apparitions of the Virgin Mary at a grotto near the town. Bernadette was told to drink from a spring at the grotto that she initially could not find — when she scratched the ground, water appeared. Since then, the spring has been associated with numerous reported miraculous healings, some of which have been subjected to medical investigation by the Bureau des Constatations Médicales (the Medical Bureau of Lourdes). The Church has officially recognised 70 miracles at Lourdes after rigorous investigation.

For Catholics, Lourdes is not only about physical healing. Many pilgrims who are not physically cured report a deep spiritual renewal — a sense of God’s presence, renewed faith, and the experience of community with other pilgrims. The great candlelit processions, the immersion in the baths, the torchlight rosary procession each evening — all create a profound atmosphere of prayer. British Catholic organisations such as HCPT (Handicapped Children’s Pilgrimage Trust) take thousands of children with disabilities to Lourdes every year, expressing the Catholic conviction that the sick and vulnerable hold a special place in the heart of God.

Walsingham: England's Nazareth

Walsingham in Norfolk has been a place of Christian pilgrimage since 1061, when a noblewoman called Richeldis de Faverches reportedly received a vision of Mary and was asked to build a replica of the Holy House of Nazareth. The original Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham was destroyed during the Reformation, but pilgrimage resumed in the twentieth century. Today, both a Catholic and an Anglican shrine stand in Walsingham, drawing pilgrims from across Britain. Walsingham is often called “England’s Nazareth” — a way of bringing the Holy Land spiritually close to British Catholics.

Pilgrims to Walsingham traditionally walk the final mile (the “Holy Mile”) barefoot as a penitential act, following the example of medieval pilgrims and countless generations of believers. The Slipper Chapel, where pilgrims removed their shoes before walking the final stretch, is the Catholic national shrine of England.

Catholic and Orthodox Christians strongly value pilgrimage. Orthodox pilgrims journey to Mount Athos, Jerusalem, the monasteries of Meteora and to numerous local shrines. The physical journey is understood as spiritually formative — a way of honouring sacred places and seeking God’s grace in a particular location.

Most Protestant Christians are more cautious about pilgrimage, particularly to Marian shrines. Reformers such as Martin Luther criticised pilgrimage as a “work” that could not earn salvation and argued that God’s presence is not tied to physical locations. Protestants generally hold that a believer can encounter God anywhere through prayer and scripture, and that special sacred places are not necessary. Some evangelical Christians do travel to the Holy Land for educational and devotional purposes, but regard it as tourism rather than a meritorious religious act. You need to know these different Christian views about the importance of pilgrimage.

The Catholic Funeral Rite

The Catholic funeral rite is not a farewell alone — it is a liturgical celebration of faith in the resurrection. The Catholic Church’s Order of Christian Funerals describes three key moments: the Vigil (a prayer service held the night before burial), the Funeral Mass (the Requiem Mass), and the Rite of Committal (at the graveside or crematorium). Together these express the Catholic belief that the person who has died is not lost but has passed into God’s care.

The Requiem Mass is at the centre of the Catholic funeral rite. The word “requiem” comes from the Latin for “rest” — the opening prayer asks God to grant the deceased eternal rest. The white or gold vestments worn by the priest (rather than black) reflect the resurrection hope at the heart of Catholic funerals. The body of the deceased is treated with great respect: because Catholics believe in the resurrection of the body, the body of a dead person is regarded as a temple of the Holy Spirit that will one day be raised.

For most of its history, the Catholic Church preferred burial over cremation because burial was seen as more clearly symbolising the resurrection of the body and following the example of Jesus, who was buried in a tomb. Cremation was permitted by the Church from 1963 onwards, provided it is not chosen for reasons that deny the resurrection. Today most Catholics in Britain are cremated. However, the Church continues to prefer that the body be present at the Requiem Mass before cremation, and that the ashes be buried or interred in a sacred place rather than scattered.