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The Shrine of Our Lady of the Taper

Our lady of the Shrine

History

The statue of Our Lady of the Taper is a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ. She holds the Christ Child in one hand and a taper candle in the other. The beginnings of devotion to Our Lady of the Taper takes us back to around 1160 AD in the Middle Ages. The details of the story of the Shrine have been summarised by Bishop Barlow who was intent on implemeting the orders of Cromwell. The examinacion of March 16th 1538, states:

"that the image now situated in the church of Cardigan which is used for a great pilgrimage to this present day was found standing upon the river Teifi and her son upon her lap and the same taper burning in her hand. The said image was carried to Christ Church of Cardigan and the image would not tarry there but was found three or four times in the place where is now built the Church of Our Lady, and the taper burning in her hand which continued burning the space of nine years without wasting".

The original image of Our Lady is believed to have originated from Arras, where Flemish wool traders established links with the market town of Cardigan. According to tradition, the statue continuously returned to the site where it was first found along the Teifi estuary. Therefore, the church of St Mary (1158), now the present day Anglican parish church, was built as a shrine in order to house the statue. The church was established as a Benedictine Priory, founded from Chertsey Abbey, and the monks remained in Cardigan until Cromwell ordered that all principal images of Our Lady be sent to London for destruction. In the Autumn of that year, Our Lady of Cardigan doubtless suffered the fate common with other notable shrines and places of pilgrimage in the land.

Recent History

In 1904, a group of exiled Benedictine monks settled just outside Cardigan and dedicated their abbey church to Our Lady of Cardigan. In 1912, a new town church was also dedicated to Our Lady. An image of Our Lady with the Christ Child was placed in this church but did not seem to match the original accounts of the description of a seated Virgin and Child with taper candle. In 1914, the French monks were conscripted and the church closed in 1917.

In the Marian Year of 1954, Martin Gillet, who subsequently founded the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary, wrote an article on the Shrines of Wales and England. The Cardigan Shrine was re-discovered and Bishop Petit sought its restoration. Dom Vincent Dapre O.S.B, a talented wood carver from Farnborough Abbey, was commissioned to make a new statue. Using various sources, including those from Bishop Barlow’s examinacion and research from Medieval sacred art, Dom Vincent sought to outline the features of the original statue. And, once again, the image of Our Lady of Cardigan came to light.

On 8 April 1956 in Westminster Cathedral, Cardinal Griffin blessed the new statue of Our Lady of Cardigan. Finally, on 27 May1956, the statue arrived home in Cardigan and was welcomed by thousands of people who gathered in the local playing field opposite to where the present Shrine Church is located.