The pilgrimage to St Birinus’ shrine at
Dorchester on Thames would have begun soon after the death of St Birinus,
whilst the church still retained its cathedral status, and provided the Bishop’s
administrative centre.
In those days the church was somewhat different
in its structure to the modern church.
Historian Dr John Blair (Oxford University) has shown from
archaeological evidence that the Anglo-Saxon church adopted an ad-hoc structure,
made up of missionary communities rather than parishes. Bishop Birinius (Berin in the local tongue)
would have been responsible for setting these up, and keeping the channels open
between them and the whole Catholic Church via his own office.
Clues exist as to the location of these original
missionary communities – in the names of villages and towns containing ‘stoke’
or ‘minster’, or in the local traditions where the founding of many of
the old churches of the area is attributed to St Birinus.
The earliest missionary communities themselves
would have consisted of groups of several priests living together who would
have been canons of the Dorchester cathedral chapter. These would have maintained the Divine Liturgy in their own
simple chapels whilst going out to serve the surrounding people. St Birinus would have visited these
communities to perform baptisms, preach and say mass.
Later, following the establishment of monasteries
(many of them double monasteries of both monks and nuns) by local nobles,
the presence of the church grew to cover every place of habitation and the
parish system was set up, which gave a degree of administrative autonomy to
localities and must have greatly relieved the bishop’s office.
Nevertheless, there would have been continual
traffic to and from Dorchester with the Bishop’s office holding considerable
power under the crown. Church business
included aspects of secular life that the King of Wessex had delegated to the
Church. For this reason, Dorchester
would have been an important cultural centre, and the liturgy would have been
celebrated in the most spectacular way possible.
Fundamental to the liturgy would have been the
honouring of the saints, and especially St Birinus, whom God had used to make
the whole thing possible in Dorchester.
His grave would have been marked as the place of rest of a most
important person.
It is easy to imagine how pilgrims, when coming
to see the liturgy performed and pray, would have wanted to visit St Birinus
rather like a treasured member of their family, of whom they were proud and had
happy memories.
Did they remember him as a humble Italian monk –
perhaps with a strange accent and unusual foreign habits? Or did they think of
him in all solemnity with his colourful bishops robes performing the Divine
Liturgy with an elegance they had never seen before? Perhaps they recognised his sacrifice in leaving his home and
family, and were profoundly thankful for the liberating message of the Gospel
he had brought….
The resting place of St Birinus became a shrine
where pilgrims could pray, and following the ancient tradition of the Church;
ask for the intercession of St Birinus from his favoured place in the presence
of God.
The pilgrimage to Dorchester may have suffered a decline
when under threat from invaders the Norman cathedral was moved to Winchester,
and St Birinus’ shrine taken with it.
However, the memory was preserved, and when the Augustinian Canons
established an Abbey at the former cathedral, they revived the pilgrimage,
having recovered some of the relics of St Birinus for which they built a new
shrine.
The monks applied for, and were given permission
by the Pope to hold an annual summer procession in St Birinus’ honour, which
meant the church could officially celebrate him in June as well as on his
Saints day, 5th December.
This is the origin of the present-day pilgrimage, which takes place each
summer.
As the pilgrims came, bringing gifts, the whole
church was rebuilt in the flamboyant new Gothic style, and the shrine became a
marvel of craftsmanship and elegance.
At the reformation, the pilgrimage was suppressed
and the monks were evicted from St Peter’s Abbey. The shrine was demolished; the abbey church despoiled, and the
buildings and lands sold. All the
records of the abbey were burnt.
Nevertheless, through the ages of conflicting Christian theologies, St
Birinus’ memory has persisted – not only did St Bede record his mission, but
clues remained in Dorchester: the pieces of shrine discovered in a blocked up
doorway and buried under the floor; the ancient inscription on one of the bells
in the tower PROTEGE BIRINE QUOS CONVOCO TU SINE FINE – PROTECT FOREVER,
BRINUS, THOSE WHOM I SUMMON.
In 1977, the pilgrimage was revived through the
inspiration of local people and the clergy of both the Anglican and Catholic
churches of Dorchester. The late Edith
Fyleman, a local historian, brought together the Rector, Canon John Crowe, and
The Priest, Father John Garvey, and they formed a committee (which included James
Pratt, who is still a member), to organise the event.
The traditional route was marked out from the
highest point on the Berkshire Downs, Churn knob at Blewbury, (where St Birinus
met King Cynegils for the first time), and across beautiful countryside to
Dorchester. The Blewbury brass band
played and pilgrims shared a picnic.
Then all joined in prayer before embarking on the 12 mile hike, which
was led under a banner by the Bishop of Dorchester.
In Dorchester, the Birinus bell was rung, teas
and a barbecue were held in the Presbytery Garden, and 800 people attended the
pilgrimage service in the abbey church.
The Salvation Army had set up their brass band in the church to lead the
hymns, and the collection at the service was given to charity.
Highlights of future years would include folk
bands playing to welcome the pilgrims home to Dorchester, and eminent preachers
at the service. Different charities recommended by the preacher have been
supported every year.
In 2005, a new ‘passport’ was instituted, by
which pilgrims could enter the churches en route to receive a stamp of the
churches seal. One of these churches,
St John the Baptist at South Moreton, had originally been built as a
chapel-of-ease for medieval pilgrims, and there was great excitement as
pilgrims were again received en route to Dorchester for the first time in over
450 years.
This website was published to the world wide web
on December 5th 2005, St Birinus’ feast day.
The following is a link to the archived website
of the pilgrimage of 2002:
http://pages.britishlibrary.net/jeknight/2002/Pages/06_2002/StBirinus2002/StBirinus2002.htm