As in 2020, the organization of the annual pilgrimage of Our Lady of Christendom to Pentecost is shaken by the epidemic. The pilgrimage will take place from May 22 to 24, but only the chapters of Île-de-France and the Center region will go to Chartres.
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Once again we have to adapt. Faced with the health crisis, “Our Lady of Christianity has decided to increase the pilgrimage to Christianity on May 22, 23 and 24, 2021”, announced its president Jean de Tauriers on their website. A backup solution chosen « aclose to many discussions with the authorities ”, and in “The concern to maintain these three beneficial days of Christianity in graces by adapting to the health situation of this year”.
Thus, two formulas will be organized in parallel. A first bringing together the chapters of Ile de France and the Center region, which will march from Paris to Chartres. The second formula will consist of a multitude of local pilgrimages for the chapters of all the other regions.
The pilgrimage to Chartres attracts more and more
“The worst would be this year if the banner of your chapter is not deployed, so we ask you, dear pilgrims, in the spirit of Tradition, of Christianity and of Mission which unites us to respect scrupulously our instructions”, urges Jean de Tauriers in the press release. « In this difficult period, we are confident in your enthusiasm to be active pilgrims witnessing that the only Hope rests in the One who said “I am the Way, the Truth, the Life” “, underlines the president again, evoking the theme chosen for this 2021 edition.
Already last year, when France was just coming out of the first confinement, the famous Pentecost pilgrimage to Chartres had been replaced by local initiatives and a television version. “All the chapters of other regions of the Province and of foreign countries are strongly invited to organize local pilgrimages like last year”, insists Jean de Taurias, indicating that for the Île-de-France and Center formula, « the date of registration will depend on government instructions. We will retain the first registered for the sake of fairness and according to the quotas that will then be set for us. ”
Apart from these two somewhat special years, the pilgrimage to Our Lady of Christendom has been enjoying exponential success in recent years. The 2019 edition recorded a record number of participants (nearly 15,000 pilgrims), and already for seven years “Growth reached 8% per year on average, which is considerable”, confided Jean de Tauriers in an interview last January. The pilgrimage even takes on an international dimension with the creation of more and more foreign chapters. As every year, pilgrims traveling the paths will be added “guardian angels”, pilgrims non-walkers, who can register on the site of Our Lady of Christendom and join in this vast outpouring of prayer.
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