{"id":1344,"date":"2025-07-25T11:08:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T11:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk\/environment\/?p=1344"},"modified":"2025-10-08T17:35:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T17:35:28","slug":"laudato-si-pilgrimages-for-the-four-seasons-of-creation-continue-next-one-is-on-9-august-in-knaresborough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk\/environment\/laudato-si-pilgrimages-for-the-four-seasons-of-creation-continue-next-one-is-on-9-august-in-knaresborough\/","title":{"rendered":"FOUR Seasons of Creation: the Laudato Si’ Mini-Pilgrimage for Summer 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
During this Holy Year of Jubilee, we are having at least one Laudato Si’ Mini-Pilgrimage or environmental event in each of the FOUR Seasons of Creation! <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Our Summer Laudato Si\u2019 Mini-pilgrimage took place in August and was a visit to the beautiful North Yorkshire town of Knaresborough\u2026<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Pilgrims of all ages travelled from right across the Diocese and were welcomed at St Mary\u2019s Catholic Church<\/a> with a Mass celebrated by Parish Priest Canon Gerard Kearney. The glorious weather meant we could eat our packed lunches in the church\u2019s beautiful garden, before setting out on a walk to visit St Robert\u2019s Cave and the Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cllrs Margy Longhurst and Helen Westmancoat are last year\u2019s and this year\u2019s Mayor of Knaresborough respectively and generously suggested that four of their Knaresborough Town Guides<\/a> could accompany pilgrims on their walk with information about the town\u2019s religious heritage and natural environment. The Voluntary Guides were knowledgeable and great fun and they all greatly enhanced the experience!<\/p>\n\n\n

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Pilgrims heard about the key role played by the navigable River Nidd and the railway, and about the Castle Mill which had once manufactured linen for all Queen Victoria\u2019s royal households. We were regaled with the stories of the Royal Forest of Knaresborough and how what was once King John\u2019s hunting ground is now being rewilded and brought into public ownership as Knaresborough Forest Park.<\/p>\n\n\n

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One of the most significant saints of the C12th was St Robert, the Hermit of Knaresborough. The cave where he lived and the ruins of the tiny chapel where he was initially buried in 1218 are on the banks of the River Nidd. As a hermit, his life defined \u2018Living Simply\u2019 and he spent his days caring for those who were outcast or disadvantaged. Upon receiving 40 acres of Forest as a gift from King John, St Robert \u2013 a direct contemporary with St Francis of Assisi \u2013 showed his care for creation by taming the wild deer, even putting them to the plough so he could cultivate the land to feed the poor.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Walking back along Abbey Road, the pilgrims\u2019 last destination was the Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag<\/a>, where pilgrims were greeted by Anna Dimond, a parishioner, school lay chaplain and one of the Trustees of the early C15th wayside shrine. We heard how the tiny chapel was excavated and carved out of the cliff face by John the Mason, in thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin for saving his young son from a rockfall in the quarry above the crag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pilgrimages to environmentally-important areas and other sacred sites within our Diocese this year have included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

31 May<\/strong> \u2013 Kirkstall Abbey<\/a><\/strong> in Leeds (via the Leeds-Liverpool Canal towpath);<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9 August<\/strong> \u2013 From St Mary\u2019s Catholic Church to the Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag<\/strong><\/a> and St Robert\u2019s Cave on the banks of the River Nidd at Knaresborough;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 October<\/strong> \u2013 A \u2018LiveSimply\u2019 Harvest Festival & Blessing of Animals at St Benedict\u2019s Catholic Church in Garforth;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

… and coming up next …<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

13 December<\/strong> \u2013 An Advent Eco-Fair and Rosary Walk at our Pastoral Centre, Hinsley Hall in Headingley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Please contact communications@dioceseofleeds.org.uk<\/a> if you would like a FREE stall at this Winter event, to sell your eco-friendly crafted, recycled or repurposed items \u2013 especially if they\u2019re suitable for last-minute \u2018stocking fillers\u2019 or \u2018Secret Santa\u2019 presents!)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Since 2018 our Laudato Si\u2019 Mini Pilgrimages have been celebrations of God\u2019s Creation and of our care for the earth, Our Common Home. They began as short, seasonal, guided walks through Ilkley\u2019s Myddelton Grange estate woodlands to the Calvary led by Estate Manager Paul Elgar who, together with our Diocese of Leeds Property Office, initiated and implemented diocesan conservation projects on the Myddelton site. It is thanks to parishioners at Sacred Heart, Ilkley who came on that first \u2018pilgrimage recce\u2019 that proposals for wheelchair-accessible pilgrimages to the Calvary are in progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feel free to get in touch via communications@dioceseofleeds.org.uk<\/strong><\/a> with suggestions for Laudato Si\u2019 Pilgrimages in YOUR parish; your ideas will be warmly received! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The short pilgrimage routes are especially suitable for school groups and the Diocese of Leeds Faith in Action Awards<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


We remember in our prayers the late Paul Elgar, the Myddelton Farm Estate Manager whose conservation knowledge and expertise was so much a part of these mini-pilgrimages between 2018 and 2021: may he rest in peace.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During this Holy Year of Jubilee, we are having at least one Laudato Si’ Mini-Pilgrimage or environmental event in each of the FOUR Seasons of Creation! Our Summer Laudato Si\u2019 Mini-pilgrimage took place in August and was a visit to the beautiful North Yorkshire town of Knaresborough\u2026 Pilgrims of all ages travelled from right across […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1344"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1380,"href":"https:\/\/www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344\/revisions\/1380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk\/environment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}