Little Miracles

Statues made for the Catholic shrine at Fernyhalgh.

I was reminded today when reading a post by Northern_Catholic on Instagram, of a visit I once made to Ladywell shrine in Preston in 2010.

David and I were traveling back from a holiday in the lakes with our then young children, when David announced that he would like to visit the shrine on our way home, as he had never been there before. We visited the relic room, which at that time displayed some small plaster figures on a high shelf. They had possibly been donations from visitors, and one was a little broken. I am not sure why, but I asked one of the ladies if I could speak to the priest who was running the shrine.

Ladies in the doorway

I was met with staunch resistance from two of the ladies who volunteered there, who vehemently insisted that Father was not available. However, he emerged from his room gently pushing them out of the doorway they were blocking, and welcomed my family. He even let the children raise the Papal flag in the grounds which they thoroughly enjoyed. I admit that I felt a bit sheepish asking Father if he would like me to repair the small statue of St. Edmund Arrowsmith, after all, he had never met me or knew if I could even draw a matchstick man! But it was somewhere in my heart to ask, even if met with rejection. At least I would know then that it wasn't something God was asking of me. As the director of the shrine, Father was more than happy, and so I completed the repair and returned the small statue. He was very pleased and asked if I could possibly make a statue of Our Lady of the Well, as none suitable existed. The request was quite unexpected, so I modeled a prototype for approval and this led to my producing about 15 copies of the figure. I polychrome'd a sample in white and gold garments with green ferns on the hem of Mary's mantle (as she was known also as Our Lady of Fernyhalgh ); thinking that it would be a fitting 'royal' garb for a crowned figure of the virgin and child. However, I was asked to paint the figure brown, with a wood grain finish - not at all how I had envisioned the Queen of heaven!

Charitable works and miracles

restored statue of St. Therese of Liseux in our workshop

A few years later I met a lady who had purchased one of my figures from the shrine, and she was surprised to find that I had made the statue. (I was just as surprised that she owned one! ) I met with Monica from time to time, she was a special lady who through her charitable works for the missions, had a school in Zambia named after her - that is, due to her work they called it St. Monicas. (May she rest in peace.) As for the shrine, it suffered some unfortunate events, when a fire caused it to close for some time. On its re-opening the ladies who had blocked the doorway also chose not to order more copies of the statue. Perhaps it wasn't to their personal taste, I do not know. I only know that for me it was a series of unexpected events which I took as a large prompt in my discernment, that God was pushing me to help the church in some way with my art and design skills.

It was an honour as an English person, to provide a fitting keepsake for this ancient Catholic shrine. It was also an introduction to learning that even when a calling is properly discerned, it doesn't mean the path to fulfilling it will be smooth or trouble free.

As a post script; On my very first visit to Ladywell, I met three older ladies who were in the relic room; Two were gregarious and loud, whilst one was quiet and reserved. Finally, the quiet lady was allowed to speak, and told me a most interesting story. At the age of four, she had fallen from the top most window of a Victorian terraced house onto the concrete slab of the front pavement. It had resulted in life threatening injuries which the doctor could not repair. The family gathered around her bed in prayer, and seeing that she was growing weaker, a local priest went to the church of St. Therese of Liseux to borrow her reliquary. On his return the relic was placed onto the child's chest and invoking the intercession of St. Therese, a prayer vigil was kept throughout the night. The Young child recovered The elderly lady finished her story, with the triumphant exclamation - 'And now I am 76!'

Given that chance meeting with those three ladies was 16 years ago, please God she has since been able to thank St. Therese in person for her miraculous intervention.