Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham

Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham
"Chapel of Saint Catherine of Alexandria"
"The Slipper Chapel"
Front entrance of the 14th-century Slipper Chapel
Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham
52°52′52″N 0°51′12″E / 52.88112°N 0.85331°E / 52.88112; 0.85331
LocationHoughton Saint Giles
CountryEngland
DenominationCatholic Church
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
Websitewalsingham.org.uk
History
StatusActive
Founded1340
Architecture
Functional statusNational Shrine
Heritage designationGrade I listed
Designated6 March 1959
Architect(s)Thomas Garner
StyleGothic Romanesque
Administration
DioceseDiocese of East Anglia
Clergy
Bishop(s)Peter Collins
RectorRobert Billing

The Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham is a Catholic basilica and national shrine in Houghton Saint Giles, Norfolk, England, located one mile from Walsingham. It incorporates both the historic Slipper Chapel, built in 1340, and the contemporary Chapel of Our Lady of Reconciliation, completed in 1982. The Slipper Chapel, originally known as the Chapel of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, was the last chapel on the pilgrim route to the Priory of Our Lady of Walsingham. It was elevated to the status of a minor basilica by Pope Francis in 2015.

In 1934, the venerated Marian image of Our Lady of Walsingham was translated from the Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in King's Lynn to the Chapel of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (Slipper Chapel), which has served as a Catholic national shrine and a focal point of Marian devotion since that year. On 15 August 1954, Pope Pius XII granted a canonical coronation to the venerated image of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Walsingham, which remains enshrined within the Slipper Chapel and continues to be a site of Marian pilgrimage.