Catholic Pilgrimages in Europe Quiz

Also known as Canterbury Cathedral, this is the seat of the archbishop of Canterbury who is the head of the Church of England and its worldwide Anglican community.

The cathedral is well known for the Martyrdom of its archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170. At the time King Henry II and Becket had been embroiled in a 7 year dispute over the rights of the crown and church.

Both sides appealed to the Pope, who attempted to negotiate a settlement between the two, but neither side was prepared to compromise. Henry began confiscating church property and Becket began excommunicating bishops - including the Archbishop of York.

Henry was at his castle in Normandy for Christmas 1170 and is said to have uttered the words "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" (Other accounts use "troublesome priest" or "meddlesome priest"). Four of his knights took the statement literally and traveled back to Canterbury and murdered him in the cathedral.

Not long afterwards he was canonised by Pope Alexander III and is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Catholic and Anglican churches. This turned the cathedral into a place of pilgrimage. Two new chapels were built to house the shrine and his relics, but these were unfortunately destroyed by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

A new Martyrdom Altar was installed in 1986 in the northwest transept where Becket was killed.

"Our Lady of Lourdes" is one of the titles given to the Virgin Mary because of the apparitions of her which occurred there in 1858. 14 year old Bernadette Soubirous was collecting firewood with her sister and a friend when a 'Lady' spoke to her from a cave on the 11th of February.

This was the first of 18 apparitions that Bernadette witnessed over the next five months. According to her accounts she was asked to pray the rosary with the lady and the next few visits talked of the need for penance and prayer. Then she was asked to dig in the mud and drink from the spring that she found there, and was informed that a chapel should be built on the spot.

On the advice of the local clergy she asked the lady who she was and on the 16th visit she replied "I am the Immaculate Conception". This more than many other details went a long way towards belief in her descriptions, as it is not a concept that a 14 year old peasant girl would have understood.

The Catholic Church set up an investigation into the matter in late 1858 and two years later the local Bishop declared that the apparitions were real and endorsed the veneration.

Bernadette entered the convent of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers in 1866 and remained there until her death 13 years later. She was canonised by Pope Pius XI in 1933 on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December.

Above the grotto is now a three storied Basilica which forms a part of the 52 hectares of the 'Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes' pilgrimage site which hosts about 5 million visitors per year.

The cathedral is part of the Santiago de Compostela World Heritage Site in Galicia, Spain. It is recognised as the burial place of St James the Greater, one of the disciples of Jesus. It's also famous as one of the last churches that was built over an apostle's tomb.

I say recognised because Acts 12:2 states that James was killed in Jerusalem on Herod's orders but, according to other lore, he brought Christianity to the Iberian Peninsula.

The relics of St James and two of his disciples were rediscovered in 1879 after being removed in 1589. They were placed in the Cathedrals crypt below the main altar in 1884.

The cathedral is part of the 'Way of St James' pilgrimage that began in the middle ages. Traditionally this begins from one's home and ends at the Cathedral but many begin from popular European starting points. Many still travel by foot but others use bikes, horses and donkeys. Hundreds of thousands of people make this journey each year.

"Our Lady of Fatima" is another title given to the Virgin Mary after Marian apparitions were seen in Cova da Iria in Fatima, Portugal in 1917.

The visions were seen by three shepherd children: Lucia dos Santos (9) and her cousins Francisco (8) and Jacinta Marto (6). The first three visions were of an Angel in 1916 and then a total of six apparitions of the Virgin Mary between 13 May and 13 October the next year.

The children described a 'Lady more brilliant than the sun' who asked them to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to "pray the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war".

All of the visions were on the 13th of each month, except for August when they were imprisoned and interrogated, and she then appeared on the 19th instead.

Tens of thousands of people turned up for what was to be the last apparition on 13 October when they saw what became known as the "Miracle of the Sun". Differing reports showed the sun as an opaque spinning disc or casting multi-coloured lights across the sky, while others saw it spin to the earth and back up again. Not everyone witnessed these events, some just saw colours and others nothing at all.

Francisco and Jacinta Marto both died in the following two years from the flu pandemic. The Catholic Church officially recognised the apparitions in 1930 and their bodies were reinterred at the new basilica built on the site and canonized by Pope Francis on 13 May 2017.

Lucia went on to become a nun and died in 2005 at the age of 97. She was declared venerable by Pope Francis on June 22, 2023 which is a beginning of her canonisation.

Like Lourdes, Fatima has a huge basilica and assorted buildings to accommodate the millions of pilgrims per year. They have been known to have a million people a day on both the 13 May and 13 October.

St Peters Basilica is located within Vatican City and is the home of the Pope, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. St Peter, the first Pope, is believed to be buried on Vatican Hill. This basilica was built on the site between 1506 and 1626 and is regarded as the greatest architectural building of its time

Saint Peter's tomb is buried somewhere between 5 - 12 metres below the altar in the basilica along with many other first century graves. Above these are the Vatican grottos which hold the tombs of over 90 popes plus royalty and other famous people.

Apart from the Basilica itself, the Vatican houses museums and libraries and the famous Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo's ceiling. The entire complex is a place of pilgrimage for Catholics and Protestants alike, but even more so when the Pope performs Mass or other liturgical services within the Basilica or St Peters square in front of it.

Einsiedeln Abbey is a Benedictine monastery located in Switzerland. The name comes from German and means 'hermit'. It is named after a 9th century monk, Meinrad, who lived at a hermitage on the site for 26 years before being murdered.

The Benedictines built a cloister at the site to house a Black Madonna that had been owned by Meinrad. A replica is now housed in the Chapel of Grace in what has become an enormous abbey.

The original pilgrimage was due to the fact that the Chapel is believed to have been consecrated by Christ in a miraculous appearance on 14 September 948. After the Reformation and the huge interest in Marian devotions it became more of a pilgrimage to visit the statue of Mary.

The Black Madonnas or Black Virgins were a phenomena of the Middle Ages and over 400 remain in Europe alone. The statues or paintings show a Mary and infant Jesus depicted with various shades of dark skin.

It is unclear as to why they were created and speculations are many, including those that believe they are representations of a pre-Christian pagan Dark Goddess.

Others believe that the usual original statues became naturally darker over time as the wood aged or was exposed to years of candle smoke.

The shrine of the Three Kings is situated in Cologne Cathedral in Germany. It is a reliquary believed to contain the bones of the Three Magi who visited Jesus at His birth.

The relics were originally housed in Constantinople but taken to Milan in 314 where they were held in trust until 1164, when they were gifted to the Archbishop of Cologne.

King Otto IV of Germany also gave the city three golden crowns which are purported to have been created for the three kings.

A huge gilded triple sarcophagus which was built to house the relics currently sits behind the high altar at Cologne Cathedral. The huge gothic Cathedral itself was built to house the sarcophagus. Commencing in 1248, it took 632 years to complete. It is the most visited landmark in Germany with an average of 6 million visitors per year.

Nidaros Cathedral is located in the city of Trondheim in Norway. The church is built over the burial site of King Olav II (c. 995-1030) who is the country's patron saint.

Olav was killed in battle in 1030 and work began 30 years later on the cathedral, which was completed in 1300. An octagon chancel with a high altar housed the silver reliquary containing St Olav's remains.

The church was damaged by fires in 1327 and 1531 and later that century King Christian II melted the reliquary for its silver and disposed of the bones. A single femur remains, which is still held at the present cathedral - the original was burned down completely in 1708.

St Olav's shrine and sainthood were based on the belief that he converted Norway to Christianity. There are those since who believe that this may have been greatly exaggerated or achieved through less than saintly means but he is still celebrated as such and pilgrimages continue to the cathedral particularly on his feast days.

This Catholic basilica dedicated to the Divine Mercy devotion is located in Krakow, Poland and was built specifically as a pilgrimage site.

It is also the shrine of Faustina Kowalska (1905 -1938) a polish nun who had many visions and conversations with Jesus, who introduced himself to her as the "King of Divine Mercy" and appeared dressed in a white gown. She later worked with an artist who drew the image that she saw.

He appears with his right hand raised in a blessing and pointing to his sacred heart with the left from which flows two rays of light. One red for the blood of Jesus and one white which represents water and people's souls.

Faustina kept a detailed diary of her visions which was later turned into a book. Entry 48 states that Jesus told her "I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I myself will defend it as My own glory."

Millions of Catholics around the world follow, and make the pilgrimage to, the devotion of the Divine Mercy which is what prompted the building of the basilica which can seat 1,800 and has room for 5,000 people at a time.

The altar in the main sanctuary houses the painting and the relics of St Faustina who was canonised in 2000.

Our Lady of Medjugorje, also called Queen of Peace and Mother of the Redeemer, is the title given to alleged visions of Mary in Medjugorje, in what was then Yugoslavia but is now Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The first vision appeared on 24 June 1981 to 6 children/teens walking on Mount Crnica when they saw a figure of a luminous woman with a child in her arms. She didn't speak and they - Ivanka Ivankovic (15), Mirjana Dragicevic (16), Vicka Ivankovic (16), Ivan Dragicevic, (6), Ivan Ivankovic (20) and Milka Pavlovic (12) - ran back to the village in fright.

The first four returned the next day with Marija Pavlovic (16), and Jakov Colo (10) and they saw her again, but this time on a cloud with no child. These six are those that become known as 'the visionaries', who would continue to see visions of Mary.

The visions have been under speculation and investigation for many years particularly as they occurred during a time of political and religious unrest in the area.

Pope Benedict XVI set up a committee in 2010 comprising of bishops, cardinals, theologians, Mariology specialists, anthropologists and psychologists. After four years the consensus was that there was recognition of a supernatural event in the first ten apparitions.

In 2017 Pope Francis was of much the same opinion about the original visions but was also dubious about the later. He lifted the ban on official pilgrimages to the site in May 2019 stating: "There are people who go there and convert, people that find God and their lives change. This is a spiritual and pastoral fact that cannot be denied."

Lifting the ban also meant that the site could be managed as a religious experience as opposed to being run as the tourist attraction it had become. It is estimated that 40 million people have visited the site since the visions began.

The Cave of the Apocalypse is located halfway up a mountain on the Aegean island of Patmos in Greece. It is the place where St John received the visions for the Book of Revelation.

Many followers of Jesus were exiled to Patmos by the Romans in the first century as they were viewed as a possible threat to Roman power. John received visions on the island and while taking refuge in the cave he heard a voice in his head instructing him to write down what he saw and to send it to the seven churches.

These visions were of the final days. In them, he witnesses the destruction of the old earth and the creation of a new one when the Holy City of Jerusalem came down from Heaven.

At the top of the mountain is a huge Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. John the Theologian which was founded in 1088 and is also a place of pilgrimage

The House of the Virgin Mary is a Catholic shrine located on Mt Koressos near Ephesus in Turkey. The shrine itself is a small chapel containing an altar and statue of the Virgin Mary, with a smaller room next to it believed to have been her bedroom.

The grounds are much more extensive, with a huge wishing wall where pilgrims tie their prayers and a water fountain which is believed to have healing waters. The site is situated within an orchard and flower gardens.

In the early 19th century a mystic German nun, Anne Catherine Emmerich, reported a number of visions about Jesus' last days and those of His mother. She wrote these visions down including what she was told about the house.

After her death three separate people followed the directions and it led them all to the same place. The stone and construction of the house all date from the Apostolic Age and locals that were descended from the early Christians of Ephesus had long venerated the ruins as a pilgrimage site.

The Catholic Church has never acknowledged or refuted the claim but it has received Apostolic Blessings and visits from Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.