The copy of the icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa is visiting the UK on 5 November as part of a worldwide pro-life pilgrimage:
The peregrination of the Czestochowa icon "From Ocean to Ocean" through the world in defense of life is a joint initiative of pro-life movements from many countries and the international organization Human Life International. The copy of the Czestochowa icon, which was touched to the original and blessed at Jasna Gora, is a gift of the Polish pro-life movement to the Russian movement. The leaders of the movement in the east are Orthodox, while the majority in the west are Catholic. They have gone to their bishops, asking for their blessing and acceptance of the pilgrim icon in defense of life. For that reason, the Orthodox church is hosting the Czestochowa icon in Russia, but in Belarus, both churches together decided on the route and locations of meetings. The Catholic Church will host it in Poland, Hungary, and in Spain. To the extent possible, the icon will also visit Orthodox churches in the west. The cult of the Mother of God in the Czestochowa icon and the defense of human life and its dignity are powerful elements uniting both churches. (From FAQ.)
The Scottish leg of the pilgrimage is scheduled (provisionally) as follows:
Mon 12 to Tue 13: Edinburgh
Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption Mon, 17:00 Icon arrives Mon 18:00, Holy Mass (English) Tue, 17:00, Icon departs Other details to be confirmed
Cathedral website: http://www.stmaryscathedral.co.uk/
Tue 13 to Wed 14: Carfin, Motherwell
National Shrine to our Blessed Lady Tue, 18:30 Icon arrives, detail to be confirmed
Wed, 15:00, Icon departs
Shrine website: http://www.carfin.org.uk/home.aspx
Wed 14 to Fri 16 Glasgow
St. Andrew’s Cathedral Wed, 16:00 Icon arrives Detail to be confirmed
Cathedral website: http://cathedralg1.weebly.com/
(The above details are taken from the From Ocean to Ocean website timetable with a correction from the St Mary's Cathedral website (ie English Mass rather than Polish Mass 6pm Monday 12 November). At the time of writing (1 November) so far as I can see only the St Mary's Edinburgh website is carrying local details (under the 'news' section).)
Further information:
Worldwide pilgrimage website: http://www.fromoceantoocean.org/
UK website: http://www.fromoceantoocean.org.uk/
Act of Entrustment of the Protection of the Civilisation of Life and Love Into the Hands of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary
O Blessed Virgin Mary, Chaste Mother of God, Immaculate Virgin.
Into your hands we entrust the great cause of protecting the civilisation of life and love.
We live in a difficult time of a massive global attack by the civilisation of death.
Very many innocent people are perishing - unborn children, the aged and the sick.
The number of victims already exceeds two billion human beings.
Each day an additional 50 thousand children die in their mother’s womb.
Many people do not want to have any children at all.
Means of destroying fertility and life are becoming more and more common.
Infertility of married couples is increasing.
The human child is becoming a product of modern technology, a donor of cells and organs.
Children “are produced” with designated attributes, subject to selection.
Hundreds of thousands of frozen embryos are preserved between life and death in liquid nitrogen.
International man made law denies legal protection to the life of the unborn child.
More and more countries are legalising euthanasia.
The attack on marriage and the family is increasing.
O Holy Mother, we promise you that we will defend human life,
Especially the small and defenceless, with all our strength.
We stand before you, Mother of Our Redeemer,
fully aware that alone we are unable to win that global struggle.
Stand at the forefront of the defence of life movements and lead us.
Protect life! Save the family! Strengthen us!
Obtain from your son the victory of the civilisation of life and love!
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