St Margaret Clitherow Procession

This year’s Pilgrimage for St Margaret Clitherow and the Martyrs of York was on Bank Holiday Monday .

The day began with an assembly at the Bar Convent to venerate the Relic of St Margaret Clitherow. There will be prayers at The Bar Convent Chapel at 10.30am, then a procession with the statue of St Margaret moved off and passed Ouse Bridge, the place of her execution, and the Shambles, stopping at the house where she lived.

Margaret Middleton was born in York in 1556 into a Protestant family. At the age of 18, she converted to Catholicism after the infamous recusant, Dorothy Vavasour, was placed under house arrest in the care of her Protestant neighbour, John Clitherow - Margaret's husband. In the reign of Elizabeth I, Catholicism was made illegal. In 1584, the passing of 'An Act against Jesuits, priests and other like disobedient persons' made harbouring Catholic priests a capital offence.