The Rise and Rise of the Traditional Latin Mass Pilgrimage

Chartres, Covadonga, and Walsingham, they just keep getting bigger and bigger!

From One Peter Five

By Thomas Colsy

Resurrected pilgrimages to some of the oldest Catholic nations’ most significant spiritual sites are continuing to surge in popularity among devotees of the Traditional Latin Mass.

It’s quite something to behold. Every year, Europe’s ancient landscapes, where the Faith’s echoes linger in stone and song, the countryside moves with burgeoning numbers of (predominantly young) traditional pilgrims. The surroundings become marked by the soft cadence of prayers and the tread of pilgrims’ feet –  in between the bellowing of folk songs and chant.

Leading the way are France, Spain, and England. For consecutive years now, their most prominent Catholic pilgrimages which celebrate according to the ancient rite have continued to grow. This year, 2025, proved no exception – and record numbers were recorded all around.

From the sweeping fields surrounding Chartres to the hushed lanes of Walsingham and the rugged heights of Covadonga, a growing number of devotees seek God and a return to the roots accompanied by the solemnity and power of the old Mass.

Chartres stands as the heart of this revival, its annual Pentecost pilgrimage draws thousands to a cathedral cradling the Virgin’s veil. Since 1983, Notre-Dame de Chrétienté has guided this 62-mile walk from Paris over three days, reviving a medieval devotion. The figures speak starkly: 10,000 braved storms in 2007; 16,000 walked in 2023; 18,000 in 2024; and in 2025, 19,000 registered, with 2,000 more left waiting, their average age a youthful 20. Across campsites, over 300 Latin Masses unfold, with pilgrims – French, Polish, Lebanese, Swedish, American – lifting voices in Latin, French, and beyond.

The Chartres pèlerinage Notre-Dame de Chrétienté – photo by Robert Slawik

The Chartres pèlerinage Notre-Dame de Chrétienté – photo by Robert Slawik

The scene has become iconic. Crosses gleam in morning mist; banners flutter over golden fields; Chartres’s spires rise like silent prayers at journey’s end. A century ago, the poet Charles Péguy trod this path, seeking grace for his ailing son, his verses later weaving the pilgrimage’s quiet sanctity into words. In 2025, with Vatican eyes on Traditionis Custodes, the opening Mass shifted from Notre-Dame – unavailable for practical reasons – to Saint-Sulpice’s vast nave. Bishop Philippe Christory presided over the final Mass, sharing a papal prayer for the pilgrims’ spiritual renewal. Philippe Darantière, the event’s organiser, noted the aim: to deepen faith through prayer and sacrifice, lived out in daily life. Against France’s rising tide of young adult baptisms – up 45% in 2025 – Chartres quietly leads a broader awakening.

The SSPX Chartres Pèlerinage de Tradition Photo credit.

The SSPX Chartres Pèlerinage de Tradition Photo credit.

In England’s Norfolk, the Latin Mass Society’s Walsingham pilgrimage follows a gentler but no less poignant course. Held over the August Bank Holiday, this 57-mile walk from Ely to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham recalls a medieval devotion born in 1061, when the Virgin appeared to Lady Richeldis, bidding her build a holy house. Kings like Henry III and Queens like Catherine of Aragon once walked here, until the Reformation’s shadow fell in 1538, leaving behind only the Slipper Chapel. The Slipper Chapel itself fell into disrepair until (some might say miraculously) it was acquired by a local woman in the 19th century who then converted to Catholicism and returned it to the Church.

Walsingham Pilgrimage – photos by the author

Walsingham Pilgrimage – photos by the author

Walsingham Pilgrimage – photos by the author

The traditional pilgrimage, begun in 2011 with a only handful, has grown: 120 attendees in 2021, 167 in 2022, over 200 in 2024, and 220 in 2025, joining 500 for the Sunday Mass, many barefoot on the final mile as custom holds. With an average age of 25, families, seminarians, and elders pray for England’s return to faith, heeding Pope Leo XIII’s words that Walsingham’s revival heralds Our Lady’s return.

Moments linger along these paths. In 2025, a Relic of the True Cross, carried for the Society’s 60th year, was venerated near Stoke Ferry. In 2023, two young men whom I would count as friends walked alongside me, their journey kindling vocations: one now trains with the Institute of Christ the King, another with the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter. A Manchester pilgrim, Henry, spoke plainly: the old Mass connects him to his ancestors’ faith, stretching back to the Church’s earliest days. In Norfolk’s quiet lanes, scented with wild roses, a subtle revival takes root.

In Spain’s Asturias, the Covadonga pilgrimage, though newer, carries a similar resolve. Launched in 2021 by (the similarly named to their French counterpart) Nuestra Señora de la Cristiandad, this 60-mile journey from Oviedo to the shrine of Our Lady of Covadonga – where Don Pelayo’s 718 victory sparked the Reconquista – grew from a few to over 1,700 by 2025, their hymns resounding through mountain crags. Held near St James’s feast in July, it faced a hurdle in 2024 when Rome barred the Latin Mass at the basilica. Organisers shifted it to the camp, closing with adoration and a Marian consecration. In 2025, the restriction held, yet numbers rose, with the final Te Deum offered before the Blessed Sacrament in hope for such a continuation.

Editor’s note: see photos from OnePeterFive’s journey on this pilgrimage in 2023 with contributing editor Theo Howard:

The trails yield their stories. Diana Catalán Vitas, the pilgrimage’s organiser, works tirelessly, marshaling volunteers to sustain the journey. One pilgrim spoke of the walk as a reclaiming of Spain’s Christian soul, tying the present to its storied past. Though the basilica’s altar stands silent, the pilgrimage’s spirit endures.

These paths – Chartres’s open fields, Walsingham’s gentle tracks, Covadonga’s steadfast slopes – share a common thread: the ancient Mass as a quiet compass to the once buried spiritual core of their ancient nations and the God who blessed them. Despite constraints, from Rome’s rulings to local hesitations, young pilgrims come, vocations stir, and faith deepens.

It remains to be seen whether what is taking place in France, Spain and England will be emulated or surpassed by Catholics in other nations. But for now, its growth shows no sign of coming to an end.