Our Lady of Peñafrancia Pilgrimage in Hoveton

Around 700 pilgrims from across England gathered at St Helen’s Catholic Church in Hoveton, Norfolk, on 20 September 2026 for the 16th annual pilgrimage and feast celebrating the Filipino devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia. Nick Walmsley (Tribu Bicolano) reports.

Held during the Diocese of East Anglia’s Golden Jubilee year, the celebration welcomed Bishop Peter Collins for a day of prayer, processions, Mass and Filipino hospitality.

Inspired by the great celebrations at Our Lady’s Minor Basilica in Naga, in the Bicol region of the Philippines, which attracted 1.2 million people this year, the Hoveton pilgrimage has grown considerably. This year’s pilgrims included communities from Norwich, North Walsham, Dereham, King’s Lynn, Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Colchester, Boston, Louth and Lincoln, alongside visitors from London and Liverpool.

The pilgrimage features processions on both water and land, carrying the statue of ‘INA’ (‘Mother’ as she is called) and the image of El Divino Rostro, the Holy Face. It also marks the culmination of Our Lady’s ‘Pagsunko’ (‘visitations’), during which her travelling statue, kept at Our Lady and St Walstan’s Catholic Church in Costessey, visits Filipino communities across East Anglia and the East Midlands throughout the summer.

This year, Our Lady’s statue travelled from St Helen’s in an open 1914 Model T Ford to four large Broads Tours passenger boats. Around 350 pilgrims then joined the ‘fluvial procession’ along the River Bure.

Bishop Peter and Deacon Jonathan Callejo were driven in the Model T to meet the returning boats before joining hundreds of pilgrims for the land procession. The images of INA and El Divino Rostro were carried on flower-decked palanquins through the busy village.

Such was the length of the procession that those at the front reached St Helen’s before those at the rear had crossed the ancient river bridge, where the boats had docked half a mile away.

At the church, Bishop Peter gave a moving episcopal blessing to the permanent shrine of Our Lady of Peñafrancia and to members of Tribu Bicolano, who organise the annual pilgrimage under the direction of Mr Fred Venzon.

The festival Mass was celebrated outdoors in glorious weather, with Bishop Peter as principal celebrant and St Helen’s parish priest, Fr Alan Hodgson, concelebrating, assisted by Deacon Jonathan Callejo.

In a memorable homily, Bishop Peter delighted the congregation by revealing that his first pilgrimage in Spain had been to the original shrine of Our Lady of Peñafrancia.

The traditional anthem “Resuene Vibrante” was sung, and cries of “Viva La Virgen!” rang out around the village. Following Mass, pilgrims enjoyed a sumptuous feast in true Filipino style.

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