Week-long walking pilgrimage winds its way to Martyrs' Shrine

It's hard to miss the large swaths of people solemnly walking with crosses and other religious symbols on Midland-area roads this week.

“It’s a seven-day walk that started in Caledon,” Huronia West OPP Const. Mike Osborne said about the pilgrims ambling along local roads. “They do this every year.”

Those participating this week are part of the 42nd annual walking pilgrimage to the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland. Founded in 1982, the seven-day spiritual journey begins each year in Caledon and features more than 300 pilgrims all taking part in this celebration of Christianity.

Osborne says police have been helping ensure the pilgrims safety by closing roads as needed and ensuring drivers pay heed.

According to Osborne, detachments will hand off responsibility to their neighbouring brethren as the group makes its way from one coverage area to another.

As an example, he noted the Nottawasaga detachment handled the group before handing them off to his detachment with Southern Georgian Bay OPP taking over later Thursday when the group arrives at the Tiny/Flos town-line.

"I’ve never met so many nice people," Osborne says of the pilgrims’ reaction to the police officers they encounter along the route.

“I’ve never seen so much gratitude or been hugged so much. Our whole role is purely just to get them across these busy roads."

According to Osborne, last year's pilgrimage featured the mother of Const. Grzegorz "Greg" Pierzchala, a 28-year-old rookie OPP officer, who was shot and killed in late 2022 shortly after completing his 10-month probationary period. This year, the late officer's brother is taking part.

The pilgrimage started last weekend from the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Caledon East.

According to the event’s website, a spiritual pilgrimage should include three main components of a retreat: Formation, prayer and penance.

“The Walking Pilgrimage to Midland was born in the hearts of a small group of parishioners of St. Teresa,” the group notes.

“They were looking for a way to spiritually connect with their friends in Poland. One of the ideas was to organize a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary.”

It all started with a one-day car ‘pilgrimage’, but on the way back someone asked if anyone would like to go on a walking pilgrimage.

Many years have now passed since the first walking pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of the Canadian Martyrs. It was modelled on the walking pilgrimage undertaken every year by Poles going to Jasna Góra in Czestochowa.

While 18 people took part in the first walking pilgrimage to Midland, a group from Kitchener and Cambridge joined them three years later.

Today, the pilgrimage departs from six different cities in southern Ontario with everyone heading toward the place honouring the first Canadian martyrs.