Pilgrimage to Chartres

The Chartres pilgrimage (French: pèlerinage de Chartres), also known in French as the pèlerinage de Chrétienté (English: pilgrimage of Christendom), is an annual pilgrimage from Notre-Dame de Paris to Notre-Dame de Chartres occurring around the Christian feast of Pentecost, organized by Notre-Dame de Chrétienté (English: Our Lady of Christendom), a Catholic lay non-profit organization based in Versailles, France. Although the pilgrimage has existed since 1983, the organization was not founded until 1991. There is also a pilgrimage in an opposite direction from Chartres to Paris called Pèlerinage de Tradition (Pilgrimage of Tradition) and organised by the Society of Saint Pius X
The pilgrimage characteristically makes use of the form of the Tridentine Mass, the Roman Rite antecedent to the current Mass of Paul VI.
In 2007, the 25th anniversary of the pilgrimage, amid rumours of a forthcoming papal document favouring use of the 1962 Roman Missal – the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum was in fact published on 7 July of that year – there were nearly ten thousand pilgrims in Chartres on Pentecost Monday May 28 despite difficult weather conditions.
Chartres was a place of pilgrimage even before its Gothic cathedral was built and, by the end of the 12th century, became one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations in Europe. Its popularity is largely due to the presence of the Sancta Camisa, a piece of silk supposed to have been worn by the Blessed Virgin Mary at the birth of Jesus, donated to the cathedral by King Charles the Bald.
French poet and essayist, Charles Peguy, is credited with keeping the pilgrim's route from Paris to Chartres alive in the 20th century. For most of his life, Peguy was an ardent socialist who found himself at odds with the views of the Catholic Church. Shortly after experiencing a conversion of heart, Peguy made a pilgrimage from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris to Chartres Cathedral to pray for his son, who was very ill. His son recovered, and Peguy would continue to walk this pilgrimage route several times before he died in battle during the First World War. Peguy's friends continued to walk the pilgrimage in his memory, and a student pilgrimage grew to attract thousands in the mid 20th century.
After a period of decline in the 1960s, the modern Paris-Chartres pilgrimage was revived in 1983 by a traditionalist Catholic organization, Le Centre Henri-et-André-Charlier.
In 1988, traditionalist archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four priests as bishops against the express order of Pope John Paul II. Due to the declaration of schism in the motu proprio, Ecclesia Dei, the traditionalist community was essentially divided due to this event, and Archbishop Lefebvre's Society of Saint Pius X has since organized a separate pilgrimage which goes from Chartres to Paris called Le Pèlerinage de Tradition (Pilgrimage of Tradition).
In 1991, the Notre-Dame de Chrétienté association was founded to continue to manage the logistics of the Paris-Chartres pilgrimage.
The Chartres Pilgrimage has attracted significant interest especially amongst Catholics with a love for the Tridentine Mass. The annual event attracts thousands of Christians from across France, as well as a sizable number of international pilgrims. In 2023, for the first time in the pilgrimage's history, registrations had to be closed to latecomers due to logistical difficulties after more than 16,000 pilgrims registered. In 2024, registrations had to be closed to latecomers once again, despite extending the capacity of the event to accommodate more than 18,000 pilgrims.
The Chartres Pilgrimage has also inspired similar events in other parts of the world.