Text of the Act of Consecration of England & Wales to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by His Eminence Cardinal Griffin on behalf of The Hierarchy of England and Wales, The Clergy and the Faithful within the Abbey Grounds – Walsingham, July 16th 1948, Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

This Act of Consecration was the culmination of the Great Cross Carrying Pilgrimage of prayer and penance for peace, which took place from July 2nd to July 16th 1948

Cardinal Griffin led the Act of Consecration, and line by line the 12,000 strong congregation repeated it, in fervent prayer and petition.

Act of Consecration
Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, Refuge of the Human Race, Victress in all
God’s battles, we humbly prostrate ourselves before thy throne, confident that
we shall receive mercy, grace and bountiful assistance and protection in the
present calamity, not through our own inadequate merits, but solely through
the great goodness of thy Maternal Heart.
To Thee, to thy Immaculate Heart in this humanity’s tragic hour, we consign
and consecrate ourselves in union not only with the Mystical Body of thy Son,
Holy Mother Church, now in such suffering and agony in so many places and
sorely tried in so many ways, but also with the entire world, torn by fierce
strife, consumed in a fire of hate, victim of its own wickedness.
May the sight of the widespread material and moral destruction, of the
sorrows and anguish of countless fathers and mothers, husbands and wives,
brothers and sisters, and innocent children, and of the tortured and agonised
souls in danger of being lost eternally, move thee to compassion.
O Mother of Mercy, obtain peace for us from God and above all procure for us
those graces which prepare, establish and assure that peace.
Queen of Peace, pray for us and give to the world the peace for which all
peoples are longing, peace in the truth, justice and charity of Christ. Give
peace to the nations and to the souls of men, that in the tranquility of order
the Kingdom of God may prevail.
Extend thy protection to the infidels and to all those still in the shadow of
death; give them peace and grant that on them, too, may shine the sun of
truth, that they may unite with us in proclaiming before the one and only
Saviour of the world “Glory to God in the highest and peace to men of good
will.
Give peace to the peoples separated by error or by discord, and especially to
those who profess such singular devotion to thee and in whose homes an
honoured place was ever accorded thy venerated image (to-day perhaps kept
hidden to await better days): bring them back to the fold of Christ under the
one true shepherd.
Obtain peace and complete freedom for the Holy Church of God; stay the
spreading flood of modern paganism; enkindle in the faithful the love of purity,
the practice of Christian life, and an apostolic zeal, so that the servants of
God may increase in merit and number.
Lastly, as the Church and the entire human race were consecrated to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, so that in reposing all hope in Him, He might become
for them the sign and pledge of victory and salvation; so we in like manner
consecrate ourselves forever also to thee and to thy Immaculate Heart, Our
Mother and Queen, that thy love and patronage may hasten the triumph of
the Kingdom of God and that all nations, at peace with one another and with
God, may proclaim thee blessed and with thee may raise their voices to
resound from pole to pole in the chant of the everlasting Magnificat of glory,
love and gratitude to the Heart of Jesus, where alone they can find truth and
peace.