Chai Brady
Archbishop Eamon Martin with Archbishop Richard Clarke During a pilgrimage with the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh to the Somme in Belgium, Archbishop Eamon Martin pledged to reach out in friendship and “build trust and lasting peace on the island of Ireland”.
During a series of tweets about the ecumenical pilgrimage which aimed to mark the centenary of the end of World War I, the archbishop documented the ‘Pilgrimage of Hope’ which included 36 people.
There were also 16 young people representing both the Protestant and Catholic traditions.
The sites on the pilgrimage especially focused on the Battle of Messines and the areas in which soldiers from the 16th (Irish), 10th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) Divisions fought and died in Belgium and France.
They visited cemeteries and memorials including Thiepval Wood, Guillemont and the Ulster Tower.
The final stop of the pilgrimage, on June 1, was Tyne Cot Cemetary which is the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world and is the final resting place of nearly 12,000 men, of whom more than 8,300 remain unidentified.
Apology
In one tweet Archbishop Eamon Martin said: “‘As Protestants and Catholics, we apologise for the terrible deeds we have done to each other and ask forgiveness…’ At #Messines we remembered Protestant and Catholic soldiers from the island of Ireland who were who were ‘united in death’ during #WWI #pilgrimageofhope.”
The two archbishops previously led a cross–community delegation of young people from across the island of Ireland to the battle sites of the Somme two years ago.