The Whit Monday Pilgrimage was renamed the National Pilgrimage in 1959. It was renamed by Patrick Maitland, the Master of Lauderdale and the then President of the Church Union, to mark the Union's centenary. The 1973 National Pilgrimage was the last to be held in the Shrine grounds. Pressure of numbers meant that, initially on an experimental basis, from 1974 the Pilgrimage has been held in the Abbey grounds. The Pilgrimage consists of the journey to Walsingham, a High Mass, lunch in the Abbey grounds, and Procession and Benediction, before the journey home.
