PILGRIMAGE TO SANTIAGO

PILGRIMAGE TO SANTIAGO

by Maureen Basil

(Editor's Note:  Our new statue of Saint James, recently installed in the Fountain Court, calls for an explanation of the Pilgrimage Route. Maureen Basil has written one for us.)

Pilgrimages to holy places began in Early Christian times.  In the 8th century the practice of imposing a pilgrimage as a penance for sins began in Ireland and spread throughout Europe.  By the 11th century, roads and bridges had been built, and hostels and churches, chapels and shrines—places for travelers to rest, pray, and make their offerings—sprang up along the routes.

The overwhelming majority of pilgrims in the Middle Ages did not undertake the long, hazardous journey purely because of a spirit of piety and devotion.  It was as much a spirit of fear—and hope—that drove them.  The paintings, sculptures, and mosaics in churches reinforced the priests' sermons on the urgency to obtain Divine forgiveness for one's sins.  The laity had to do something to ensure that, on the day of Judgment, they would not be condemned to eternal damnation.  They could ask a special saint to intervene—or they could journey to a shrine housing a holy relic of a saint.  By going on pilgrimage, the faithful hoped to win remission of their sins, and ensure that, on the Day of Judgment, they would be on the side of the chosen.

Three destinations were thought to confer a special blessing on the pilgrim:  Jerusalem, where it was possible to visit the True Cross and the site of Christ's Passion; Rome, with the tombs of Peter and Paul and countless other relic-filled churches; and Santiago de Compostela, in northwest Spain, the land that Christian knights were reconquering from its Muslim occupiers.

Santiago de Compostela is the shrine to St. James the Greater (meaning elder), one of the twelve apostles.  Condemned by the Roman ruler of Judea, Herod Agrippa, he was beheaded in Jerusalem about the year AD 44 and is said to be the first of the apostles to be martyred.

There are several stories of how the beheaded body of the saint came to Spain; but according to the most popular, it had been miraculously transported from the Holy Land in a ship built of stone, to be discovered in a remote field in the mid-ninth century.  The legend started an astonishing cult, which was so well established by the end of the 11th century that the pope transferred the bishop's see to Compostela, where a new basilica had been started in 1076.

Compostela's reputation drew pilgrims from as far afield as Scotland and Greece.  Once they reached France, they traveled along one of four routes:  from Paris though Tours, Poitiers and Bordeaux; from Vezelay through Perigueux; from LePuy through Conques; and from Arles through Saint-Gilles and Toulouse.  All joined at Puente La Reina in Spain to go onward through Burgos and Leon to Compostela.

Most pilgrims timed their departure for spring, as it took at least a month to complete one of the four routes.  They wore long, coarse tunics and carried wooden staffs blessed by their local priest.  The rich rode horseback, but the majority walked.

A Pilgrim's Guide, written in 1139 by Aimery Picaud, a monk from the region of Poiters in France, offered practical advice on the desolate and dangerous places the faithful would pass through.  Hospices dotted the roads to Compostela.  Besides providing bread and meat and rough red wine, they were a refuge from the cutthroats and other dangers of the road.  According to Picaud, "Those entering hospices will think themselves in the Kingdom of Heaven."

When the pilgrims finally arrived at Compostela, weary though they were, they immediately headed to the cathedral.  Inside, they knelt by the altar which had been built over the sepulcher of St. James.  Their journey was complete.

At the beach in Compostela, where the body of St. James was supposed to have miraculously landed in its ship, the pilgrims collected scallop shells.  This practice probably started because of another legend, which tells of a knight who rushed into the sea to greet the stone boat and emerged covered with scallop shells.

Thus the scallop shell became a symbol of pilgrimage.  It was the recognizable "badge" of the pilgrims, distinguishing them from other wayfarers, hopefully protecting them from the hazards attending medieval travelers.

The roads to Santiago, built so many years ago because of medieval people's faith in legend, have left behind some of the most remarkable art and architecture of our civilization. MAG's recent sculpture acquisition Saint James is one of these treasures.