![]() ![]() What drew me to the Camino was its process. I felt that I needed more “deep Catholic” practices beyond praying or lighting votive candles-my usual Catholic comfort standby. But the Catholic piece of my identity didn’t seem to be getting the attention or answers it needed from these activities. What did that say about the kind of person I was and my chances for healing? If I couldn’t-or wouldn’t-forgive, did I deserve the comfort of belief or the certainty of a faith identity? Could I, or should I, still call myself a Catholic or even a daughter of God?įor help I turned to the usual modern therapies: counseling, tai chi, and writing. Forgiveness is essential to Christian teaching after all, yet I couldn’t seem to get there. At especially low points I wondered if the problem wasn’t religion or faith but me. The clergy member’s reaction only added to the anger and confusion I’d been feeling and led to a deep crisis of religious identity.Ī lifelong Catholic, even if not always a devout one, I started to question whether forgiveness in this case was achievable for me and, if not, whether Catholicism, Christianity, or any faith practice was right for me anymore. When I tried to report the trauma to a clergy member, I received rejection in the form of the suggestion that I was seeking vengeance and that instead I should forgive. In 2008 I had a traumatic experience that damaged my sense of self-worth and my faith. So, to use a question that pilgrims will ask each other on the Camino by way of introduction, what was I in it for? Some are simply in it for the adventure, the scenery, or the exercise. Not as many folks are in it these days for penance. In the old days pilgrims walked the Camino to earn indulgences or atone for sins. Not everyone wants to claim their compostela, and not everyone wants to get to the end. And that doesn’t even include those who walk only part of the way. According to the Pilgrim’s Office of the Cathedral of Santiago, in 2018 nearly 330,000 pilgrims received a compostela, almost double the number recorded the year I walked. Today, Santiago de Compostela is one of the most important pilgrimage cities in Christianity, along with Jerusalem, Rome, and Canterbury.Īfter declining in popularity in the wake of the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment, pilgrimaging has become popular again in the past few decades. During the Middle Ages pilgrimage routes to the location were created. The cathedral in Santiago was built to hold the long-lost relics of St. The followers landed on the coast of Galicia and buried James in a spot that was eventually forgotten until about 800 years later, when a shepherd or hermit, led by a bright star, found a campus stellae, “field of the stars,” bearing a single grave. Scripture says James died in Jerusalem in 44 C.E., but Spanish tradition picks up James’ story from there, claiming his followers sailed his remains in a stone, rudderless boat to the Iberian Peninsula, where James had traveled to preach the gospel before he died. James (the Greater), housed in the cathedral in Santiago. Throughout history, pilgrims have completed the Camino de Santiago to reach the tomb of the Apostle St. ![]() If you would’ve asked me a year ago what the takeaway of my pilgrimage was, you would’ve received a different answer than the one you would receive today. What I didn’t expect was how its meaning would continue to evolve over time. I waited just one day after arriving in Santiago before presenting myself at the city’s cathedral to receive my compostela, a pilgrim’s official certificate.įrom the start I knew the Camino would be a watershed experience, the kind I would measure the rest of my life against. ![]() I took only one day off from walking to sightsee in Burgos and another day off between Sahagún and León to recover from blisters. My last day I surprised myself by walking 25 miles, most of them through wind and pouring rain. I made it only five miles, as far as a pilgrim’s hostel on the French side. The first day I couldn’t even complete the 15 miles to cross the border into Spain. I walked the Camino in 2011, leaving the French village of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the Pyrenees Mountains on September 22 and arriving in Santiago de Compostela on October 27. I do this to celebrate when I walked the Camino de Santiago, a 500-mile pilgrimage route across Spain to the city of Santiago de Compostela in the northwest region of Galicia. I usually bake a Galician almond cake, called a tarta de Santiago, and sometimes go out for tapas or buy a bottle of Rioja. Every fall I do something Spanish to commemorate a time in my life when I did a very Spanish thing.
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