Acknowledging that the purpose of pilgrimage to SDC has changed

[JustJack]

As I walked the Via de la Plata from Seville this spring, I had a lot of time to think. A really big amount of time. One of the things I spent some time thinking about is how the purpose or motivation of pilgrimage to Santiago has changed since it began in the middle ages.

Back in the golden era of the Camino de Santiago in the ninth and tenth century, and in subsequent centuries, people walked to SDC for religious reasons. More specifically, they walked there to atone for past sins, to seek some sort of miracle, to pray for help for themselves for for someone else, etc.

While there are no doubt still some that walk for those reasons today, based on the myriad of camino content available it would seem that most people today walk for very different reasons. Specifically they tend to walk because they are looking for time alone to think. Perhaps to process grief or to contemplate a crossroad in their life. Some simply enjoy the peace and nature, and simplicity of camino life. Many walk because of the people they meet along the way. Indeed this seems to be one of the biggest reasons people are attracted to the camino. Many do it for cultural or slow-tourism reasons. What better way to see such a beautiful country. There are other reasons as well, but the point is that the majority aren't doing it for the reasons it was done historically. All those great qualities we like to focus on today - being present in the moment, letting our minds slow down, enjoying the company of fellow pilgrims - were luxuries the medieval pilgrims didn't have. They were simply trying to get to SDC and the long journey was just something that had to be done to get there. I don't know but I suspect that being present in the moment and having time alone with their thoughts wasn't a thing back then.

Not sure what my point is. Not sure I have one, other than to say I find it interesting that in the hundreds or thousands of hours of camino content I've consumed - videos, podcasts, books, forums - I almost never see discussions about how our motivations today are starkly different from what they were when this whole thing began. At least for most of us. We talk about "the camino" and how people have been walking it for a thousand years, as if they've done it for the same reasons we walk it today.

 

[Robo]

Interesting.
Maybe we feel a 'connection' to the Pilgrims of the past in some way.
Maybe we are sub consciously trying to emulate them and their purpose?

Whilst I love walking a Camino route for the landscapes, culture, time alone etc etc.
On those routes that have a longer/deeper history of Pilgrimage they feel very different to me.

Maybe it is that sense of 'connection'?

But as you say. Our journey and purpose, for many, is likely very different to the past.

 

[Giorgio Braga]

Maybe it is that sense of 'connection'?

Maybe because we have respect for the history of the Pilgrimage. Landscapes may make me "Woah!" at them, but those historical places would make me go into a deep thoughts without even realizing

 

[JustJack]

Maybe because we have respect for the history of the Pilgrimage. Landscapes may make me "Woah!" at them, but those historical places would make me go into a deep thoughts without even realizing

I completely agree.

Interestingly, historical places most definitely weren't motivations originally, as our history was their modern day

 

[dick bird]

Admittedly it is a work of fiction, but Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ suggests our 14th century forebears weren’t so very different to us.

 

[Lindsay53]

While some see it as a cheap holiday, I don't think the motivation for most is much different than it was in the past. Religious commitment, processing grief, looking for answers and time to contemplate are universal human traits and have not changed much over the centuries.

 

[Bill905]

Maybe because we have respect for the history of the Pilgrimage. Landscapes may make me "Woah!" at them, but those historical places would make me go into a deep thoughts without even realizing

Yes, the landscapes are indeed beautiful. For me, the purpose of the Camino is to help bring my internal landscapes into focus ... my spiritual landscapes, my relationship landscapes, etc. I think the same might apply to many other pilgrims based on interactions I have had over the years.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

I completely agree.

Interestingly, historical places most definitely weren't motivations originally, as our history was their modern day

But they *were* under direction to visit those places -- not as historical in a past sense, but as historical in the 'living history' sense: as the representation of the very best that the age had to offer... more important, particularly sacred, holding knowledge and cultural value that their local lives could not deliver. Pilgrimage was all that you mention *and* a cultural education as well... in which the Church raised up the people, and the people funded the various cathedrals and basilicas that in turn provided the pragmatic help known under the general idea of 'hospice/hospitality' at that time.

 

[JustJack]

I don't think the motivation for most is much different than it was in the past. Religious commitment, processing grief, looking for answers and time to contemplate are universal human traits and have not changed much over the centuries.

This is what I've been questioning. I'm not so sure that time to contemplate or processing grief were motivations for medieval pilgrims. That seems to be a modern motivation.

I get the sense that many of the motivations for pilgrims walking today started to be articulated as motivations when the camino became popular again, in the past 50 years or so. Prior to that I suspect pilgrims would have been puzzled if you suggested any motivation other than religion and their personal concern that they have a pleasant afterlife.

I'm speculating of course, but everything I've heard about medieval pilgrimage says that they did it strictly for religious reasons, and the destination was the goal, not the journey. That's very different from why most do it today, where the journey is the goal.

 

[trecile]

While some see it as a cheap holiday,

The "cheap holiday" phrase gets thrown around a lot here, but if I indeed wanted a cheap holiday, it wouldn't be spent walking for hours a day in all kinds of weather, and sleeping in shared dorms with a bunch of strangers. Instead, I would find an inexpensive place to spend a week or two on a beach somewhere.

 

[C clearly]

I agree that the motivations for walking the Camino have changed, just as the societies and circumstances of the participants have changed. How could they not?

I find it interesting that in the hundreds or thousands of hours of camino content I've consumed - videos, podcasts, books, forums - I almost never see discussions about how our motivations today are starkly different from what they were when this whole thing began.

This surprised me, but possibly because the forum is my main source of information and discussion about the Camino. (Maybe the thousands of other sources have none: I don't really know.) The forum has lots of threads and posts on this topic, even though discussions need to respect Rule 3.

"3) No arguments about who is a tourist and who is a “real" pilgrim. The forum is intended for all who are interested in the Camino. Please do not challenge the sincerity, intentions, or authenticity of another person’s Camino!"​

 

[Kiwi-family]

Interestingly, historical places most definitely weren't motivations originally, as our history was their modern day

Woah! Roman roads were already very old in the 1400s!! As were the Pre-Romanesque chapel in Oviedo (started in 796) and the Church of Santa María del Naranco and the Church of San Miguel de Lillo in the same city - and even the Romanesque church of Eunate and the Church of Santa Maria la Blanca in Villalcazar de Sirga and the Church of Santiago in Villafranca del Bierzo were already 300 years old by then!

 

[William Garza]

Are we sure that we are as separated from the humans from the past as we think?

As if base and basic motivations have changed.

They probably "migrated"? temporarily toward Santiago de Compostela for the same reasons as today...minus all the modern stuff.
Without all modern mass communication,Santiago would still draw the human spirit toward the ends

The means have not changed,persons still walk west.
Why? Does it matter the motivation?

What matters is that people go
Its not who,why,when in life,where in life...

The person is what matters.

The modernist idea of labeling everything to compartmentalise..to understand it..belies the act of simply living and existing outside oneself.

The reason why doesnt matter as much as the action of paticipation in the journey..which provides the reward,whatever that may be...realised after toil and privation from the coils where you came from.

Maybe its a validation of some inner diction a person hears in the depths of being human.

A calling to come to terms with something only a period of self sufficiency,a period of mortification of the mind/body/spirit to cleanse the room so to speak..or simply to empty them all out in a 500 mile catharsis

does it matter why people go?
No

But its lovely that people do

 

[AndrewP]

I walked a first time Camino Francis this April May 2024 from Saint Jean to Santiago.
Very few times passed without the why Camino or what Camino question coming up with other Pilgrims and locals.
Personally I was walking with reasons including:
To respond to a firm call, that call being a call from God (I took a long time to respond to the call. The call I responded to, was related to Elijah, running for his life in 1 Kings 19 verses 1 to 17).
To take more time than a short while to step outside my set daily ways.
To have extended time away from daily ways.
To enjoy extended time in the presence of God.
I was not having thoughts of grief or failings or thoughts of penance or effort walking to gain any favour.
I knew the journey was long. The passage above has detailed instructions to prepare and rest and eat and then walk for forty days
I prepared for years to respond to the call. I prepared for months to prepare physically. I investigated what things I thought I would need. When I responded to the call I settled on the 40 days.
40 days has some significance outside myself. 40 days of the ancients in the wilderness comes to mind. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness.
The 40 days allowed me to factor in rest days each Sunday.
I believe the human condition is unchanged from the ancients in the wilderness until today.
I tried to read something of the present situation of the people in Spain. On rest days I wanted to live as a local if I could.
One thing I read was Edith Grossman's translation of Don Quixote.
I met numerous people both pilgrims and locals who related to the treatment that Miguel De Cervantes gives to the human condition likening the Don (himself) and his companion (and us) and high and low and wise and simple and rich and poor and young and old as nags and donkeys. Pilgrims frequent the pages of this tale.
On the Way I saw numerous instances abound both historic and today where the presence of God reminds the pilgrim on the way of all the above.
The way contains the good and the ugly and all bits combined.
I came to the realisation is what not about the why question but the what question. Each day I asked myself and those I met the what question times two. What do you see? and what do you hear?.
Some examples:
I saw the fields green, the bread of life. I saw the fields yellow, the oil of gladness. I saw the vines, the blood, I saw the waterways, the water of life.
All these were evident in the symbols and signs everywhere outside and inside.
I heard the sounds of birdsome and water and chit chat and singing and music and laughter and crying in pain and all bits combined.
I believe the human condition is unchanged from the ancients in the wilderness until today.
Andrew Phillips

 

[JabbaPapa]

Pilgrims journals from late Antiquity onwards show that pilgrims have always had a disparate variety of motivations and purposes beyond some simplistic notion of "mediaeval pilgrims had religious purposes".

Tourism and personal reasons have always been strong motivators for pilgrims throughout the Centuries.

I would also point out that these notions of Mediaeval versus Modern are really just a rehash of some old Ancients versus Moderns notions that started to be pushed forward during the Renaissance, whether from unrealistic rose-tinted views about Days of Yore or from revisionist and equally unrealistic notions that they were a period of Dark Ages or something.

This can be boiled down without too much caricature as the opposing Myth of a Golden Age and the Myth of Progress.

Whereas in fact so-called "Mediaeval" motivations persist into the 21st Century and most so-called "Modern" motivations have existed since Antiquity.

Including because human nature has not changed during the intermediary years.

Interestingly, historical places most definitely weren't motivations originally, as our history was their modern day

In fact, from the very start of foot and horse and maritime pilgrimages in the 3rd and 4th Centuries, pilgrims were very interested in visiting historic locations of particular shrines, locations of martyrdoms (notably in Rome where entire Communities/Parishes had been wiped out by Roman Authorities), or such historic Biblical locations that continue to be pilgrimage destinations to this very day.

 

[J Willhaus]

The "cheap holiday" phrase gets thrown around a lot here, but if I indeed wanted a cheap holiday, it wouldn't be spent walking for hours a day in all kinds of weather, and sleeping in shared dorms with a bunch of strangers. Instead, I would find an inexpensive place to spend a week or two on a beach somewhere.

Not so cheap as it was with luggage transfer and private rooms which seems to be a preference for many nowadays.

 

[Jarrad]

@JustJack those are interesting reflections. I'd add that many of those who are walking with religious intentions may be doing so below the sight line, as some (maybe many) who are practicing or reconnecting Catholics fear that they may not be embraced the way others in the Camino community are. And others simply hold strong religious beliefs and intentions related to pilgrimage close to the vest, not unlike those of us who fear to tread to closely to Rule #3.

 

[Bradypus]

Those walking in the early days of the Camino revival were far more likely to identify themselves as having religious motivations and as being practising Christians. @Kathar1na posted some remarkable statistics collected by the Roncesvalles Colegiata for 1987 some years ago. In that year about half of all Compostelas went to people who were recorded passing through Roncesvalles so it is probably a good indicator of pilgrims generally at the time. Only one of the pilgrims that year self-identified as "non-religious". The vast majority were recorded as being Roman Catholic. When it came to motive for walking the answer was overwhelmingly "religious". Of course it is possible that some people may have been giving the answers which they felt were expected from them. Three years later I was still enough of a novelty as a Protestant theology student to be given a very thorough but enjoyable inquisition on what pilgrimage and the Apostle might mean to this exotic specimen before being given my Compostela. I think that in some ways the situation has been reversed now and some people may be reluctant to declare their personal religious motivation for fear of conflict with others.

 

[flewitheagles]

As I walked the Via de la Plata from Seville this spring, I had a lot of time to think. A really big amount of time. One of the things I spent some time thinking about is how the purpose or motivation of pilgrimage to Santiago has changed since it began in the middle ages.

Back in the golden era of the Camino de Santiago in the ninth and tenth century, and in subsequent centuries, people walked to SDC for religious reasons. More specifically, they walked there to atone for past sins, to seek some sort of miracle, to pray for help for themselves for for someone else, etc.

While there are no doubt still some that walk for those reasons today, based on the myriad of camino content available it would seem that most people today walk for very different reasons. Specifically they tend to walk because they are looking for time alone to think. Perhaps to process grief or to contemplate a crossroad in their life. Some simply enjoy the peace and nature, and simplicity of camino life. Many walk because of the people they meet along the way. Indeed this seems to be one of the biggest reasons people are attracted to the camino. Many do it for cultural or slow-tourism reasons. What better way to see such a beautiful country. There are other reasons as well, but the point is that the majority aren't doing it for the reasons it was done historically. All those great qualities we like to focus on today - being present in the moment, letting our minds slow down, enjoying the company of fellow pilgrims - were luxuries the medieval pilgrims didn't have. They were simply trying to get to SDC and the long journey was just something that had to be done to get there. I don't know but I suspect that being present in the moment and having time alone with their thoughts wasn't a thing back then.

Not sure what my point is. Not sure I have one, other than to say I find it interesting that in the hundreds or thousands of hours of camino content I've consumed - videos, podcasts, books, forums - I almost never see discussions about how our motivations today are starkly different from what they were when this whole thing began. At least for most of us. We talk about "the camino" and how people have been walking it for a thousand years, as if they've done it for the same reasons we walk it today.

I believe, based on my own experience in chaplaincy and pastoral ministry, that "contemplation" has changed from what were the earliest days of the pilgrimage to SdC. In short, it was then primarily an act of penance and prayer. The more contemporary understanding of the term seems to focus on understanding one's purpose or direction. While I admit my thoughts are somewhat simplified, I believe it the case in more general terms.

 

[RJM]

The purpose has changed? Really?
Don't know about that. It's stayed the same for me and a great percentage of that personal purpose is the Camino's original purpose.
As far as anyone else's reason? I personally could care less.

 

[Thaigir]

Interesting reflections, thank you for sharing. My husband and I will soon be on our own journey. We came to the Camino when our trip to Israel (which was scheduled for this past May) was cancelled. We wanted to grow closer to GOD, we wanted to absorb history and walk in the places Jesus and the apostles walked. We wanted to grow closer together and learn to be grateful in every way… through good times and bad. When Israel was no longer an option, the Camino settled in our souls. Yes, i’m looking forward to all the things that current Camino goers appreciate and love about their journeys, but I’m going with GOD as my priority, a humble heart and a goal to make sure that no matter the challenge, HE remains my priority, my joy and my hope! I have no doubt The Camino is still the road that takes many to closer to GOD to this very day Bom Caminho!

 

[simoncooper99]

An interesting post. I think we all have very different reasons for for doing the camimo as would have been the case in the past. I note "the golden era of the Camino de Santiago in the ninth and tenth century" also coincided with the crusades- when the popes urged faithful Christians to undertake an armed pilgrimage to  retake Jerusalem.

 

[bullingtonce]

As I walked the Via de la Plata from Seville this spring, I had a lot of time to think. A really big amount of time. One of the things I spent some time thinking about is how the purpose or motivation of pilgrimage to Santiago has changed since it began in the middle ages.

Back in the golden era of the Camino de Santiago in the ninth and tenth century, and in subsequent centuries, people walked to SDC for religious reasons. More specifically, they walked there to atone for past sins, to seek some sort of miracle, to pray for help for themselves for for someone else, etc.

While there are no doubt still some that walk for those reasons today, based on the myriad of camino content available it would seem that most people today walk for very different reasons. Specifically they tend to walk because they are looking for time alone to think. Perhaps to process grief or to contemplate a crossroad in their life. Some simply enjoy the peace and nature, and simplicity of camino life. Many walk because of the people they meet along the way. Indeed this seems to be one of the biggest reasons people are attracted to the camino. Many do it for cultural or slow-tourism reasons. What better way to see such a beautiful country. There are other reasons as well, but the point is that the majority aren't doing it for the reasons it was done historically. All those great qualities we like to focus on today - being present in the moment, letting our minds slow down, enjoying the company of fellow pilgrims - were luxuries the medieval pilgrims didn't have. They were simply trying to get to SDC and the long journey was just something that had to be done to get there. I don't know but I suspect that being present in the moment and having time alone with their thoughts wasn't a thing back then.

Not sure what my point is. Not sure I have one, other than to say I find it interesting that in the hundreds or thousands of hours of camino content I've consumed - videos, podcasts, books, forums - I almost never see discussions about how our motivations today are starkly different from what they were when this whole thing began. At least for most of us. We talk about "the camino" and how people have been walking it for a thousand years, as if they've done it for the same reasons we walk it today.

The pilgrims of old do not deserve and did not earn any special honor on why the pilgrimage--they are the same as the pilgrims of today--few pure of heart and purpose, many selfish, egotistical, materialistic, walking the wrong paths in life as well as some just bad people. The world has not changed in this regard except the pilgrims of old were much less educated, more ignorant than pilgrims of today (not necessarily in the spiritual sense) and due to their illiteracy and ignorance quite willing to believe almost anything the church said, regardless of whether it was truth or fiction. And as far as being more educated, the pilgrims of today, this does not necessarily mean more wise. Ignorance, blindness, and stupidity is ever-present today as it was yesterday. On this happy note, have a nice day. Chuck

 

[Hermitanyo]

Interesting post. After lurking here for awhile I was wondering if anyone else does their pilgrimage as a penitent to ask for the apostle’s intersession.
As others have said those with a more Catholic understanding of pilgrimage don’t post such things for fear of being thought to run afoul of judging others reasons for going to the Apostle’s tomb.

Just to be clear, I don’t mind the secularization of the pilgrimage as it provides a opportunity for God to reveal himself to those who need him.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

I'm just going to park here as an observation that ignorance is relative.

Proficient literacy in the written word in the western world was exceptional until the late 19th C, and for Canada (where I live), even into the 1910's literacy beyond a primary school level applied only to about 30% of the population.

Most medieval people, however, could read the intricate, complicated visual narratives of sculptures and stained glass -- it is indeed the primary means of communicating the ur-text of the day to people who could not read Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Sumerian, etc.

By comparison, the majority of our contemporary world can only comprehend the barest details (if any) and if we were to require comprehension of the larger context? Well, you can try it yourself by trying to read the window panes and porticos of any ancient church without an expert interpreter with you.

 

[backpack45]

As I walked the Via de la Plata from Seville this spring, I had a lot of time to think. A really big amount of time. One of the things I spent some time thinking about is how the purpose or motivation of pilgrimage to Santiago has changed since it began in the middle ages.

Back in the golden era of the Camino de Santiago in the ninth and tenth century, and in subsequent centuries, people walked to SDC for religious reasons. More specifically, they walked there to atone for past sins, to seek some sort of miracle, to pray for help for themselves for for someone else, etc.

While there are no doubt still some that walk for those reasons today, based on the myriad of camino content available it would seem that most people today walk for very different reasons. Specifically they tend to walk because they are looking for time alone to think. Perhaps to process grief or to contemplate a crossroad in their life. Some simply enjoy the peace and nature, and simplicity of camino life. Many walk because of the people they meet along the way. Indeed this seems to be one of the biggest reasons people are attracted to the camino. Many do it for cultural or slow-tourism reasons. What better way to see such a beautiful country. There are other reasons as well, but the point is that the majority aren't doing it for the reasons it was done historically. All those great qualities we like to focus on today - being present in the moment, letting our minds slow down, enjoying the company of fellow pilgrims - were luxuries the medieval pilgrims didn't have. They were simply trying to get to SDC and the long journey was just something that had to be done to get there. I don't know but I suspect that being present in the moment and having time alone with their thoughts wasn't a thing back then.

Not sure what my point is. Not sure I have one, other than to say I find it interesting that in the hundreds or thousands of hours of camino content I've consumed - videos, podcasts, books, forums - I almost never see discussions about how our motivations today are starkly different from what they were when this whole thing began. At least for most of us. We talk about "the camino" and how people have been walking it for a thousand years, as if they've done it for the same reasons we walk it today.

Though I assume that a greater percentage of walkers fit the patterns you have described, it is not historically accurate to say that the early pilgrims only did it for religious reasons. David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson, who wrote The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago, wrote that some did it for "politics", some "to enrich themselves on the pilgrim trade", some "in lieu of prison," some, "for the pleasure of travel," and more. How we can ever figure out the percentages, I have not idea. I think that then, as well as now, many might start with one motivation, but end up changing their reasons as they go along.

 

[Tincatinker]

I do not see that the purpose of pilgrimage to Santiago has changed for anyone who makes pilgrimage to Santiago. For anyone who walks those paths with the intention of paying their respects to one who may have touched the divine nothing has changed. What has changed is that many walk those same paths without that intention. They may have a multitude of motivations sacred or profane but they do not walk in reverence of the Apostle. That’s ok. Why should they? But it is not the pilgrim nor the pilgrimage that has changed. It’s the traffic

 

[Camo]

walk in the places Jesus and the apostles walked

The English ask the question "and did those feet" in their unofficial National Anthem of Jerusalem and this post (thank you) reminds me to go back and complete a Web-App I started a few months back of the Bath to Glastonbury pilgrimage

 

[Janade]

This is what I've been questioning. I'm not so sure that time to contemplate or processing grief were motivations for medieval pilgrims. That seems to be a modern motivation.

Why would you assume that? If we can rely on medieval literature that described why pilgrims walked the Camino - and that reason was to atone for their sins - one can surmise that, if they were serious about atoning then they may have felt a sense of guilt or grief for past actions or thoughts. And, I imagine, walking 500 miles or more gave them plenty of time to do some self-reflecting regarding the “sin” and think about their atoning and how they might be better in the future.

While their journey may have been much more unpleasant than pilgrims today, how can anyone say they did or did not appreciate the scenery or the people they met along the Way?

 

[Jarrad]

While their journey may have been much more unpleasant than pilgrims today,

Wait, are you saying there was even MORE pavement?

 

[dick bird]

The English ask the question "and did those feet" in their unofficial National Anthem of Jerusalem and this post (thank you) reminds me to go back and complete a Web-App I started a few months back of the Bath to Glastonbury pilgrimage

It´s actually from a poem by William Blake.

 

[William Garza]

I think the concepts of
Distance would not have been important as the concept of how long it took would have been more important to the long ago walking people

500 miles?

Or how long before i get back to tend to the farm/business/work?

I imagine people would walk from sun up to before supper to prepare for the nite well before nites fall
From reading about the way all of you have walked, it seems 20km or so is a norm?

Imagining why towns are about the same distance as a person would walk before needing a bed,bough or woolen blanket and a warm bowl to set themselves away for the nite
Say 1 month to go one way then back?
2-3 months..a year?away from the main business of life would have been a toll on finances and the business of living.

Distance i think was secondary if any thought given

We are them.
Ignorance would be lacking a certain knowledge at a certain time
Stupidity would be having a knowledge and ignoring it relative to the situation

They are us. People are still going to do things that provide a learning experience if a proper mindset was planted.

I wonder..if you strip away time and would the pilgrims homogenize on the way?

 

[Camo]

a poem by William Blake

about "England's green and pleasant land" (and darn them Dark Satanic Mills)

 

[Camo]

By comparison, the majority of our contemporary world can only comprehend the barest details (if any) and if we were to require comprehension of the larger context? Well, you can try it yourself by trying to read the window panes and porticos of any ancient church without an expert interpreter with you.

Yes indeed and I would venture a sort of "hybrid" facility via technology that sadly is rarely available for those that can not GET to see the windows in person. Of course not available in olden times to the ones MOST in need of such things ie those ABOUT to die.

I refer of course to my own situation (as for millions in a similar state of incapacity) who can not walk a pilgrimage but can examine window panes and portals in minute detail IF some "thoughtful of others pilgrim" had taken 10 minutes to make a "Virtuous Tour" of a church etc as they walked their own pilgrimage.

For example Hector will pass by St Johns tomorrow where one such pilgrim has done just that here

 

[JabbaPapa]

The world has not changed in this regard except the pilgrims of old were much less educated, more ignorant than pilgrims of today (not necessarily in the spiritual sense) and due to their illiteracy and ignorance quite willing to believe almost anything the church said, regardless of whether it was truth or fiction.

Notions of Mediaeval "illiteracy" and "ignorance" are another example of the Myth of "Progress", whereas, particularly in Mediterranean Europe, the Roman school system largely persisted through the Middle Ages and basic literacy was widespread.

People assume falsely that no printing press meant no literacy, from projecting our modern reliance on printed texts into the past. Wax tablets and other volatile supports were in very widespread use.

As to "ignorance", that's just a political bias.

As to people "blindly" following the Church or whatever, reading any of the longer Mediaeval Romances would disabuse people of such notions.

 

[Kathar1na]

For example Hector will pass by St Johns tomorrow where one such pilgrim has done just that here

That is a Baroque interior of a church in Castrojeriz and not what @Perambulating Griffin referred when mentioning that "most medieval people, however, could read the intricate, complicated visual narratives of sculptures and stained glass". A far cry from Romanesque and Gothic.

Medieval people did not see what is shown in the link. This kind of religious art and visual expression of Christian faith and Christian teaching came much later when the period that we call Middle Ages had ended and the heydays of the European medieval pilgrimage mass movement were over - a period that lasted from more or less 1100 to 1400 - very very roughly. The Camino de Santiago is a product of that period. The important role of relics. The important role of intercession of saints in the current life and in the afterlife. The need to be physically present in an environment very close to the relics. A general belief in miracles that is different from what we might call a miracle today. These are, at least IMHO, what characterises medieval pilgrimage to Santiago. To what extent these aspects are the same for today's typical Camino pilgrims or for the majority of those who walk today - I would not dare to make a pronouncement.

 

[Kathar1na]

And one might say Baroque Schmaroque that's not important when talking about how medieval pilgrims were motivated by the same reasons as we are to go on Camino. But when trying to understand what they thought and what motivated them one needs to understand what they saw and believed, at least in my most humble opinion.

Religious art as an expression of thinking at the time can help gain such understanding. There is for example one major medieval motif that disappeared from religious visual art in Modern Times. You see it above practically every major portal of a Gothic church. Medieval pilgrims saw it and they knew what it meant and it filled them with deep fear. Contemporary Camino pilgrims? I don't know how many even notice it (just an observation and not criticism) and know its significance.

 

[JabbaPapa]

The heydays of the European medieval pilgrimage mass movement were over - a period that lasted from more or less 1100 to 1400 - very very roughly.

The heyday of Christian pilgrimage mass movement in Europe and elsewhere, so far, has been between about the 5th and 21st Centuries.

It would be perfectly incorrect to suppose "pilgrimage" to be foot pilgrimages to Santiago alone, and in some ideal past absent the invention of public transport in the 15th and 16th Centuries.

The important role of relics. The important role of intercession of saints in the current life and in the afterlife. The need to be physically present in an environment very close to the relics.

Every single Catholic church has a relic as the foundation piece of the altar.

You are wrongly putting into the past what is vitally present in the life of the Church right here and right now.

A general belief in miracles that is different from what we might call a miracle today.

It's true that there has been a widespread falling away from religious Faith in recent decades and Centuries, but it's hard to see how that might change what a miracle might be, and it is hard to see that Mediaeval pilgrims might have sought them any less or more than any 21st Century ones.

I don't see it as helpful to project certain common attitudes on one particular pilgrimage onto modern pilgrimage in general.

 

[David Tallan]

Admittedly it is a work of fiction, but Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ suggests our 14th century forebears weren’t so very different to us.

I think you have an excellent point here. I think whenever a lot of people have walked the Camino, they've done it for a lot of different reasons. This came up in a recent thread about misbehaviour on the Camino, too. Pilgrims have never been all saints (although some saints are said to have walked the Camino), and their reasons have never been all religious.

That said, I think there has been a change in the relative proportions of different types of pilgrims, and the reasons and spirit in which they've walked it over time. Partly this is due to changes in our society and culture. The culture today is not the same as the culture of the 14th century. While people are still people, which is why we can relate to many of the characters in the Canterbury Tales, people are also shaped to an extent by their culture and that does affect, to some extent, the reasons for what people do and how they do it. I think that the way that the Camino is "marketed" also affects the proportions of pilgrims with different reasons and approaches to their Camino. If the people hearing about the Camino are always hearing about it as an opportunity to connect with the relics of St. James, that will tend to attract a different group of people than if everyone is hearing about it as a way to resolve your issues. Of course, the Camino is many things to many people and marketed in many different ways. But I suspect, due to those cultural differences, there is a much greater proportion of "spiritual" and "self-realization" marketing now than there was in the middle ages.

Kathar1na has, in another thread, summed up the difference as that the medieval pilgrims were more focused on the destination and modern pilgrims are more focused on the journey. I tend to agree with her, recognizing that this is overall and does not necessarily hold true for individual cases. It calls to mind earlier discussions of the nature of a pilgrim (of which there were many, and being mindful of what C Clearly has written in Post #11) and the contrast between the walking pilgrims, who earn their Compostelas, and the church group bus pilgrims from far away who come with a priest to visit the relics. In some ways, these bus pilgrims much more epitomize the spirit of the medieval pilgrims than moder walking pilgrims do (on average).

 

[Bradypus]

Of course, the Camino is many things to many people and marketed in many different ways. But I suspect, due to those cultural differences, there is a much greater proportion of "spiritual" and "self-realization" marketing now than there was in the middle ages.

I think it is no coincidence that the best-selling English language guidebook for the Camino Frances was written by someone whose own spiritual base was in eclectic "New Age" mystical traditions rather than mainstream Christianity.

 

[Kathar1na]

David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson, who wrote The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago, wrote that some did it for "politics", some "to enrich themselves on the pilgrim trade", some "in lieu of prison," some, "for the pleasure of travel," and more.

And just to complement these bits of quotes, and not in order to contradict or to "prove" anything in this thread , here it is, directly taken from Gitlitz/Davidson's Complete Cultural Handbook to the Pilgrimage Road to Santiago:

The period of greatest pilgrimage activity, the 11th and 12th century, was not uncoincidentally the apex of the popularity of the medieval veneration of holy relics.​

​

And:

The Santiago pilgrimage boomed in the Middle Ages, decreased in volume during the religious reformations of the Renaissance, and dropped even further from the skepticism of the 18th century Enlightenment up through what some call the present postreligious age.​

​

Source: Gitlitz/Davidson, Introduction, pages XIV and XV.

​

​

​

​

 

[Giorgio Braga]

For me, the purpose of the Camino is to help bring my internal landscapes into focus ... my spiritual landscapes, my relationship landscapes, etc. I think the same might apply to many other pilgrims based on interactions I have had over the years.

The same definitely applies to me

 

[Camo]

Medieval pilgrims saw it and they knew what it meant and it filled them with deep fear.

OK can you please explain what this "thing" IS

 

[Camo]

I think that the way that the Camino is "marketed" also affects the proportions of pilgrims with different reasons and approaches to their Camino.

I like your "admission" that the Camino is actually marketed as most folk will claim it just sort of "came to them" to do a Camino as some sort of "inner message"

 

[David Tallan]

OK can you please explain what this "thing" IS

It could be sculptures of the Last Judgement.

 

[Camo]

Religious art as an expression of thinking at the time can help gain such understanding.

And if I may be so bold as to ask - who is depicted in your avatar thingo with arms wide open?

 

[Kathar1na]

I do not wish to flood this thread with posts about the world of thought and belief of the overwhelming majority of medieval people - the people who created what we know as "Camino de Santiago" today which is more than just a trail. It is a whole complex of historical facts, of religious and secular buildings still standing today, of stories, legends and songs, of words coined centuries ago that are still in our European languages, of the fact, or perhaps only an idea, of a major channel for mutual cultural exchanges between the Hispanic peninsula and Western Europe. I acknowledge and largely agree with what @JustJack wrote in his first post:

Not sure what my point is. Not sure I have one, other than to say I find it interesting that in the hundreds or thousands of hours of camino content I've consumed - videos, podcasts, books, forums - I almost never see discussions about how our motivations today are starkly different from what they were when this whole thing began. At least for most of us. We talk about "the camino" and how people have been walking it for a thousand years, as if they've done it for the same reasons we walk it today.​

My point: Nobody needs to know anything about medieval Santiago pilgrims and their motives. This is not essential knowledge for walking 100 km or 500 km to Santiago today. Nobody needs to read the narratives of medieval pilgrims; there aren't many personal narratives from the Middle Ages anyway, their quantity increased from the 16th century onwards, perhaps because they could get printed from then on - what do I know. As commonly known, printing as a process for the mass reproduction of texts such as flyers and books took off after its technical development in Western Europe in 1440. But when one makes pronouncements to the effect that @JustJack's assessment is wrong and that things such as motives for short-distance and long-distance pilgrimage are the same today as in the 11th and 12th century one ought to base it on more than personal intuition.

Yesterday I thought to myself: Should I really write something about the medieval Wundergläubigkeit - the typical medieval beliefs in miracles like the 22 Miracles of Saint James that are listed in Book II of the Codex Calixtinus and that medieval pilgrims knew and took for a fact? Then I thought: No. If that is not common knowledge, then anyone interested can find out by themselves and understand why I wrote: A general belief in miracles that is different from what we might call a miracle today.

 

[Camo]

It could be sculptures of the Last Judgement.

Well yes even to an ignorant 70 years lapsed catholic I can see that in the Portico of Glory at the destination
Portico of Glory
But unfortunately the "marketing" of this "camino thing" since about 2011 says the pilgrim does not get to SEE the portico on her/his way in so any "deep fear" does not come into play IMHO.

But for hundreds of other churches along the way that I have observed there is no such impediment to an entry into the church - but I stand to be corrected

 

[Kathar1na]

Portico of Glory
But unfortunately the "marketing" of this "camino thing" since about 2011 says the pilgrim does not get to SEE the portico on her/his way in so any "deep fear" does not come into play IMHO.

Perhaps one cannot demonstrate fundamental differences between attitudes now and in the Middle Ages better than by this: on the one hand, whining about how many kilometres other Camino pilgrims walk on foot, whether with backpack or organised transport, whether with booking of beds or not, and through which door one enters the cathedral at the destination. Apologies in general but bringing these topics repeatedly into threads without any comprehensible context amounts to whining.

By contrast, on the other hand, Romanesque sculptures like those seen below that reflected and reinforced wide-spread and deep-seated angst in medieval society - it was one of the motives for medieval pilgrims to search the physical vicinity of the relics of powerful intercessors so that they could bring their donations to these sites and pray to the saint to be spared such a fate after death. They saw these images at home and they saw them again and again along the pilgrimage roads and they knew what they meant:

 

[dick bird]

But for hundreds of other churches along the way that I have observed there is no such impediment to an entry into the church - but I stand to be corrected

Apart from the fact that the doors are invariably locked. From the Romanesque period onwards, churches would normally have an elaborately carved tympanum showing the mandala and the judgment of souls.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I think some of the cross-purposes here may come from OP having talked of "the" purpose of the Camino, whereas over the Centuries the millions of pilgrims have typically had multiple purposes instead of any singular dominant purpose.

Also, there's a risk of confusing the purposes of some notional majority of pilgrims with the purposes of the Camino itself, as defined variously by the Ecclesial and the Civil Authorities, including both where they coincide with each other and where they may diverge.

 

[William Garza]

OK can you please explain what this "thing" IS

Gargoyles?

 

[Silvermomma]

This is what I've been questioning. I'm not so sure that time to contemplate or processing grief were motivations for medieval pilgrims. That seems to be a modern motivation.

I get the sense that many of the motivations for pilgrims walking today started to be articulated as motivations when the camino became popular again, in the past 50 years or so. Prior to that I suspect pilgrims would have been puzzled if you suggested any motivation other than religion and their personal concern that they have a pleasant afterlife.

I'm speculating of course, but everything I've heard about medieval pilgrimage says that they did it strictly for religious reasons, and the destination was the goal, not the journey. That's very different from why most do it today, where the journey is the goal.

So thoughtful. Thanks. At least nowadays no one is walking as punishment for a crime. At least I don't think so!

 

[Bradypus]

So thoughtful. Thanks. At least nowadays no one is walking as punishment for a crime. At least I don't think so!

That idea has not completely gone away though "punishment" is not quite the aim.
Thread 'Seuil' https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/seuil.80605/

 

[Silvermomma]

That idea has not completely gone away though "punishment" is not quite the idea.
Thread 'Seuil' https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/seuil.80605/

This is wonderful! Thank you. And it seems to work.

 

[andylm65]

Such an interesting thread. One can and has chosen to walk for so many myriad reasons and purposes throughout the ages of the Caminos existence. Be that as it may there remain common threads that bind most pilgrims together. Dependence on the kindness of strangers for one, and the certainty that you are likely to encounter the divine at some point in your pilgrimage. Miracles do occur be they large or small. It is sometimes only in retrospect that we see the influence of the divine, whether it be in the people we meet or the circumstances we encounter.

 

[Camo]

They saw these images at home and they saw them again and again along the pilgrimage roads

Yes indeed they are very scary sorts of creatures and one can easily understand a person "leaving home" to escape from them.

But are these ones actually ON Camino trails? You may be so kind as to give a map reference so one can avoid at all costs.

 

[Kathar1na]

At least nowadays no one is walking as punishment for a crime.

No, nobody is walking as punishment for a crime today, and I personally do not see any parallels between now and then although posters sometimes make such comparisons.

There are youth programs where young people (mostly teenagers if I understand correctly) are offered the possibility to participate in a walk to Santiago with a guardian. I think that it is usually labelled as a walk and not a pilgrimage. The purpose is to give them a chance to escape a harmful environment back home and to gain personal skills that enable them upon their return back home to give their life a different direction and not end up in a life of deliquency and jail time. There is also a program in a Spanish jail where their priest organises a short Camino walk for prisoners who are about to be released because their time in jail has reached its end. The aim is again reinsertion into society - it is not instead of jail-time.

I would have to read up what I know about the Middle Ages so this is mostly from memory. Both church courts and secular courts issued orders to go on pilgrimage but the number of pilgrims concerned, or percentage of the total number of pilgrims, was very small. As far as I remember the church-issued punishments concerned only or mainly certain categories of crimes and certain categories of perpetrators, for example when someone had killed another person inside a church or when priests or monks had committed murder or crimes / sins of a sexual nature such as having a sexual relationship with one or more women. One aim of secular sentences was exiling the perpetrator from society for a considerable period of time - in a way it was the exact opposite to today, i.e. exclusion instead of inclusion.

PS: Adeline Rucquoi has some details about this aspect in Mille fois à Compostelle, pèlerins du Moyen Age that goes beyond just saying "they walked as a punishment" but there are other sources with detailed information.

 

[andylm65]

This is wonderful! Thank you. And it seems to work.

No, nobody is walking as punishment for a crime today, and I personally do not see any parallels between now and then although posters sometimes make such comparisons.

There are youth programs where young people (mostly teenagers if I understand correctly) are offered the possibility to participate in a walk to Santiago with a guardian. I think that it is usually labelled as a walk and not a pilgrimage. The purpose is to give them a chance to escape a harmful environment back home and to gain personal skills that enable them upon their return back home to give their life a different direction and not end up in a life of deliquency and jail time. There is also a program in a Spanish jail where their priest organises a short Camino walk for prisoners who are about to be released because their time in jail has reached its end. The aim is again reinsertion into society - it is not instead of jail-time.

I would have to read up what I know about the Middle Ages so this is mostly from memory. Both church courts and secular courts issued orders to go on pilgrimage but the number of pilgrims concerned, or percentage of the total number of pilgrims, was very small. As far as I remember the church-issued punishments concerned only or mainly certain categories of crimes and certain categories of perpetrators, for example when someone had killed another person inside a church or when priests or monks had committed murder or crimes / sins of a sexual nature such as having a sexual relationship with one or more women. One aim of secular sentences was exiling the perpetrator from society for a considerable period of time - in a way it was the exact opposite to today, i.e. exclusion instead of inclusion.

PS: Adeline Rucquoi has some details about this aspect in Mille fois à Compostelle, pèlerins du Moyen Age that goes beyond just saying "they walked as a punishment" but there are other sources with detailed information.

I recently returned from the Camino Del Norte where two of the people I met in El Convento in Santillana Del Mar were a young teacher and her teenage ward “ a troubled young lady” walking together. We were thrown together in an “overflow room” an oratory with mattresses on the floor with several others. I had reserved via email and my reservation was lost, after I showed the email thread to the gentleman at the check in desk, I was offered the overflow accommodation. It was one of the best nights. I love the idea of the mentored walk, and this does speak ( to me at least) about encounters with the hand of the divine in our lives.

 

[Camo]

Apart from the fact that the doors are invariably locked.

Yes I notice that and I counter it by looking at the google site for the church and if a fellow Google Local Guide has made a recent user friendly comment I include that church in my Web-App.

That strategy has amounted to 95 churches linked for the Camino Frances

 

[dick bird]

Yes I notice that and I counter it by looking at the google site for the church and if a fellow Google Local Guide has made a recent user friendly comment I include that church in my Web-App.

That strategy has amounted to 95 churches linked for the Camino Frances

I´m not sure if you have grasped what I was trying to say: Churches in Spain are locked most of the time so it is almost impossible to enter them or see what is inside unless there is a mass or service going on at the exact time you happen to pass.

 

[AndrewP]

It is interesting mention is made of locked churches. I was expecting this when I walked the CF this year having previously visited elsewhere in Spain.

Finding churches that would open to me, I used a number of approaches.

Word of mouth worked well speaking to hosts at accomodation and vendors at small businesses and locals especially ahead of time of arrival. Keeping an eye to locate the holder of the keys to the door worked also. These people had keys to more than one church in a town or village. That was the case in Carrion de Los Condes. Spotting clerics and nuns moving between their offices.

Listening worked well. So hearing volunteers preparing to set up. Hearing maintenance people. Hearing people preparing to rehearse on the organ.

These often became divine appointments that couldn't be made up if I tried.

Sarria to Santiago chapels and churches were another level again. Volunteers where at chapels very early and kindly alerted me of the times they rested and returned.

I had the luxury of days off on each Sunday to attend churches with the locals.

I returned to the chapel in Granon having left and kilometres later realizing I had left my hat behind. The door was still open. The hat was still there and a stream of light greeted me through a small window. It was not the light that was important but those who passed by outside the second time I left the chapel that I would speak to next about the presence of God in all the above.

 

[Bill905]

Talking about streams of light in a church, this photo was taken on Easter morning, 2019 in O Cebreiro. An unforgettable encounter.