Before yesterday I didn't know that . . .

[Jeff Crawley]

Among the many, many things I was ignorant of is the Jubilee Camino.

Coming home from London yesterday, while scanning the departure boards at the station, I had a chance meeting with a fellow pilgrim - Father Eoin (I think that's spelled correctly) is a softly spoken Irishman and he had spotted a couple of Camino patches on my daypack (which I had been in two minds about sewing on).

We compared notes on our pilgrimages: my first was a conventional SJPP to Santiago in 2001 whilst he'd walked the CF in 1999 from Pamplona just before entering a seminary in Ireland for training. Apparently 1999 was a "Jubilee" year in addition to being a Holy Year (25th July and all that) and to qualify you needed to enter Santiago cathedral through the Holy Door, say a prayer, make confession and receive communion.

I asked if he'd walked the last 100km and received his Compostela and was told he had, indeed, walked the whole way staying with members of the priesthood or being lodged in village houses along the way. It seems that to celebrate a Jubilee there's no need to walk at all, you just arrive in Santiago by any means at your disposal and he hadn't sought out a Compostela although he did "buy a postcard" as a memento.

In addition to Santiago you can also celebrate the Jubilee in Villafranca del Bierzo and one other Spanish town though I didn't catch the name.

He's hoping to obtain a leave of absence from his bishop to repeat the journey in the next jubilee year which it seems is 2027?

My train was announced and so we parted but it was a lovely chance meeting and I was glad that I had, after all, sewn the patches on my bag.

I made some notes on the train but some of the details above may be wrong, as I said he, was quietly spoken!

Has anybody else had a chance meeting another Pilgrim while not on the Camino?

 

[J Willhaus]

Among the many, many things I was ignorant of is the Jubilee Camino.

Coming home from London yesterday, while scanning the departure boards at the station, I had a chance meeting with a fellow pilgrim - Father Eoin (I think that's spelled correctly) is a softly spoken Irishman and he had spotted a couple of Camino patches on my daypack (which I had been in two minds about sewing on).

We compared notes on our pilgrimages: my first was a conventional SJPP to Santiago in 2001 whilst he'd walked the CF in 1999 from Pamplona just before entering a seminary in Ireland for training. Apparently 1999 was a "Jubilee" year in addition to being a Holy Year (25th July and all that) and to qualify you needed to enter Santiago cathedral through the Holy Door, say a prayer, make confession and receive communion.

I asked if he'd walked the last 100km and received his Compostela and was told he had, indeed, walked the whole way staying with members of the priesthood or being lodged in village houses along the way. It seems that to celebrate a Jubilee there's no need to walk at all, you just arrive in Santiago by any means at your disposal and he hadn't sought out a Compostela although he did "buy a postcard" as a memento.

In addition to Santiago you can also celebrate the Jubilee in Villafranca del Bierzo and one other Spanish town though I didn't catch the name.

He's hoping to obtain a leave of absence from his bishop to repeat the journey in the next jubilee year which it seems is 2027?

My train was announced and so we parted but it was a lovely chance meeting and I was glad that I had, after all, sewn the patches on my bag.

I made some notes on the train but some of the details above may be wrong, as I said he, was quietly spoken!

Has anybody else had a chance meeting another Pilgrim while not on the Camino?

Often! I have a patch on my backpack and meet people in airports all the time. We also have a shell sticker on our pickup topper and have met people in the grocery store parking lot as well on the road to other places such as in Canada and Alaska last summer. It kind of doubles as a secret handshake or special code word.

 

[trecile]

Apparently 1999 was a "Jubilee" year in addition to being a Holy Year (25th July and all that) and to qualify you needed to enter Santiago cathedral through the Holy Door, say a prayer, make confession and receive communion.

He's hoping to obtain a leave of absence from his bishop to repeat the journey in the next jubilee year which it seems is 2027?

According to this article from Correos the terms Holy Year and Jubilee Year are interchangeable, and the next one will be 2027.

When is the next Holy Year

When 25 July - St. James' Day - falls on a Sunday, the Compostela Holy Year is celebrated. The next one will be in 2027

www.elcaminoconcorreos.com

 

[K_Lynn]

I have a shell tattoo on my calf. I have been stopped by three women who also have walked Camino and stopped by 3 or 4 people who want to walk Camino and had questions. I am more than happy to blather on endlessly when asked.

 

[DJames]

is 2025 the jubilee year in Rome which is different from St James day falling on a Sunday

 

[SYates]

... Apparently 1999 was a "Jubilee" year in addition to being a Holy Year (25th July and all that) and to qualify you needed to enter Santiago cathedral through the Holy Door, say a prayer, make confession and receive communion.

In addition to Santiago you can also celebrate the Jubilee in Villafranca del Bierzo and one other Spanish town though I didn't catch the name.

... the next jubilee year which it seems is 2027?

Holy Year and Jubilee Year are two different names for essentially the same thing. The term 'jubilee' comes from the Old Testament/the Jewish faith, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_in_the_Catholic_Church has a really good article about that. A plenary indulgence is then, depending on some requirements, is then granted to pilgrims.

The next Holy Year/Jubilee for the Catholic Church in general will be in 2025 and the next Holy Year Jubilee for Santiago de Compostela will be in 2027.
I remember vividly the confusion the an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy for 2015–2016 caused, especially as Holy Doors allover the Catholic world, including Santiago, were open and many pilgrims confused it with a Holy Year for Santiago.
The plenary indulgence, which is in the heart of a Holy Year/Jubilee, is granted to those pilgrims that ask for it because they can't continue there pilgrimage for severe health reasons. And yes, there is a Holy Door also in Villafranca del Bierzo.
BUT to gain the Jubilee you do NOT need to enter the cathedral or chuch through the Holy Door.
BC SY

 

[henrythedog]

I think it’s excellent that people with a shared interest in all things ‘Camino’ can recognise each other.

I do wonder, however, what the good Lord makes of the layers of complexity which ‘we’ have created to mystify and categorise degrees of faith or worthiness. Each to their own, I suppose.

 

[dbier]

is 2025 the jubilee year in Rome which is different from St James day falling on a Sunday

Short answer; yes. There are old threads on the topic.

Long answer: The 2025 Jubilee year (Pilgrims of Hope) is being specifically celebrated by Holy Doors being opened and indulgences being granted in Rome, Jerusalem, and at select basilicas in certain countries. Santiago de Compostela isn't one of those.

The Cathedral in Santiago next intends to open their door in 2027.

 

[dbier]

I think it’s excellent that people with a shared interest in all things ‘Camino’ can recognise each other.

I do wonder, however, what the good Lord makes of the layers of complexity which ‘we’ have created to mystify and categorise degrees of faith or worthiness. Each to their own, I suppose.

I'm betting on the words in Revelation to the church at Laodecia ( spelling wrong).

For me, if the Cathedral wanted to reduce traffic, they'd reintroduce the quizzing the early pilgrims (I think Bradypus has written on this) experienced, or simply deny Compostela to anyone not walking for admitted spiritual reasons. But, again, that is not the point of pilgrimage, and I would suggest that they know it.

 

[Bradypus]

For me, if the Cathedral wanted to reduce traffic, they'd reintroduce the quizzing the early pilgrims (I think Bradypus has written on this)

A very different time. I was grilled at both ends of the Camino. In SJPDP I was refused a credencial partly because I arrived without a letter of introduction from a Catholic priest and was not a member of a recognised confraternity. The priests in Roncesvalles were far less particular! Then a long in-depth religious discussion with a priest in the cathedral in Santiago on what pilgrimage, relics and the Apostle meant to this Protestant theology student before receiving my Compostela. Giving some account of your motivation and pilgrimage experience was routine at the time - my CSJ guide warned me to expect to be questioned - but my own inquisition was deeper than most as Protestant clergy and ordinands were still a fairly rare breed on the Camino at the time. Not in any sense a hostile or adversarial conversation. Genuine interest and curiosity on the priest's part. I found it a very helpful and generous debriefing exercise for reflecting on my experience.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Has anybody else had a chance meeting another Pilgrim while not on the Camino?

I'm remembering two. Both along the Appalachian Trail and both trying to thru hike the whole thing . The first was in 2016, he was a Mexican with the trail name Monte Christo and was maybe 100 km along in Georgia when we were doing a five day out and back. He had walked the CF and got a six month visa to do the AT.

The second was a couple of years ago in a Shenandoah National Park campground that the AT ran through. We were camped for the night with our trailer on our way south. He had walked about a third of the way but since he started very early it was still cold. Very cold that evening in fact and he had a half hour to go hoping to pitch his tent in a shelter to double protect him. I invited him in for a drink of wine and we then detained him the rest of the evening with heat, wine, hot food and conversation. That's when we found out he and a girlfriend walked the Portuguese. We had no room for him to sleep inside but he pitched his tent just outside and we gave him a blanket to supplement his bag and he was warm enough. His brother had given him the trail name Backstroke after he fell backward with his pack while wading a river on a hike.

 

[trecile]

Last year in the United lounge at SFO I met a man with a shell on his backpack who had just completed his Camino while I was heading off to start mine. I have also met people while walking or hiking locally who are fellow pilgrims.