Christian pilgrimage

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe in October 1987; it was also named one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites
in 1993.

Christianity has a strong tradition of pilgrimages, both to sites relevant to the New Testament narrative (especially in the Holy Land) and to sites associated with later saints or miracles.

History

Christian pilgrimages were first made to sites connected with the

Constantine the Great.[citation needed
]

The purpose of Christian pilgrimage was summarized by Pope Benedict XVI this way:

To go on pilgrimage is not simply to visit a place to admire its treasures of nature, art or history. To go on pilgrimage really means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where he has revealed himself, where his grace has shone with particular splendour and produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe. Above all, Christians go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to the places associated with the Lord’s passion, death and resurrection. They go to Rome, the city of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul, and also to Compostela, which, associated with the memory of Saint James, has welcomed pilgrims from throughout the world who desire to strengthen their spirit with the Apostle’s witness of faith and love.[1]

Pilgrimages are made to

James is located. Also a combined pilgrimage is held every seven years in the three nearby towns of Maastricht, Aachen and Kornelimünster where many important relics could be seen (see: Pilgrimage of the Relics, Maastricht
).

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington

Motivations of pilgrims

The motivations which draw today's visitors to Christian sacred sites can be mixed: faith-based, spiritual in a general way, with cultural interests, etc. This diversity has become an important factor in the management and pastoral care of Christian pilgrimage, as recent research on international sanctuaries and much-visited churches has shown.[2]

Destinations

Holy Land

The first pilgrimages were made to sites connected with

Gadarene swine in the mid-3rd century, surviving descriptions of Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land and Jerusalem date from the 4th century. The anonymous Bordeaux Pilgrim's Itinerarium Burdigalense ("Bordeaux Itinerary") is the oldest surviving recount of a Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem and chronicles his visit in 333 to 334.[4]

The pilgrimage tradition was established by

Virgin Mary. Pilgrimage to Rome became a common destination for pilgrims from throughout Western Christianity in the medieval period, and important sites were listed in travel-guides such as the 12th-century Mirabilia Urbis Romae
.

In the 7th century, the Holy Land fell to the Muslim conquests,[5] and as pilgrimage to the Holy Land now became more difficult for European Christians, major pilgrimage sites developed in Western Europe, notably Santiago de Compostela in the 9th century, though travelers such as Bernard the Pilgrim continued to make the journey to the Holy Land.

Political relationships between the Muslim caliphates and the Christian kingdoms of Europe remained in a state of suspended truce, allowing the continuation of Christian pilgrimages into Muslim-controlled lands, at least in intervals; for example, the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ordered the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, only to have his successor allow the Byzantine Empire to rebuild it.[6]

The Seljuk Turks systematically disrupted Christian pilgrimage routes, which became one of the major factors triggering the crusades later in the 11th century.[citation needed]

The Crusades were at first a success, the Crusader states, especially the kingdom of Jerusalem, guaranteeing safe access to the Holy Land for Christian pilgrims during the 12th century, but Palestine was re-conquered by the Muslim Ayyubids by the end of the 13th century.

Under the Ottoman Empire travel in Palestine was once again restricted and dangerous. Modern pilgrimages in the Holy Land may be said to have received an early impetus from the scholar Ernest Renan, whose twenty-four days in Palestine, recounted in his Vie de Jésus (published 1863) found the resonance of the New Testament at every turn.

Europe

Santiago de Compostela, Spain

According to Christian tradition, at some point between 818 and 842 during the reign of

Saint James the Greater.[7] Around the place of the discovery a new settlement and centre of pilgrimage emerged, which was known to the author Usuard in 865[8] and by the 10th century was called Compostella. The Way of St James became a major pilgrimage route of medieval Christianity
from the 10th century onwards.

Pope Alexander VI officially declared the Camino de Santiago to be one of the "three great pilgrimages of Christendom", along with Jerusalem and the Via Francigena to Rome. In the 12th century, under the impulse of bishop Diego Gelmírez, Compostela became an archbishopric, attracting a large and multinational population. Pope Benedict XVI said, "It is a way sown with so many demonstrations of fervour, repentance, hospitality, art and culture which speak to us eloquently of the spiritual roots of the Old Continent."[9] Many still follow its routes as a form of spiritual path or retreat for their spiritual growth. It is also popular with hikers, cyclers, and organized tour groups.

In 1987, the Camino, which encompasses several routes in Spain,

World Heritage List, followed by the routes in France in 1998, because of their historical significance for Christianity as a major pilgrimage route and their testimony to the exchange of ideas and cultures across the routes.[10][11]

Rome

Rome has been a major Christian pilgrimage site since the Middle Ages. Pilgrimages to Rome can involve visits to a large number of sites, both within the Vatican City and in Italian territory. A popular stopping point is the

St. Helena
in the 4th century. For centuries, the Scala Santa has attracted Christian pilgrims who wished to honour the Passion of Jesus.

Several catacombs built in the Roman age are also the object of pilgrimage, where Christians prayed, buried their dead and performed worship during periods of persecution. And various national churches (among them

.

Traditionally, pilgrims in Rome visit the

Helena, the mother of Constantine, which hosts fragments of wood attributed to the holy cross) and San Sebastiano fuori le mura (which lies on the Appian Way and is built above Roman catacombs).[citation needed
]

Romería

A romería (

Roman Catholic religious pilgrimage practiced in the Iberian Peninsula and countries formerly colonized by Spain and Portugal. The term comes from romero/romeiro, meaning a person travelling to Rome[citation needed]. The travelling can be done in cars, floats, on horseback or on foot, and its destination is a sanctuary or hermitage consecrated to a religious figure honored in that day's feast. Besides attending religious services and processions
, the pilgrims may also engage in social events like singing, feasting and dancing.

One of the most famous examples of a pilgrimage is that of

Romeria of Sant John of the Mountain, celebrated in Miranda de Ebro, is the second most important romeria in Spain
behind El Rocío with more than 25,000 romeros.

Another one of the most representative examples is the Romería de la Virgen de la Cabeza (

Jaén
), which is considered the oldest pilgrimages of Spain, and consists of the displacement of the travellers coming from all over the country to the Sanctuary of the Virgen de la Cabeza, through 33 km of Andújar, in the heart of Sierra de Andujar natural park. This celebration is held the last Sunday of April and is considered of national tourist interest.

The Romería de la Virgin de Navahonda, celebrated in spring in the

Robledo de Chavela
is representative of this tradition.

There are also pilgrimages in the Canary Islands. An example is La Romería de Santiago Apostol, in Gáldar. Instead of focusing on Jesus, the floats usually praise the Virgin Mary with pictures and statues.

Lourdes, France

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

According to believers, the

tourists every season. With about 270 hotels, Lourdes has the second greatest number of hotels per square kilometer in France after Paris.[14] Some of the deluxe hotels like Grand Hotel Moderne
, Hotel Grand de la Grotte, Hotel Saint Etienne, Hotel Majestic and Hotel Roissy are located here.

Maastricht-Aachen-Kornelimünster, Germany and Netherlands

Maastricht: relics display
Aachen: relics display
Relics being shown from the dwarf gallery of the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht, ca. 1460 (left) and from the tower gallery of Aachen Cathedral in 1622

Combined septennial pilgrimages in the Dutch-German towns of

Saint Servatius; in Aachen the nappy and loin cloth of Jesus, the dress of Mary, the decapitation cloth of John the Baptist, and the remains of Charlemagne; and in Kornelimünster the loincloth, the sudarium and the shroud of Jesus, as well as the skull of Pope Cornelius. In Maastricht some relics were shown from the dwarf gallery of St Servatius' Church to the pilgrims gathered in the square; in Aachen the same was done from the purpose-built tower gallery between the dome and the westwork tower of Aachen Cathedral. The popularity of the Maastricht-Aachen-Kornelimünster pilgrimage reached its zenith in the 15th century when up to 140,000 pilgrims visited these towns in mid-July.[15] After a break of about 150 years, the pilgrimages were revived in the 19th century. The Aachen and Kornelimünster pilgrimages are still synchronised but the Maastricht pilgrimage takes place 3 years earlier. In 2011 the Maastricht pilgrimage drew around 175,000 visitors;[16] Aachen had in 2014 around 125,000 pilgrims.[17]

Fátima, Portugal

Marian apparitions are also responsible for millions of tourists worldwide.[18]

Canterbury, England

A typical street in Canterbury with the cathedral in the background.

After the murder of the Archbishop

John caused his English supporters to desert his cause and support the young Henry III.[21]

During the

friaries were closed. St Augustine's Abbey, the 14th richest in England at the time, was surrendered to the Crown, and its church and cloister were levelled. The rest of the abbey was dismantled over the next 15 years, although part of the site was converted to a palace.[22] Thomas Becket's shrine in the cathedral was demolished and all the gold, silver and jewels were removed to the Tower of London
, and Becket's images, name and feasts were obliterated throughout the kingdom, ending the pilgrimages.

Latin America

Latin America has a number of pilgrimage sites, which have been studied by anthropologists, historians, and scholars of religion.[23][24] In Mesoamerica, some predate the arrival of Europeans and were subsequently transformed to Christian pilgrimage sites.[25]

Aparecida, Brazil

View of the walkway and the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida

Aparecida, São Paulo. Every year the Basilica receives over 12 million worshipers and pilgrims.[26]

There are six main routes that are usually taken.[27] The largest one, The Path of Faith (O Caminho da Fé),[28] is composed of approximately 970 km, of which approximately 500 km cross the Mantiqueira Mountains by dirt road, tracks, woods and asphalt, providing moments of reflection and faith, physical and psychological health and integration of man with the nature.

Guadalupe, Mexico

The Hill of Tepeyac now holding the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe outside Mexico City, said to be the site of the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe.[29]

Our Lady of Zapopan, Mexico

Neo-classical Guadalajara Cathedral

In Mexico, pilgrims walk to the Our Lady of Zapopan, which this considered the third most important peregrination in the country, after the one of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos. The Pilgrimage of the Virgin of Zapopan consists of a route 8 km in length, from the Guadalajara Cathedral to the Basilica of Our Lady of Zapopan. It is made every 12 October, and figure of the virgin goes accompanied by more than 3,000,000 people.

El Quinche, Ecuador

The Shrine of El Quinche.

Located 28 km east of the capital city,

m.a.s.l arriving at 6 a.m.[30]

El Cisne, Ecuador

A lookout point on the way to El Cisne parrish. The white basilica can be seen in the distance.

El Cisne is a town in the southern region of Ecuador.[32] Representatives of the city in 1594 requested sculptor Diego de Robles [es] to build the statue of the Virgin of El Cisne [es] which he carved from the wood of a cedar tree. Each year on 17 August, thousands of pilgrims gather in El Cisne to carry the statue about 74 km (46 mi) in a procession to the cathedral of Loja, where it is the focus of a great festival on 8 September upon with yet another procession taking place to return it to El Cisne.[33]

Quyllurit'i, Peru

According to the Catholic Church, the festival is in honor of the Lord of Quyllurit'i (

Qullqipunku. Thanks to Manuel, Mariano's herd prospered, so his father sent him to Cusco to buy a new shirt for Manuel. Mariano could not find anything similar, because that kind of cloth was sold only to the archbishop.[34]
Learning of this, the bishop of Cusco sent a party to investigate. When they tried to capture Manuel, he was transformed into a bush with an image of Christ crucified hanging from it. Thinking the archbishop's party had harmed his friend, Mariano died on the spot. He was buried under a rock, which became a place of pilgrimage known as the Lord of Quyllurit'i, or "Lord of Star (Brilliant) Snow." An image of Christ was painted on this boulder.

Panoramic view of the festival, with sanctuary church of Sinaqara in background

The Quyllurit'i festival attracts thousands of indigenous people from the surrounding regions, made up of Paucartambo groups (

Aymara speakers) from the pastoral (herders) regions to the southeast, near Bolivia. Both moieties
make an annual pilgrimage to the feast, bringing large troupes of dancers and musicians. Attendees increasingly have included middle-class Peruvians and foreign tourists.

The culminating event for the indigenous non-Christian population takes place after the reappearance of Qullqa in the night sky; it is the rising of the sun after the full moon. Tens of thousands of people kneel to greet the first rays of light as the sun rises above the horizon. Until 2017, the main event for the Church was carried out by ukukus, who climbed glaciers over

m.a.s.l. But due to the near disappearance of the glacier, there are fears that the ice may no longer be carried down.[35] The ukukus are considered to be the only ones capable of dealing with the cursed souls said to inhabit the snowfields.[36]
The pilgrimage and associated festival was inscribed in 2011 on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.

Copacabana, Bolivia

Copacabana's Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana

Before 1534,

tutelar
protectress of the community.

During the

Marian shrines
in the Americas, On 2 February and 6 August, Church festivals are celebrated with indigenous dances.

Costa Rica

In

AH1N1
spreading risks, it was officially cancelled, but the statue was taken on a tour to cities instead.

See also

Further reading

  • Ralf van Bühren, Lorenzo Cantoni, and Silvia De Ascaniis (eds.), Special issue on "Tourism, Religious Identity and Cultural Heritage", in Church, Communication and Culture 3 (2018), pp. 195–418
  • Crumrine, N. Ross and E. Alan Morinis, Pilgrimage in Latin America, Westport CT 1991
  • Christian, William A, Local Religion in Sixteenth-Century Spain, Princeton 1989
  • Brown, Peter, The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity, Chicago 1981
  • Turner, Victor and Edith Turner Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture: Anthropological Perspectives, New York 1978

References

  1. ^ "Apostolic Journey to Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona: Visit to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (November 6, 2010) | BENEDICT XVI".
  2. ^ Ralf van Bühren, The artistic heritage of Christianity. Promotion and reception of identity. Editorial of the first section in the special issue on Tourism, religious identity and cultural heritage, in Church, Communication and Culture 3 (2018), pp. 195–196.
  3. ^ Quoted in Robin Lane Fox, The Unauthorized Version, 1992:235.
  4. ^ General context of early Christian pilgrimage is provided by E.D. Hunt, Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Late Roman Empire AD 312–460 1982.
  5. ^ Wickham Inheritance of Rome p. 280
  6. ^ Pringle "Architecture in Latin East" Oxford History of the Crusades p. 157
  7. .
  8. .
  9. ^ "Message to the Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) on the occasion of the opening of the Compostela Holy Year 2010 (December 19, 2009) | BENEDICT XVI". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  10. ^ "Routes of Santiago de Compostela: Camino Francés and Routes of Northern Spain". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  11. ^ "Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  12. ^ Steps Jesus walked to trial restored to glory, Daily Telegraph, Malcolm Moore, 14 June 2007
  13. ^ "Rosarium Virginis Mariae on the Most Holy Rosary (October 16, 2002) – John Paul II". w2.vatican.va.
  14. ^ "Lourdes – The Skeptic's Dictionary". Skepdic.com. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  15. .
  16. ^ 'Maastricht, H. Servaas (Servatius)' on website meertens.knaw.nl
  17. ^ 'Mehr Pilger als erwartet kamen nach Aachen', in: Die Welt 30 June 2014.
  18. ^ "Popular Catholic Shrines". Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  19. ^ "Descriptive Gazetteer entry for Canterbury". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
  20. ^ "The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer". British Library. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  21. ^ Godfrey-Faussett 1878, p. 29.
  22. ^ Lyle 2002, pp. 97–100.
  23. ^ N. Ross Crumrine and E. Alan Morinis, Pilgrimage in Latin America. Westport CT 1991.
  24. ^ Thomas S. Bremer, "Pilgrimage," in Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, David Carrasco, ed. Vol. 3, pp. 1–3. New York: Oxford University Press 2001.
  25. ^ George A. Kubler. "Pre-Columbian Pilgrimages in Mesoamerica," In Fourth Palenque round Table, edited by Elizabeth P. Benson, 313-16. San Francisco 1985.
  26. ^ "Basílica em Aparecida recebe mais de 12,6 milhões de fiéis em 2018". g1.globo.com. 2 January 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  27. ^ "Rotas da Devoção". www.a12.com. Retrieved 1 September 2021.[title missing]
  28. ^ "Caminho da Fé". caminhodafe.com.br. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  29. ^ Stafford Poole. Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Origins and Sources of a Mexican National Symbol, 1531–1797. Tucson: University of Arizona Press 1995.
  30. ^ "The Pope meets clergy in the shrine of El Quinche and bids farewell to Ecuador," Gaudium Press, http://en.gaudiumpress.org/content/71388-The-Pope-meets-clergy-in-the-shrine-of-El-Quinche-and-bids-farewell-to-Ecuador-, accessed 3 June 2017
  31. ^ "The Pope meets clergy in the shrine of el Quinche and bids farewell to Ecuador | Gaudiumpress English Edition". en.gaudiumpress.org. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  32. ^ "Official website of the National Shrine of Our Lady of El Cisne". Archived from the original on 25 August 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
  33. ^ "El Cisne".
  34. ^ Kris E. Lane, "Review: Carolyn Dean, Inka Bodies and the Body of Christ: Corpus Christi in Colonial Cuzco, Peru ", Ethnohistory, Volume 48, Number 3, Summer 2001, pp. 544–546; accessed 22 December 2016
  35. ^ Sallnow, Pilgrims of the Andes, p. 226.
  36. ^ Randall, "Quyllurit'i", p. 44.
  37. ^ McCarl, Clayton. "An Indigenous Sculptor on the Spanish Stage: Calderón's rewriting of Tito Yupanqui in La Aurora en Copacabana". cuny.edu. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2009.

Sources

External links