"If you want to be the first, walk by yourself. If you want to get far, walk together."
Pilgrim - person who journeys to a sacred place, a traveller or wanderer.
Peregrini - those who go through fields (per agros), transients.
Those who set out on a long journey to reach their destination, irrespective of the danger and hardship, often view the experience as the search for the true meaning of life even though they are aware that there is in fact no single or final answer. A dilemma expressed by the image of the 'Labyrinth', an ancient symbol which can arouse anxiety and fear, but also the desire for adventure and challenge.
The meaning of the pilgrimage journey is dramatically expressed by Yourcenar's autobiographical novel Le Labyrinth the du Monde'. Her protagonist, Zeno, is troubled by the paradox of the journey's end - "once you have arrived, you go back in the opposite direction", but Yourcenar uses his confusion to ultimately define the journey as the discovery of those intermediate zones where soul and flesh are intermingled, where dream adapts to reality and where life and death become interchangeable.
Pilgrims progress into the digital age -
collections of historical objects associated with pilgrimage can now
be seen on a new CD-ROM.
Hidden in the library at Lambeth Palace is a book containing a
fifteenth-century pilgrims' map of the Holy Land. The map by Dutch
woodblock artist Erhard Reuwich is among the illustrations in the book
Peregrinatio in terram sanctum ("Pilgrimage to the Holy Land") published
in Mainz in 1486. it became one of the most popular travel books in
Europe with its fold-out maps tracing a pilgrim route from Venice to
Jerusalem. The map of the Holy Land shows sites from the Old and
New Testaments as well as mythical places such as where St George killed
the dragon. Locations where indulgences could be obtained were helpfully
marked with a cross. Double crosses indicated places that promised full
remission of all sins. Hitherto rarely seen by anyone other than
scholars, the map now features on a new inter-active CD-ROM, Pilgrims
and Pilgrimage, together with hundreds of other artefacts, such as a
collection of pewter souvenir badges bought by pilgrims and depicting
relics or miraculous images.
The volume of material contained on Pilgrims and Pilgrimage is
extraordinary. The CD contains 450 images and contributions from 55
academics. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that it takes a while for
viewers to understand how to navigate their way through the material.
There are sections on pilgrimage from its earliest beginnings in ancient
Greece and Rome up to the present day. What is ostensibly a virtue
could, for the undisciplined viewer, become the potential for endless
diversion, with a multitude of highlighted terms and places giving
cross-references and definitions leading from one subject to another.
The CD is mainly the
work of the Revd Dee Dyas, an Anglican priest who is director of the
Christianity and Culture Project, part of the Centre for Medieval
Studies at the University of York and St John's College, Nottingham.
Dyas has spent more than two years researching the CD and travelling to
pilgrim sites. As well as the obvious places, she visited secular
shrines in the United States such as Graceland, the home and last
resting place of Elvis Presley, and the Vietnam War Memorial in
Washington. These, says Dyas, are seen as secular places of pilgrimage
and she describes the stream of visitors to the war memorial bringing
objects including boots and clothing to leave there in memory of loved
ones. "They may be people who are not religious at all but they are
attaching spiritual significance to a particular place," Dyas says.
Christianity, according to Dyas, is unique in not having a focus on its
own holy places at the beginning, adding: "The notion of pilgrimage is
not in the New Testament or early Christianity. In fact Christians felt
strongly that pilgrimage was for the Jews and the pagans, not them.
Instead they promoted the idea of life as a pilgrimage. It was only with
the conversion of Constantine and his mother, and the importance of the
saints, that the connection was made and people responded with
increasing enthusiasm. It was very difficult to suppress once it
started. "Doubts about pilgrimage continued among some of the Church
Father, such as St Jerome and St Gregory of Nyssa. "Both argued that
theologically it was very suspect. If God is specially present somewhere
does that mean that he is less present elsewhere? This posed a great
dilemma," says Dyas. Pilgrimages, she believes, are best
undertaken without partners and as part of a group. "The group has been
important, experiencing things with them, getting to know people.
Sometimes you are struggling with them living in such close proximity
but that is something you need to do," says Dyas. "The special journey
is like a microcosm of what life is like. It's an intense version of
everyday life. If there is a roadblock when you are trying to visit
Bethlehem it is part of everyday life. You are away and that gives you
space, it is taking time out. It is that God has the opportunity to
speak to you."
Pilgrims and Pilgrimage – Journey, Spirituality & Daily Life through the
Centuries is available from
www.york.ac.
Also available at the Confraternity of St James bookshop in the UK for
£15
Pilgrims for the Pilgrims
When a pilgrimage has been fulfilled, a pilgrim gets back home. On the way back the mind starts focussing again on the issues of daily routine and social relations, even though the most urgent need is probably a good rest for your legs and care for your aching feet. However, you realise that, owing to that unique experience, a part of that route has taken hold of you. This is what happens to whoever has walked along the Camino de Santiago, the via Francigena or the Route of St Francis, as well as other long or shorter pilgrimage routes. The pilgrim who has had the privilege of walking along a historic, traditional or faith route for days and days, experiencing exertion but also the reward of a state of grace, feels that the return home is never complete. He may make plans for a new departure or provide a record of his experience by means of a diary, a tale, a photographic account or a website. The small group pf pilgrims from Florence, of whom I am a member, has decided to communicate our enthusiasm and inspire fresh energy with the creation of an association of "pilgrims for the pilgrims".
Mario Lupi, member of AEVF Management (first published in Via Francigena, January 2009, a publication produced by the European Department of Cultural Routes)