|
News Items:
|
|
Headlines
|
|
News Briefs
|
|
Stories
|
|
Movies
|
|
Word To Life
|
|
Other Items:
|
|
Client Area
|
|
Links
|
|
CNS Stylebook
|
|
Archives:
|
|
Origins
|
|
.
|
|
Did You Know...
|
The whole CNS
public Web site
headlines, briefs
stories, etc,
represents less
than one percent
of the daily news
report.
Get all the news!
If you would like
more information
about the
Catholic News
Service daily
news report,
please contact
CNS at one of
the following:
cns@
catholicnews.com
or
(202) 541-3250
|
|
.
|
|
Copyright:
|
The CNS news
report may not
be published,
broadcast,
rewritten or
otherwise
distributed,
including but not
limited to such
means as
framing or any
other digital
copying or
distribution
method, in whole
or in part without
the prior written
authority of
Catholic News
Service.
Copyright
(c) 2004
Catholic News
Service/U.S.
Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
|
|
|
|
Story of the day:
|
SANTIAGO-PILGRIMS May-18-2004 (1,070 words) With photo. xxxi
For pilgrims to Spanish shrine, 'where' is not as important as 'why'
By Barry James
Catholic News Service
CHARTRES, France (CNS) -- The cyclists have already ridden more than 400 miles from their homes in the southern Netherlands, and a plaque near the cathedral tells them that they have another 1,009 miles to go before they reach the rainy city of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Henk de Muynck, Wim Vermeulen, Kees Langejan and Peter Uipkes are among the tens of thousands of people expected to trek or ride along the historic pilgrims' route to Santiago de Compostela in 2004, a jubilee year in which St. James' feast day -- July 25 -- falls on a Sunday.
Like many other people making the journey, which can last up to two months on foot, the four friends have mixed reasons for traveling. Only de Muynck can be described as going on a pilgrimage in the traditional sense of the term.
The 62-year-old recently retired public relations executive described his journey as a "penitence," by which he meant taking stock and making a change in life.
Vermeulen, 64, said, "I like to be on the road meeting people."
Langejan, 56, a construction engineer, said he had been thinking about the trip for 20 years but never had the time for it.
"I am a Protestant, so the religious motive is not so strong," he said. "I'm interested in how others go through the trip."
And Uipkes, 59, said he planned to leave the group in southern France to go on an exploration of vineyards.
All agree that the road to Santiago has an extraordinary magic that makes it different from just another long journey. There is a special camaraderie among fellow pilgrims, and they have received many acts of unexpected kindness from people along the route.
The four Dutchmen recalled arriving at one small village in northern France, wet and tired, to be plied with bread and eggs. One villager volunteered to mend a broken bike.
"When they know you are going to Santiago, people at first think you are crazy," Vermeulen said. "Then they envy you."
After the Muslim conquerors were driven out of northern Spain, Santiago became a place of pilgrimage almost as important as Jerusalem or Rome. James, patron saint of Spain, is one of the earliest Christian martyrs. He was beheaded in Jerusalem about A.D. 42, and legend said his remains were transported by his disciples to be buried in what was then a distant corner of the Roman Empire.
As going on pilgrimages fell out of fashion, the network of hostels and religious retreats that once supported armies of pilgrims fell into disuse, but pilgrimages have grown in popularity in recent years for spiritual and cultural reasons.
Pope John Paul II traveled to Santiago in 1989 and declared the city to be the "spiritual capital of Europe." In 1987, the Council of Europe declared the pilgrims' route to be Europe's first cultural itinerary. The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization placed the route from the French border to Santiago, with about 1,800 buildings of historical interest, on its list of world heritage sites.
UNESCO said the route "played a fundamental role in encouraging cultural exchanges between the Iberian peninsula and the rest of Europe during the Middle Ages" and that "it remains a testimony to the power of the Christian faith among people of all social classes and from all over Europe."
Recently, the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community met in Santiago to mark the reunification of Europe as 10 countries became members of the European Union.
Like other pilgrims through the ages, the four Dutch friends identify themselves by the scallop shells associated with St. James, and they carry special credentials that will gain them entry into many hostels and monasteries along the way. In Santiago, the old Hospital Real, a massive royal establishment where pilgrims could stay and receive care on arrival, is now a luxury hotel, but it still offers meals -- in the staff restaurant -- to those who can prove they have made the trip by foot, by cycle or on horseback.
Last year, Santiago received more than 60,000 official pilgrims -- not counting those who arrived with the help of the internal combustion engine. The jubilee year is expected to see that figure exceeded. Still, this is short of the fervor of the Middle Ages, when hundreds of thousands of people traveled to Santiago every year.
In Chartres, the Dutch travelers found a place to store their bikes; they spent a couple of nights at a hostel run by the local Association of Friends of St. James, one of many such groups in France.
One of the leaders of the association, Jacques Chevallet, made the pilgrimage to Santiago a few years ago after his son died.
"Going on the pilgrimage helped me understand," he said. "I didn't accept, but I understood."
Chevallet was a hard-driving commercial director for a public works company, focused on meeting sales targets and keeping up appearances. The pilgrimage was a humbling experience, he said, that made him more open-minded and accessible.
"I am not the same man," he said, "but that does not mean I have lost all my faults."
Chevallet said a pilgrimage starts "when you close the front door and leave behind the person you were, and you open the door toward the man you want to become."
Chartres is one of the many places along the four pilgrimage routes leading through France to the Spanish border that are worth a visit in themselves. The best known of the routes starts at Le Puy in the Massif Central highlands of France, where each day hundreds of pilgrims attend a special Mass before setting off on their journey. Bishop Henri Brincard of Le Puy-en-Velay reminds them that they must "travel with their hearts as well as with their feet."
Chevallet said the stream of people moving slowly toward Santiago is like a river. It is always the same, but you never drink the same water or have the same experiences or meet the same people, he said.
"You learn to accept things as they are," he said. "Once I forgot my (walking) stick, and I thought I would lose time if I turned back to get it. But then I thought, what is this notion of time? So I turned around, and as a result I met a very good friend on the route."
END
Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
|
|
|
|
