Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage

In Britain pilgrimage basically disappeared after the Reformation.
Communities were very close knit, everyone knew everyone’s business. Confession happened twice a year, basically everyone knew everyone else’s confession anyway. Everything was public - example of a Prostitute in the Loire valley getting sent on pilgrimage to chartes.
To evade nosiness one way was to go on pilgrimage, a surprising number would go to avoid the intrusion of the local priest and family and friends. They wanted to care for there spiritual lives but not in such a public way.
The quest for pilgrimage became a mass movement. Many people would go on several pilgrimages to try out new kinds of spirituality but very often in the background it was to avoid the narrow world from which they came.
A variety of spiritual reasons - some form choice, some as penitence, and some just wanted to experience something new - the clergy did not like this reason. The real experience was based on the internal experience not a external.
We’ll focus on those with series spiritual problems:
Pilgrimage is a journey made to a sacred place of religious importance. It was to be an act of religious piety/religious devotion and the pilgrimage does not start at the destination but rather it’s the journey, when you leave home and ends when you return.
A pilgrim is a person on a journey. A stranger, foreign, defenseless, traveller, alien. You are moving through the closely knit communities and quite often would not have even been able to speak the language.
Latin: pilgrious
Pilgrims sometimes even died on the way, they were not allowed to be buried in someone else’s parish so would have had to plan for provisions for there bodies to be taken back home.
Much planning was needed and hardships endured.
The penitential pilgrimage
THe early church knew neither penitential nor judicial pilgrimage, the sinner was excluded from his community and did public penance to be restored if that was possible, there was several crimes which was only forgiven at a death bed. Pilgrimage were not imposed until the 6th century, when the whole system of penitence was changed under gaelic monasticism, the monks thought it was a great idea, often imposing pilgrimage on clerics and monks, not so often layman. Think of St. Columbas. The Irish penitentials also introduced a distinction between public and solemn, this distinction was upheld through the middle ages. Henry had to go on pilgrimage following the murder of Thomas Becket. If he had no gone on solemn pilgrimage, his position as king would have been in danger. For those sins out of the public eye, it was your private sin e.g. Margery Kemp.
Thursday
Mont St Michel - angels have been venerated as relics, angelic shrines tend to be on mounts - higher to the sky.
Mary - attractive as Mother of Jesus, human aspects of Jesus’ life became a matter of speculation and contemplation. Blame Bernard of Clairveux. Allegedly bodily received into heaven so no bodily remains but other things are kicking around e.g. her veil, a painting done by Luke. Her veneration was universal, resembled Christ who was also everywhere! Other saints are generally bound to one place, it depended on how far the relics could be stretched. She was the queen of heaven and you could pray to her but you are not to worship her, veneration only!
The next group are the apostles and evangelists - James at santiago, Mark at Venice, Peter and Paul in Rome.
Next - the martyrs, these where venerated form very early times, people would pray for the the help of these martyrs. The city with the most = Rome.
Many saints and martyrs are not really that well known.
The idea of becoming a saint simply by acclamation e.g. people began venerating them at death or something. Pope Alexander came up with as system with formal procedures.
We have local saints, universal saints, all kind of saints! There’s loads of them.
Venerated NOT worship, what they could give or what people expected was protection. Children were given saints names to invoke the saints protection. Generally given the name of the saint whose day it was in the day of baptism. Churches also could take saints names for protection, also by having a little piece of there relics in the alter helped. The medieval view point saw saints as pretty invincible.
Relics - it was believed that the relics contained the spiritual powers of the deceased, so there remains were collected and venerated and often displayed in shrines. You could buy a necklace with a splinter of a saints bone or you could get something for home - ick. Numerous miracles were connected with saints. At the route of this was the idea that illness was brought about by sin, therefore it was logical that pilgrimage would cure sin that a saint could absolve. Some even thought saints had cursed them, so they would go ask forgiveness. It was thought that original sin had even satan there body and souls - illness a cause of the fall. Although baptism was a cure as soon as the person sinned again the body could be claimed by the devil. Relics could be placed on the ill parts of the body so the devil would be uncomfortable. Female fertility - divine gift, baroness - punishment.
These places were not places of silent contemplation. Many many pilgrims coming and going. Some would pray, others would see it as a great social occasion, singing songs, drinking wine etc.
Jerusalem
Holy Sepulchre - the most holy place. Jesus burial and place of resurrection. The other place was the place of his crucifixion, it’s actually in the same church as the burial, it’s a very big church, it was originally out of the city walls. pheasant
Rome
The main attraction had to be St. Peter, but he also had another relic - the napkin in which christ had wiped his head - the pope built some shrine or something. I’m lost!!
40 so called station - during lent, the pope would hold mass in a different church, it was possible to amass a huge number of indulgences. 7 major shrines.
Santiado de Compostela - St James the Greater
A new comer in relation to Rome and Jerusalem, was lifted by shrewd communication and excellent publication.