(The Way of St. James)
The term 'Camino de Santiago' - also called The Camino and The Way - refers to the various pilgrimage routes throughout Europe leading to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in north-western Spain. These routes originated over a thousand years ago commencing from places as diverse as St. James’ Gate in Dublin, from Great Britain, Austria, Holland and even Scandinavia, merging in France to continue on a single road to Galicia.
This major route was called 'Camino Francés' (the French Way) starting at the French side of the Pyrenees in St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port, and passing through Roncesvalles, Pamplona, Logroño, Burgos and León on its way to Santiago de Compostela (780 kms). This route takes about 35 days walking at an average of 22 kms per day. Other routes are the Coastal Route, the Eastern Route, the English Route, the Portuguese Route and the Camino de la Plata which begins in Seville. Today, more than 100 different routes have been recognised, but the ‘Camino Francés’ is the most travelled route.
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of Galicia in the province of La Coruna. According to local tradition, the remains of St. James the Apostle were washed up on the coast of Northern Spain, hidden and later discovered at a place indicated by a star hence the name Santiago de Compostela. Santiago means 'Saint James' and Compostela ‘Field of Stars’. His remains are reputed to be beneath the altar in the crypt of the Cathedral. St James’s feast day is July 25 and when it falls on a Sunday it is declared a Jubilee Year or a Holy Year - as last happened in 2010.
The Cathedral
This extremely beautiful medieval Cathedral with its Baroque façade is located on the impressive Plaza del Obradoiro, the main square. The traditions associated with the pilgrimage are touching the Tree of Jesse under the statue of St. James in the main entrance and “hugging the Apostle” – embracing the Statue of St. James above the high altar, before descending under the altar to the shrine of St. James. There is a Pilgrims Mass at noon each day.
History of the Pilgrimage
The idea that St James found his way to the Iberian peninsula and brought Christianity to the Spaniards is one of a number of popular traditions about the missionary activities and final resting places of the twelve apostles. In 813, the local story goes, a shepherd watching his flock at night was guided by the light of a bright star to the apostle's burial site in Santiago de Compostela. The shepherd reported his discovery to bishop Teodomiro who declared that the remains were those of the apostle James and notified King Alfonso II in Oviedo of the discovery. To honor St. James, a fine cathedral was built on the spot where his remains were found. The name Compostela (a corruption of Campus Stellae, "Field of Stars") incorporates the tradition about the miraculous discovery of the remain. The story, with its sense of the special grace of God, helped the Catholic faithful to maintain their stronghold in northern Spain during their crusades against the Moors, and also led to the development of Compostela into a city.
At this long interval it is hardly possible to know whose bones were actually found, and precisely when and how. Perhaps it does not matter. What is fascinating about the pilgrimage requires is how the local Galician piety associated with the saint grew into an international devotion drawing pilgrims from distant parts of the world. The word "pilgrim" from the Latin peregrinus, meaning "foreigner" or "stranger," points to what in the deepest sense all Christians are meant to be: a people whose true home is not this world but the Heavenly Jerusalem, toward which the Lord is drawing us. During our life's journey we often make smaller journeys, or "pilgrimages" -- that is, travel to sacred places for prayer and veneration, to ask help from or to thank God and the saints, to seek personal renewal, or to do penance.
Our Jewish ancestors were told to make regular visits to the Jerusalem temple, for worship: "Three times in a year shall all your males appear before the Lord in the place which he shall choose" (Deut 16:16). They also seem to have gone on pilgrimage to revered monuments like the tombs of David, Rachel, and the prophets. In the Christian era, from soon after the age of the apostles, pilgrims from abroad began to travel to the Holy Land, and such devotional journeys grew in popularity after St. Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, travelled to the Holy Land about 315 AD and built churches at the places of Christ's Nativity, Entombment, and Ascension.
Since the journey to Jerusalem from northern Europe was long and very hard, some alternative pilgrim routes also arose toward more accessible places, where the memory of the church's early heroes; such as to Compostela, Spain where the relics of St. James the Great were venerated by the local people. So popular was this pilgrimage that Compostela became the third largest pilgrim destination, just after Jerusalem and Rome. Over a half a million pilgrims a year are said to have visited during the 11th and 12th centuries, among them St. Francis of Assisi. Then, after the Muslim destruction of Acre in 1291 and the final expulsion of the Crusaders, pilgrimage to the Holy Land was no longer possible, which gave further impetus to visiting alternative holy places like Compostela, Canterbury or Rome.
Over 100,000 pilgrims travel the Camino de Santiago each year from all over Europe and other parts of the world. Apart from its connection with the relics of St James, many nowadays take this journey for its own sake, for its sense of adventure and exercise, for sociability, scenery and simple living; for communing with nature and to experience life as a journey.
The Camino Francés
(adapted from The Confraternity of Saint James, website)
Our group will be joining the camino for the final section of the so-called Camino Francés (French way) that leads over the Pyrenees and across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela; it is the best-known and most-travelled of all the pilgrim routes to Santiago. Three of the main routes through France (from Paris, Vézelay and Le Puy-en-Velay) feed into it on the French side of the Pyrenees while the fourth, from Arles, joins it later in Puente la Reina. In 1987 this Camino de Santiago was made the first European Cultural Itinerary.
The Route. Some 778 km long, starting either in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (“St. John at the Foot of the Pass”) on the French side of both the mountains and the border or 27 km later in Roncesvalles (Roncevaux in French, the “Valley of Thorns”) in Spain. It passes through Pamplona, Puente la Reina, Estella, Logroño, Burgos, León, Astorga, Ponferrada and Sarria before reaching the “City of the Apostle” towards the western end of Galicia. This French route takes, on average, four to six weeks to walk, averaging over 20 km per day.
Waymarking. The route is extremely well-waymarked throughout (but only in one direction) with yellow arrows painted on rocks, trees. buildings etc., as well as with plaques and signposts bearing stylised shell symbols and the Council of Europe blue and gold shell logos.
Terrain. Varied, beginning with the ascent and/or descent of the Pyrenees then passing through the undulating meseta (tableland) of the central part of the route between Burgos and León. After that the camino enters the Montes de León with some of its formerly abandoned villages now come back to life before entering Galicia, green, wooded and criss-crossed with old walled lanes. This is the sector we will be walking. For a height profile of the route (as well as a description of our eight stages), click here.
Weather/When to go. The route is normally practicable (though not necessarily recommended) throughout the year. It is likely to snow in the Pyrenees, the Montes de Oca (before Burgos) and parts of the Montes de León and Galicia in winter and early spring. It also rains heavilly in Navarre at that time and you can, unfortunately, expect torrential rain in Galicia at any time of the year, even during July and August. Most parts of the route are extremely hot in the summer. April-June and September-October are recommended.
What to see. Important cathedrals and abbeys in Pamplona, Burgos, León, Astorga and Santiago itself, plus many interesting smaller cathedrals, churches and other historic monuments. There are many pilgrim, St. James, St. Roch and other related references, art and architecture along the way.
Accommodation. Plentiful, at very frequent walking distances along the way, and of all types: refugios (pilgrim-only accommodation). hostales, pensiones, casas rurales (B&B) etc., plus some campsites (summer only). For a description of all the refuges on the Camino Francés, consult the CSJ Guide.
Popularity of the route. Formerly a quiet, solitary route the Camino francés has become extremely popular in recent years. In 2003 over 65,000 pilgrims of all ages, backgrounds, motiviations, abilities and nationalities walked, cycled or rode all or part of this route. By 2010 this had reached 272,703. As a result accommodation is in short supply during the busy periods. In a few places along the route churches/religious orders have pilgrim services/vespers.
