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PASTORALI
PELLEGRINAGGIO "The pilgrimage has as its goal the personal encounter with God and with themselves. Lost in the multiplicity of cares and daily reality, the man needs to rediscover itself through reflection, meditation, prayer, examination of conscience, the silence ... The big questions about the meaning of existence, life, death, the ultimate destiny of man must resonate in the heart of the pilgrim so that the trip is not just a movement of the body but also a journey of the soul. In inner silence, God will reveal just how a "thin voice of silence" that transforms the heart and existence. Only then, when you return home, you will jump back into distraction and superficiality, but retain a spark of light received in the soul and feel the need to repeat this experience in the future of personal fullness, "and decided to again in the heart of the holy journey '. " (From The Pilgrimage in the Great Jubilee of 2000, approved by Pope John Paul II)
"Follow the Way is to open channels to the mystery, infinity, God, in that neighborhood which is the same interiority. The great discovery of the pilgrim is to seek out the essence of his being, in the history of each day in relation to the world and those who are on the Way, the presence of God's will, harmonized by the total human symphony. " The pilgrim discovers with St. John of the Cross "to go where you do not know, you do not know where to go" The pilgrimage is a spiritual fact which can bring the gift of faith in Jesus Christ to those who do not have one, or revitalize it in those who already have it, knowing that the stones in the desert of life of the difficulties in the bread does not become the easy success. The Path is an experience where you learn to give and receive subordinating having to being. Reality of which also need people who feel abandoned faith in Christ the Saviour, who died and rose again, silently moved away from the Church and protected by their false sense of security are prone to disappointment, disbelief and sadness, without ever having been aware of the disease spiritual they may suffer. It may not have seen their dreams and not made for them is much less easy to understand and accept the plan of God in their lives. The Lord, as he did with the disciples of Emmaus, meets the pilgrim in his own doubts and uncertainties in its, but recognize it is the result of the path of understanding of His Word and the Eucharistic participation in the table. The goal of the pilgrimage is an auspicious moment in which the pilgrim urges Jesus to welcome him to remain in his house, and asked that the gift of faith, for this welcome has the only reason the love. The conversion, which shed light on discernment by our blindness about ourselves is a necessary consequence of proclamation of the gospel, whose goal is liberation within. (Pastoral Letter of the 'Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela in the' Compostela Holy Year PILGRIMS OF FAITH AND WITNESSES OF CHRIST RISEN + Archbishop Julián Barrio Barrio of Santiago de Compostela)
The passage of the disciples of Emmaus, presents the figure of the two travelers as a paradigm of the pilgrim trying to find an answer to his deepest questions. They, who traveled the road that connects Jerusalem to Emmaus, they felt dismayed and disappointed by recent events, that did not meet their expectations and for which no explanation found. Risen Jesus comes to meet them and is present in this situation, to enlighten with his presence and his word. Comes into the house with them and, when he takes the bread and breaks it, "their eyes were opened and they recognized him" (Lk 24, 31), and then quickly taken back to Jerusalem and tell the apostles what had happened. The disciples of Emmaus got up and returned to Jerusalem after recognizing the Risen One. This approach shows us that man needs to encounter Christ to become aware of itself. In this way, a process that begins by "walking" to "recognize" that God is waiting for him there. (Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio at the Second World Congress of the pastoral care of pilgrimages and shrines - Santiago de Compostela, 2010)
"Unlike the wanderer, whose steps have a specific destination, the pilgrim is always a goal in front of him, although sometimes he is not fully conscious. And the goal is nothing if not the encounter with God through Jesus Christ, in which all our desires are answered. " (Benedict XVI at the Second World Congress of pastoral pilgrimages and shrines - Santiago de Compostela, 2010)
CONFRATERNITE The confraternities The Brotherhoods arose in the twelfth century. They are Christian associations founded with the aim of provoking the aggregation among the faithful to practice works of charity and piety and to increase the cult. They are canonically constituted into a church by formal decree of the Ordinary. They have a statute, a title, a name and a particular style of clothing. Their components, preserving the secular state and secular, have an obligation to issue grades, or do life together, or to waive its assets. The Brotherhoods have had significant development between the fourteenth and the eighteenth century, spreading throughout Europe, many of them became economically important and powerful, while not directly engaging in the political events, and they recorded more than a little influenced in civil matters, contributing to social development , artistic and economic communities in which they found themselves placed. Over the centuries, there are two purposes of the Confraternity. On the one hand, the missionary and the other the exercise of charity care for pilgrims, assisting the prisoners, burying the dead, to build hospitals. Enzo Petrolina, Chairman of the Diaconate in Italy.
"Vast is the field where you have to work ... I ask you above all provide! To your spiritual formation, and to strive for holiness, following the examples of true Christian perfection, which is not lacking in the history of your Confraternities »
(Benedict XVI - the brotherhoods of the Dioceses of Italy, 10.11.2007).
STORICHE The get in the way is absolutely inherent to human beings, even the 'journey on foot to a sacred place' - pilgrimage - is a universal practice, that we find in all religions, ancient and current - and even in the primitive world.
The pilgrim moves in search of answers to existential doubt, the uncertainty of an important choice, for a hope of recovery. If the Indians is a place of purification for Benares excellence, Jerusalem is to Jews, Muslims and for the pilgrimage to Mecca is actually one of the 5 pillars of the Quranic rules. In the Jewish world, the pilgrimage was practiced long before the Christian world, notably his pilgrimage to the Temple of Jerusalem was the true antecedent is the one in Rome is the one in Mecca: all male Jews were required to go to Jerusalem (the child when he was able to walk giving a hand to his father). Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago de Compostela
In the early centuries of Christianity, pilgrimage is essentially an individual experience; a favorite: the holy land, a place of life and passion of Christ. In these ancient times the journey is accomplished banner unpredictability. The approximate knowledge of the course leave, even to travelers more methodical, a huge margin of randomness, and unexpected surprises. Moreover, the unpredictability was his sense of acceptance in the sense of the divine plan of which was the unexpected sign. The modern obsession for programming deprives us of an important content and meaning of the journey itself: the pleasure of surprise and gratification of being able to cope with the unexpected. Gradually increasing the importance of Rome and Jerusalem becomes the other, where you can go without running the risk of falling into the hands of the 'infidels'. And 'especially with the Jubilee of 1300 requires that the value of the pilgrimage to Rome.
The major routes of pilgrimages (Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela, Rome, Canterbury, St. Michael the Archangel in Puglia, ...) are crucial for the establishment of sanctuaries, monasteries, roads, homes, markets. Large arteries within which flows a lifeblood that feeds and nourishes the cultural growth throughout Europe. Opportunity for contact and dialogue between the masses of people from many different nations, a source of learning and dissemination of cults and traditions to the most remote places: the decisive contribution in creating a language and a symbolic frame of reference that unifies the European culture.
The famous Via Francigena cut Europe from North to South along a line joining ideal Canterbury to Rome (Italy traits in tracing the Roman Via Cassia). Guidelines are developed by more minor pilgrimage, often linked to the existence of relics of saints, the legends of apparitions or acquisition of indulgences. The history of pilgrimages in the Christian world is inextricably linked to the evolution of the conception of the relationship between absolution and penance. While in the early church knows sin rare acquittals, generally deferred to the end of life, you have to hand the Irish monks have made a real revolution, introducing an ingenious way to say 'book' of the relationship between sin / acquittal / penance, so that for each category of sin is matched by a certain penance necessary to get a 'discount' on the death of Purgatory.
Irish penitential doctrine of the church spreads and grows well, from the eighth century, the pilgrimage of penance, which becomes an ever greater mass. It 'but with the first anniversary that takes place in plenary form a dramatic leap forward: we are in 1300 and the pilgrims who arrived in Rome visit the 4 major basilicas Boniface VIII grants indulgences exceptional. Initially expected every 100 years, which is reduced to 50 with Clement VI, then 33 and finally 25 with Paul II (1470). Even the Crusades are related indulgences.
It is true that every celebration of the anniversary was still felt in a much more intense than today and at the end of the practice of the jubilee was placed as a radical response to instances of the previous centuries, and saving as a continuation of the tradition of pilgrimages throughout the Middle Ages is were carried out for penance imposed by priests, bishops or judges or on its own initiative.
With the Catholic reconquest of Spain (late twelfth century - early XIII) opens the way for the great pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, whose cult is linked to the legendary discovery of the relics of the Apostle James. The basilica was destroyed by the Arabs in 997, the same has been rebuilt in the eleventh century with the support of Alfonso VI of Castile and Cluny. Leaving is a little 'death: If the ritual the same frequency and the increase in the number of pilgrims make the journey relocate within the' normal ', yet the risks, contingencies, the hazards of traveling are still large and formidable, so as to make the trip a great choice of scale, and therefore subject to a certain social and legal regulation. Death during the trip is anything but remote eventuality, so that over the tomb, the design of the stick and hat indicates the pilgrim's travels never finished, of anonymous travelers died along the way. The ritual expresses precisely the value of the radical departure of this event: the pilgrim before embarking on the journey is blessed during a mass celebrated specifically, asking for forgiveness to all those who offended, confession and testament set a time limit beyond which can be considered dead. The dress of the pilgrim while the ancient penitential pilgrims walk barefoot or even with chains, the Pilgrims wear simple clothes instead of a little 'details, which distinguish them and differentiate them than regular travelers:
the drone, stick with strong iron point, is the 3 rd leg of the pilgrimage, help in the journey but also an instrument of defense against potential aggressors, and symbol resist evil.
the pouch, small just to ensure that pilgrims have confidence in almsgiving, in divine providence. It also clearly alludes to the mortification of vices.
The Schiavina, as a rough cloth, and later a short cloak and wide brimmed hat.
Sometimes a water pot and a bowl. A very rudimentary fashion for us that we're used to the technicalities of the various Vibram or Gore-Tex, but essential and full of deep symbolism, where each object transcends its practical use and the bearer of metaphorical meanings. Different symbols indicate the destination (or source) of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem palm branch, SHELL to Santiago de Compostela, to Rome KEY. These symbols, along with the letter of acceptance, the pilgrim also served to exempt from payment of tolls and defend it to some extent from the attacks of robbers and bandits. The problem of security concerns everyone: merchants, travelers and pilgrims. Vast regions of Europe were infested with brigands who lived assaulting and robbing travelers and pilgrims, but to some extent respected the attestation (letter of acceptance) of a pilgrim, or even issue a passport to show off their other gangsters for protection. The Church is concerned to safeguard the security of pilgrims in the Lateran Council of 1123 is coming to sanction the excommunication for those who molest pilgrims or demands unjust tolls. And if it was not enough the danger of bandits and wolves were to be addressed, and the floods on the rivers, so that the bridges are often supported by religious symbols according to the protection and maintenance of the bridges entrusted to religious institutions. In the absence of bridges crossed by ferry, or rather uncertain, with the help of a rope stretched between the two sides. Of course it was not cold during the months that most of the pilgrims put on the road: when the warmer climate would make it less problematic than the possibility of setting up a rudimentary and Dorna evening campfire outdoors in just a roof of stars. In the longer days and bright 30 or 40 km. walk can be more than pleasantly diluted over a longer time without running the danger of being surprised by the fall of darkness. Overcoming the high mountain passes in winter was not only extremely dangerous but in many cases virtually impossible, however, we must remember that throughout antiquity, almost until the eighteenth century, the mountains were represented perceived and experienced as hostile place, dangerous and terrifying. The same mountain that we now qualify it with adjectives like 'beautiful, charming, exciting' be represented as a hideous, squalid, terrifying place where fantasy come to life the darkest fantasies. In essence, the mountain ranges were designed as a defect of nature, a useless encumbrance, or a dangerous obstacle to the transit of armies or caravans of merchants and travelers. What for us hikers can be an exciting day for the pilgrim walk was a trial to be overcome with courage, a passage in which the symbolic master fear. Patron Saints The pilgrimage is a journey that usually takes place in groups or in pairs, sometimes alone, however, is an experience of temporary secondment from their usual reality and opportunity to be alone with yourself, maybe to prove and discover new aspects of themselves, make new or unexpected relationships. Ideally, however, the pilgrim moves accompanied by the protective power of many saints, which is obtained by appealing to 'help' to overcome countless difficulties: to fend off disease, to cross rivers, climb mountains, along lonely roads infested with brigands. Angels and Archangels are powerful protectors of the way, in particular, Raphael, Gabriel and above which they devote MICHELE various important shrines in Italy and France.
Of all the patron saints of the pilgrims, stands out for its emblematic story and the cult that has generated, Rocco of Montpellier. Its ups and downs make it an ideal figure of myth and an unparalleled reference, so that the symbolic short cape worn by the pilgrim is called 'SANROCCHINA'. Its legendary history: a native of Montpellier, orphaned sells all its goods and sets off for Rome. Comes across in waves that scourge strikes on European cities: the 'Black Death', the plague. Acquapendente decides to stop to heal the sick.
It shall come to Rome for 3 years more devoted to the care of the sick and performing miraculous healings. Back on the road back is in turn affected by the plague, and, driven from Piacenza, retreats in the woods of Sarmato and survives thanks to the care of a local aristocrat, Gotthard Pallastrelli, then, imitating his example, gets rid of its riches and follows him in his travels. But the dog was the aristocrat, driven by a prodigious charitable instincts, to bring first the bread, which had started the slow process of healing. And that's why Rocco, after spending most of his life to treat men dedicated to the care of animals affected by a disease like the plague. After some time the two separate and fellow travelers, while Gothard goes to the Alps, Rocco gets back en route to Montpellier, but, on suspicion of espionage and imprisoned in Anger (Lake Maggiore) where he died after 5 years, forgotten by all. Through a series of miracles that occurred after his death, it is understood that the beggar is not the spy who had been suspected of being but a saint.
His relics are venerated in several places and his cult testified by countless chapels. Rocco is an example of what God can use men even without their knowledge. Her erratic events as a symbol of absolute immunity and inscrutability of divine desires. Emblem of San Rocco the shell of St. James and his faithful companion, the dog that saved his life. The hospitality along the way: hospices and monasteries
From the earliest centuries to assist the pilgrims will spend the monks, according to a conception which sees in the pilgrim's representation of the divine. This practice is implemented by the Benedictines, and in particular from the ninth century the monasteries must allocate considerable sums for this purpose with the widening practice of the pilgrimage must be made of special hospitals for the reception (the first ones are Irish). Of course there was also the hospitality of the inn, but only pay for those who could afford it. As early as the twelfth century. on the routes of the great pilgrimage was a large well-organized network of hospices (operated by various religious orders), not more than 1 day's journey between one and another. Some important and well-known, others small and unknown, even on mountain passes. The services provided vary greatly from place to place. Often, the hospice is just a shelter to sleep (sometimes sparsely on clay, sometimes sharing a bed with other people), the food is often limited to a loaf of bread and a vegetable soup, however, room and board also depend on the rank the pilgrim. Other special and important task: the treatment of sore feet and sore pilgrim, symbolic act that invokes the example of Christ. Over time, the reception of pilgrims becomes a heavy burden on the monasteries, and over the centuries are limitations set by the number of pilgrims to stay and stay. Rome recorded a great number of pilgrims already for the Jubilee of 1300, so since then for the Romans this event becomes a big business opportunity. The reception of the pilgrim is organization, so that by the end of '600 there are dozens of public hospitals and nursing homes even more specific for individual nationalities. Many get sick along the way, especially in the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, many are not reaching the goal. There are mythical places of healing and therapeutic special items - such as the Agnus Dei (composed of wax and dust of the bones of saints) - used as genuine relics. In Rome, develops trade in various creams and ointments, the names of saints and apostles, and expands the business of importing spices from the Orient. They are the same pilgrims to take the lead in the spread of dangerous drugs, tested and proven in their journey more or less effective. The guides of all time are full of tips and recipes to prevent or cure the ills of the typical pilgrim, blisters, sunburn, cooling, freezing, urticaria, cracking, dehydration, diarrhea, sprains ...
Sometimes the pilgrim stops in the hospice for a long time to get well and healing is likely due to the regular supply. So after various treatments (profit or not) the patient gets back on the road and provide a useful clue for votive understand the kind of evil that this or that shrine was specialized in curing. The pilgrimage to the women.
While the theme of travel does not belong to the territory feminine symbolic, but that particular kind of trip is a pilgrimage, was a space of relative 'freedom' for women. The dominant culture in general has disapproved of the pilgrimage as a result of women's 'insane' feminine curiosity and openness to a dangerous promiscuity. On the other hand she has always had closer contact with the body and the desire to touch the sacred relics was an important spring pilgrimage. There is strong that the idea through contact or proximity will generate a life-giving energy healing or otherwise. In some cases women are forbidden to approach the relics. There are many simple women, not holy, not nuns, not aristocratic, maybe with children make their way, but it is difficult to quantify certain data. It seems that according to the few sources, the total number of women on their way between 15 and 20% of the total number of pilgrims.
MOTIVAZIONALI Why a pilgrimage on foot in the third millennium? The reasons for the modern man to undertake a pilgrimage on foot are:
- To find the soul that is within each of us - the world looks only to material things;
- Share an experience of life - the world is focused on individualism;
- Rediscover the brotherhood - the world is made of inequalities;
- Find a moment of inner peace - the world is hectic;
- Took office a dialogue with other people - the current world is a world of solitude;
- Perhaps strong enough to reach a goal - the world bombards us with useless things;
The pilgrim discovers that:
- Shares a half - you're never alone during a pilgrimage;
- You can get back into play - if he wants is capable of any enterprise;
- There is joy free - there is more blessed to give than to receive;
- See the world in new ways - the joy of living in spite of adversity;
- You can change one's inner life - that the values are more important than anything else;
- You can contemplate creation - you realize the wonders of nature. Alessandro Corsi The motivations of the first steps At the start of a journey, there are multiple reasons that can be heard in the words of men and women in increasing numbers, travelers find themselves again and respond to the suggestion to trace slow, sometimes exhausting, and, now, often obsolete routes. There are those who began her journey under the influence of spiritual bodies, looking for another way of living the faith, others will start to satisfy the existential need to rediscover themselves and thus give a new meaning to their lives, others still have cultural needs, they want to know how much of the anthropological, historical, artistic and naturalistic is found along the main routes leading to the three Christian religious destinations in the Middle Ages to be able to compare with what is still present and alive in our day of stories, myths and legends of the past. You can begin the journey simply to fashion, to make physical activity and combat a sedentary lifestyle cause of many diseases, out of curiosity or to follow a friend. However, whatever the reason for this crowd of pilgrims at the start, what matters really is the discovery that unites and transforms each arrival that crosses the paths leading to places of faith, in a pilgrim people. Nomadic or sedentary There is a "biblical dimension of the pilgrimage" from Abraham onwards, the history of the people of Israel from going from place to place dotted with great difficulty and great pain. In the New Testament, Mary, from then on, it moves from place to place in Palestine, from Nazareth in Galilee to Ain Karem and then from there to Bethlehem in Judea, and then fleeing to Egypt and then back to Nazareth and so on until death. With his story, marked by the indissoluble bond of mother to child, it also makes the link between the unbreakable human history and divine dimension. All of human history, in fact, tells of the wanderings of individual travelers or entire populations, an eternal wandering hours under the pressure of the need now of desire and compulsion to move away from what you love and go where you would not want to escape from what is feared in the elsewhere chasing the dream of a better life. Do not forget that the nomadic, pastoral and related to the change of seasons, was the first form of economy, one in which the bond to a single territory was less strong, but at the same time respect for all land crossed was bigger. And 'in fact, with the transition from pastoralism to agriculture, that humanity binds to a particularly strong area and water, it becomes ready to fight for them, they are born "private property" and "homeland" with boundaries well accurate and do not cross: Romulus is transformed in the assassination of his brother, which bypasses the wake of the founding of the city, his city, the land is owned by one and one people. Modern humanity seems to wear it again so the role of the traveler, it seems that men and women of our time are coming back, more or less consciously, the idea of being able to "walk a territory", to cross it without loving him as his own own it exclusively. Light luggage Today, therefore, the path seems to be a symbol of removal from a condition of life, made frantic consumerism, but at the same time blocked by the accumulated assets, the research priorities related to deeper values, intimate, fundamental. From appearing on having and being. On the way, your baggage is kept to a minimum, the bag contains only what is absolutely necessary. Forced to leave everything behind - material goods, comfort, power, role, places, people - getting rid of habits that we often do not remember even more the beginning, humanity seems on the way to find the possibility of look for the essential. This vacuum is "found space" 's "I" in it, you can place new and more real priorities, "leave it", can in some way to make a new order in their lives. Take the slow pace of walking, dell'inerpicarsi on mountain trails, of crossing the plains, unable to homologate the other hand, allows men and women of the new millennium to find their natural rhythm and restore the right direction to their existential journey. In the slow pace that often requires laborious solitude and silence, may become possible to set the scene for questioning about their identity and give real answers about the meaning of their lives. Walking in silence, you can see and hear, first of all themselves, find the depth of the body, often too nice, but neglected, the energies hidden in the depths of the soul, hidden truths and forgotten memories. In the greek world, where for centuries the custom was set out to visit the oracle of Delphi, the Pythia warned well in one of his responses: "I warn you, whoever you are, if not be able to find within yourself what you are looking for you can not even find out. If you ignore the wonders of your home, as you claim to find other wonders? In thee is hidden the Treasure of the Gods. O Man, know thyself and know the Universe and the Gods! "
I → Others → Nature → God
This inner spiritual path, this silence that allows, therefore, to contact in an authentic self, in the proposal by the Company Romei does not want to be in any way is a path to the hermit's life, anything! Make up the time to walk slower allows to find the harmony not only with themselves but with others, with nature, with God Walking in a group, you can listen and compare, you can open up to others with new attention. Everyone can discover the face of his labor in dealing with the mountains, the serenity of gait and satisfaction upon arrival in the plains: the path leads to the encounter and the relationship, teaches sharing and mutual support. Ascoltando le voci della natura, è poi possibile sentire nascere dentro di sé un contatto più vero con l'ambiente naturale del quale tornare a sentirsi parte: pur non prendendo nulla per sé, il viandante guarda e gode e si nutre del creato nel quale cammina, sente di farsi creatura tra le creature. Percorrendo il Cammino dei Protomartiri francescani, il nuovo itinerario simbolo proposto dalla Compagnia dei Romei, lo sguardo del viandante può riaprirsi allo stupore che proprio nei medesimi luoghi portò San Francesco a elevare il suo cantico alle creature; percorrendo i sentieri dell'Umbria Ternana, giungendo ai luoghi dove il sacro si affaccia con discrezione ed umiltà, le dimensioni personali possono coniugarsi con la fede, ad ognuno è dato di superare il limite della ricerca umana ed aprirsi al Divino: allora il cammino può trasformarsi in pellegrinaggio e il viandante in pellegrino. Marina Brinchi Il pellegrino effettua una scelta qualitativa perché intraprende un cammino per interrogarsi sulla propria vita e effetua una scelta quantitativa perché destina una parte della sua vita per riscoprire la propria esistenza.
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