The Way of St James - El Camino de Santiago

Tradition tells us that the relics of St James the Apostle were brought to Galicia in Northern Spain and buried on a site within the present day city of Compostella. A great Cathedral now stands over his tomb and attacks many thousands of pilgrims each year. The number reached over 270,00 in the last Santiago Holy Year in 2010.

During the medieval period, the way to Compostella was one of the great pilgrimages of Christendom, endowed with indulgences and those who travelled there came from all over the world. The major routes they took across Europe are still travelled today by many Christian pilgrims, on foot, bicycle or horse and many others seeking some sort of escape from the modern world and perhaps in search of a Truth they cannot yet name. Some of theses pilgrims walk hundreds of miles, staying in pilgrim hostels or sleeping under the stars. They carry a 'credencial' or pilgrim passport which is stamped along the route to prove that they have made the journey.

On arrival at the shrine of the apostle, they are issued with a 'Compostella' a certificate proving the pilgrimage has been completed and attend a daily pilgrim mass in the cathedral. During the mass the world famous botafumeiro or giant thurible, containing burning incense is swung, symbolising the prayers of the pilgrims ascending to God. Some believe this ceremony originally had a more practical purpose; to disguise the smell of unwashed pilgrims who may have been on the road for many months!

In early March, Dom Anselm Carpenter, a Benedictine Monk, Br Bede, a Benedictine oblate and Mr JP Loveland will be walking the final sections of the Camino (111kms). As well as a Lenten penance, the original intention for this pilgrimage was for vocations to the religious life at the Benedictine Abbey of St Michael, in Farnborough, UK but to that now we must also add our prayers for the election of a Pope and an act of thanksgiving for the ministry of our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI. Before the walk two of us will be travelling, by car, the longer Vezalay route of the Camino Frances, and after the walk, visiting the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Technology permitting, we hope to blog most days at dialoguewithtrypho.blogspot.com and we will be praying the monastic office each day and reciting the rosary as well as attending Mass when this is possible.

We will be praying for all of our friends and for members of SSIM and we sincerely hope that you will accompany us on this pilgrimage with your prayers. Please, particularly pray for vocations to the monastic community at Farnborough and for the election of a new Pope as well as for the walkers.

Farnborough Abbey

Tomorrow one of our members begins his noviciate as an Oblate of the Benedictine St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough in Hampshire, UK.

Farnborough is a remarkable community of monks of the Subiaco Congregation of the Order of St Benedict.

In their own words:

" Our monastery has a rich and multi-faceted history.

"In 1880, the Empress Eugénie [if France] bought a house in Farnborough. Crushed by the loss of her husband Napoleon III in 1873 and the death in 1879 of her 23 year old son in the Zulu War, she built St Michael’s Abbey as a monastery and the Imperial Mausoleum.

"Dom Cabrol, the prior of the French Abbey of Saint Pierre de Solesmes, had dreamed of a monastic foundation dedicated to liturgical studies, but no suitable property or funding had been found, though the vicissitudes of the anti-clerical France of the 1890s made the thought of a house abroad increasingly attractive. The Empress Eugénie invited these French Benedictines here in 1895 and thus the daily round of work, prayer and study began.

"Monsignor Ronald Knox, who was received into the Catholic Church here, described the Abbey as ‘a little corner of England which is forever France, irreclaimably French.’ In 1947 a little band of monks came from Prinknash Abbey, near Gloucester, to anglicise the house and ensure the continuity of the monastic life here. The last French monk, Dom Zerr, died in 1956.

"The community today draws on the richness of more than a hundred years of monastic prayer and witness in this place and more than 1500 years of Benedictine tradition."

Please pray for Father Abbot and the Community at Farnborough and visit their website: http://www.farnboroughabbey.org