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Image of the Saints |
| Section: THE ARTS / PHOTOGRAPHY |
| Author: Judith Bell |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 7/1/1992 |
| Size: 1,814 Words, 10,568 Characters |
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The pilgrimage across northern Spain to the sanctuary of St. James at Santiago de Compostela in the province of Galicia is known as the finest journey in Spain and one of the two or three best in the world. And so it has been for nearly a thousand years. Along with Jerusalem, where Christ was crucified, and Rome, where Peter founded the church, Santiago de Compostela, from which point Europe had been evangelized by James, was one of the three physical locations upon which the imagery of the church depended.
The Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James, was one of the most heavily traveled routes during the Middle Ages. More than half a million people moved along the road each year. Among them were devout Christians who sought salvation at the tomb of the saint, knights (accompanied by their ladies) who had vowed in battle to visit the shrine if they returned home safely, officials of the church--monks, priests, and cardinals--who saw the journey as an exceptional achievement of their spiritual lives, and criminals sentenced to "five...
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...ing the signlemindedness that defines this age-old journey.
"For everyone who does this journey it becomes a larger-than-life experience," says Myers. "There is something about the length of time involved, the active meditation of walking, the very perseverance of the act and the self-reliance it demands. As a pilgrim priest told me, 'I walk to Santiago de Compostela to know myself.'"
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
comprehensive academic resource that encompasses a broad range of
articles by scholars and experts in the areas of Global Studies,
Liberal Arts, Fine & Applied Arts, General Science, and Spanish.
Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
includes the complete contents since 1986 and continues to publish
a new issue online each month. |
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