02/10/2016
Walking the Camino.
Pictured: The Scallop Shell, emblem of the Pilgrim on the Camino, marking the Camino Way. A page from the 12th. cent. Codex Calixtinus.
The last published statistic for pilgrims walking the Camino in Spain was in 2013 when 215,880 people walked the pilgrim way. The Camino de Santiago, (in English the Way of St. James), refers to a large network of ancient pilgrim routes stretching across Europe and ending at the shrine of St. James, the Apostle, at Compostela in North West Spain.
The tradition handed down is that St. James preached the gospel in Spain. He was martyred in Palestine in 42 AD, but his body was subsequently brought back to Spain by his disciples and buried at Compostela. References to this tradition are found in writings from the 7th. & 8th. century. An illustrated manuscript, known as the Codex Calixtinus, dates from the 12th. century and gives an account of the pilgrim routes to the shrine of St. James as well as the liturgical texts used at the shrine. This book is still preserved in the Cathedral at Compostela.
Compostela ranked third among the great medieval pilgrimages, the first two being Jerusalem and Rome. A scallop shell became the emblem of St. James and pilgrims carried a shell as evidence of their journey. Burials uncovered in Ireland in the 1990’s revealed bodies from the 13th.century, probably of monks, buried with the scallop shell of St. James. These finds in Mullingar, Tuam, Galway and Ardfert strongly indicate that Irish pilgrims were walking the Camino at this time. The Irish routes are known, departing from Dublin (St. James’ Gate), Di**le, Cork, Waterford, and landing at La Coruna in Spain.
