What is the Camino de Santiago?

Dear Friends and Supporters,

I have now been back in Toronto for over a week and what a time it has been. Your support, congratulations and best wishes have been overwhelming.

It has been an unbelievable welcome home and I thank you all so much.

I promised you 2 more blog posts, and this is the first. The second will be a final update on Urban Squash Toronto.

Many of you have asked - What is the Camino de Santiago?

The Camino is often referred to as “The Way of St James”. James was one of Christ’s disciples and after Christ died, James went to Finisterre, Spain to preach to the pagan population. Apparently, his preaching met with limited success and he returned to Jerusalem where he was beheaded by King Herod in 42AD. Following his martyrdom, his disciples brought his body back to Finisterre and eventually to Santiago, Spain.

St James Remains - below the altar in the Santiago Cathedral

The story remerges in 813 when a Shepherd was brought to the area by a bright light or star. As a result, a bishop seized the moment and confirmed the discovery of St. James in a tomb. As a result, St. James became the patron saint of Spain, a position that he holds to this day.

The first written record of a pilgrimage to Santiago was when bishop Gotescalco journeyed there in 950 and in 1072 Alphonso the 6^th abolished tolls for all pilgrims travelling to Santiago.

The section that I did, which is the most popular, is referred to as the French Way from St. Jean Pied de Port, however, there are many routes across Europe which you will see in the map below.

The many Camino routes across Spain and Europe

In medieval times, over 250,000 pilgrims went on pilgrimage to Santiago. The promise was that if they arrived safely, they would go to heaven and have all of their sins forgiven. You might now notice a heavenly glow around my presence as you might imagine, my sins have now been forgiven – I know that is a bit of a stretch, but I am going with it anyway!!

In the early 80’s the Camino had fallen to a few thousand pilgrims but a Priest and the state of Spain decided to rebuild the pilgrimage. This year there will be over 200,000 pilgrims making the journey and it appears to be a growing number.

The movie, The Way which was the instigation for my doing this journey, has had a significant impact on the growing popularity of the Camino. As well as I mentioned during my communications, I was surprised how few made this journey with religious motives.

Santiago Cathedral

However, there is a daily mass at 12noon in the Santiago Cathedral that almost all who complete the Camino attend, regardless of religion.

Most pilgrims use a book by John Brierley which you will see below. His book spells out how to do the journey on a step by step basis and in fact promotes a 33 stage effort to complete the Camino.

A Pilgrims Guide to the Camino de Santiago

I hope this answers any questions you may have about the origins of the Camino de Santiago. 

If you have not had the opportunity to donate to Urban Squash Toronto in relation to my Camino trek, please do so by clicking on the picture of me at the top right hand side of the this blog under the barometer.

Look forward to my update on Urban Squash next week. That will be the end of my blogs on the Camino de Santiago.

Clive