Travel, Pilgrimage and Social Interaction from Antiquity to the Middle Ages by Kuuliala Jenni; Rantala Jussi;

Author:Kuuliala, Jenni; Rantala, Jussi;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Routledge

9 The rise of St. James’ cult and the concept of pilgrimage

Klaus Herbers

Introduction

Qui multum peregrinantur raro sanctificantur. Those who often go on a ­pilgrimage are seldom sanctified. This critical comment on pilgrimages goes back to Thomas a Kempis in the later Middle Ages,1 and it judges a practice which had a long development throughout the Middle Ages. Hagiographic texts were commenting the opposite. The pilgrim’s guide to Compostela describes the cathedral of St. James as a place where miracles take place and sins are forgiven:

This church, furthermore, from the moment it was started until today, has shined by the refulgence of the miracles of the Blessed James: in fact, the sick have been restored to health in it, the blind have been rendered their eyesight, the tongue of the dumb has been untied, the ear of the deaf unplugged, movement has been restored to the lame, the possessed has been delivered and, what is more, the prayers of the faithful have been fulfilled, their wishes granted and their sins were forgiven.2

This is a very clear definition about how pilgrimage centers could work. But was this the unique concept of pilgrimage? What about the competition concurrence or about the development of other concepts? Did theory and practice differ at least in some cases? Did the evolution tend to emphasize certain aspects? Anyway, we have to ask ourselves why pilgrimages were so strongly criticized in the times of Humanism and Reformation and at the same time persisted with great success. The cult of St. James may serve as an example.

In this chapter, I will present the development of different concepts of pilgrimages in the Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages (II), then I will focus on the rise of St. James’s cult and the different contexts (III) taking into consideration the model furnished by this cult in its central period (IV), the means of divulgation and dissemination combined with the final question if there was a transformation of concepts (V).

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