I’d be a very wealthy person if I got
a cent every time some one asks me, “Why do you walk the pilgrimage
to Santiago de Compostela when you aren’t a Catholic?”
My usual answer is, “Because Santiago wasn’t a Catholic either, or a protestant, or an orthodox, or a Baptist, or a {insert favourite Christian label here}.”
A symbol of Ecumenism, we are all in the same boat …
Santiago, Saint James the Greater in
the bible, was one of the very first followers of Jesus. He heard the
Good News and it turned his life around. He left behind everything he
once held dear and started to spread the Word. The simple truth that
“you are a beloved child of God”. Or, as I often put it, at the
very heart of my faith is this: God loves us, everything else is
secondary.
It is a lengthy document, but I would
like to draw your attention to this paragraph which made my heart
sing with gratitude:
“The Catholic Church also becomes a pilgrim with other Churches and ecclesial communities so that the unity of all Christians becomes effective. The body of Christ cannot be divided. Therefore, ecumenism is a sacred duty for us. This takes us beyond manifestations of good intentions, also requiring concrete initiatives. Thus, in our city of Santiago, they share the same sacred space, a small church, Anglicans, Orthodox and Protestants, so that the same Spirit that makes us Christians, helps us to live communion among us by pilgrimage towards unity.”
The significance of this statement
can’t be overstated. It is of historic importance.
The acknowledgment that we all form the
body of Christ, no matter from which church background we come from
and the firm commitment to a common pilgrimage towards unity put such
a joyful smile onto my face!
So, thank you Don Julián for all the support you have given the Anglican Camino Chaplaincy https://egeria.house/anglican-camino-chaplaincy-2020/ in the past and let’s continue a pilgrimage towards Christian unity. We have already come a long Camino, but there is still a long way to go until the sad division of churches is a thing of the past.
2018 – The Chaplaincy started as a pilot. With the help of 6 priests and 5 lay volunteers the Chaplaincy was launched and from 13 May – 24 June, and 2 September – 21 October, 27 church services were held.
2019 – 7 priests and 6 lay volunteers provided 39 church services continuously from 12 May – 9 October. The average attendance at services increased by 29% compared to the previous year.
Pilgrims and volunteers gathered around the table for a shared meal.
Numbers
don’t tell the whole story:
The personal contact with pilgrims and visitors to Santiago. The Eucharists and shared meals which were like Nations United.
The joy in the faces of the sick pilgrim we visited in their albergue or at their hospital bed providing both practical and spiritual support.
The peace of mind of those who were supported by our chaplains to talk about difficult issues.
The laughter and the prayers shared among the chaplaincy team.
The excellent ecumenical relations we have formed in Santiago, founded on our common belief that we are all here to serve pilgrims.
Our
plans for 2020:
As in
previous years we plan to provide midweek and Sunday services. We
will also welcome pilgrims for coffee, cookies and chats during our
Open House at the Ecumenical Centre, as well as hosting shared meals.
Most importantly, we will continue to provide and develop our
pastoral services and the practical help we can offer pilgrims.
We
depend on donations to fund these activities and although
individually they don’t cost a lot, over time the costs add up. As
our ministry to pilgrims and visitors here in Santiago de Compostela
grows, so will the costs!
Please
consider supporting us:
If you
are considering supporting the Chaplaincy here are several ways you
can help – only one of the suggestions costs money:
Pray
for us, especially during
the winter, as we do the preparation work for next season. Please
also pray for the volunteers, both priests and lay people, who will
serve during the Chaplaincy season in 2020.
Spread
the wordabout
us, and tell everybody
that we are here! Word of mouth, either online or in real life, is
the best way to make this ministry widely known.
Sign-up to our Newsletter, and stay informed about our activities. You can either use the form in the sidebar of this blog or this >>>direct link<<<.
Tell your friends. Please forward this link http://eepurl.com/gJyQOj to anybody you think might be interested in what we do, so that they also can sign up to our newsletter.
Facebook. We also have a Facebook Page here: https://www.facebook.com/CaminoChaplaincyCoE/ where we regularly post information about events during the season – please ‘like’ it and share it.
Donations: As there are no running costs this year, we are not asking for donations anymore. All donations that have been already received have been transferred to our UK bank account with the Diocese in Europe, Church of England and are ready to be used when the Camino re-opens and pilgrims will need our help.
Volunteering
with the Anglican Camino Chaplaincy in 2021:
2021 is the next Holy Year which will bring many more pilgrims than usual to Santiago. We will need all of the help we can get. If you are an ordained priest in a Church in full communion with the Church of England and interested in helping, please email our lead Chaplain Fr Bob for further information: frbobbates@gmail.com.
We might have, limited, need for lay volunteers, in that case, please contact me here: https://egeria.house/contact/.
And
finally:
Buen
Camino and prayers from Santiago. If you have any questions or
suggestions please leave them in a comment or contact me directly via
https://egeria.house/contact.
When you start a new ministry, such as our Anglican Camino Chaplaincy here in Santiago, everyone asks the same questions: Is there enough interest in this kind of ministry? Is it worthwhile? Are there enough pilgrims that might be interested in this? Or, better said: ‘How many Protestants are actually on the Camino de Santiago and in Santiago de Compostela itself?
All different, all similar, all pilgrims …
From the very beginning it became clear that the Anglican Camino Chaplaincy is indeed a ‘catch-all’for pilgrims from a variety of different church backgrounds and countries. It is not a ‘The Brits Abroad’ chaplaincy! A typical Sunday congregation can be easily contain people from 6 different countries and 6 different home churches. I remember having worshipped with and led worship for: Lutherans from Sweden, Protestants from Germany, Anglicans from South Africa, United Church of Christ members from the USA and, yes, Church of England members from the UK and many, many more. We will only see most of these worshippers once, and they will be on their way to their homes in a day or two. Apart of the ones that volunteer here for a longer period of time or live here. We are delighted to see them over and over again!
Over the last two years it became very clear that this is a multi-national and multi-denominational ministry that just happens to be led by the Church of England but unites people from all kind of backgrounds and countries. The chaplaincy is under the auspices of the Church of England, which has managed pastoral services to English-speakers in Spain for almost 200 years and is under the supervision of their Bishop in Europe and its suffragan bishop, +David Hamid, that is directly responsible for this project. And just for the record, while our main focus is on ministering to pilgrims, visitors to the city and residents of it are just as welcome! The door is open for everyone!
A few bits of clarification:
First, the terms Protestant and Protestant Churches are used in this blog post to encompass everybody, including, but not limited to, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Old Catholics, Baptists, United Church of Christ, basically all Christians that are NOT Roman-Catholic NOR Orthodox. My heartfelt apologies to those of my fellow Anglicans who don’t like to be called Protestants btw 😉
Also, it is difficult to say which percentage of pilgrims comes from a certain church background AND still practice their faith in that same church environment.
For example, Spain is a predominantly Catholic country, but not everybody that self-identifies as Catholic actually ever darkens the door of a church here 😉
On the other hand, countries like Canada, the USA and South Korea might send more pilgrims, proportionally, as they heard about the Camino first in a ‘religious’ context and are practising members of their respective churches.
As far as I know (please correct me if you have more information!) only one of the main starting points collects information about the church affiliation of pilgrims and that is Roncesvalles on the Camino Francés.
The problem is that I can’t find these statistics anywhere. Apparently they go into a black hole in the Government of Navarra. If somebody could take a spaceship there and dig them out, that would be very much appreciated!
But even if that would happen one day, only 5,541 pilgrims (1,69% of all pilgrims in 2018!) started their Camino in Roncesvalles that year. So, that information would have to be extrapolated with a huge grain of salt as the total number of pilgrims registered by the Pilgrim’s Office here in Santiago in 2018 was: 327,378!
A pilgrim friend of mine had a better idea. He looked at the top 15 groups of pilgrims by country in 2018 as registered by the Pilgrim’s Office here in Santiago and then applied their ‘home country’ denominational ratio to them.
For example: with 144,141 Spanish pilgrims arriving in Santiago in 2018, and because Spain is a predominantly Roman-Catholic country, only 1.2% of the population have declared themselves being protestants in the last census. Which gives us a guesstimate of 1,729 Spanish protestant pilgrims on the Camino.
In my own experience, I would say the number is in reality far lower as a lot of Spanish protestants belong to non-denominational Churches which really haven’t developed a tradition of pilgrimage to Santiago – yet. In fact, I have only met perhaps two handful of Spanish Protestant pilgrims over the last twenty years… And, in any case, they wouldn’t be necessarily be interested in an English language ministry.
The next biggest (by country) group of pilgrims comes from Italy with around 216 Protestant pilgrims. Again, Italy is a predominantly Catholic country.
After that we have Germany, which does indeed have a higher percentage of Protestants and so we got likely 6,451 Protestant pilgrims from Germany in 2018.
Next in line is the USA, the first predominantly English-speaking country in the list, with a likelihood of having contributed 8,262 pilgrims.
And so it goes on, if you would like to see the rest of the numbers, please download the PDF from the link at the bottom of this blog post.
And if we look now at the top English-speaking countries from which the pilgrims come from, the total numbers get even smaller:
USA – likely 8,262 Protestants from different churches
Great Britain – likely 1,990 Protestants from different churches
Ireland – likely 943 Protestants from different churches
To cut a long story short and taking in account the 15 Top countries where pilgrims come from we get a guestimate of 28,271 Protestant pilgrims in this Top 15 group. And the total of all pilgrims from these Top 15 countries is 286,934.
Summary: As a careful guesstimate, between 10% and 15% of all pilgrims that arrived 2018 in Santiago, and who went to the Pilgrim’s Office for their Compostelas, were Protestants.
Which gives us the following numbers:
Pilgrims in total- 327,378
Possibly Protestant Pilgrims: ~32,737 and ~49,105
And if we take into account the number of pilgrims who come from English-speaking countries or a country where English is widely spoken as a second language, the number of pilgrims that might be interested in an English language service offering drops again.
So, my personal guesstimate is that around 15,000 and 20,000 Protestants from a variety of different churches AND that speak English as a first or second language, arrived last year in Santiago.
So, yes, having a Anglican Camino Chaplaincy here in Santiago de Compostela makes an awful lot of sense!
Any thoughts or questions? Please leave them in a comment below! Many Muchas Gracias and Buen Camino wherever you are Peregrin@s!
And if you want to have a look at the original numbers my pilgrim friend crunched and which sources of information he used– and he emphasizes that this is a methodologically imperfect exercise, have a look at this >>>PDF File<<< Click to download …
A friend who volunteers here with the pilgrims’ office in Santiago leaves regularly some boxes with me. Things he doesn’t need at home, but needs when back here in Santiago. Today I put away those boxes and found something astonishing…
I thought it was lost, but now I found it and it taught me a valuable lesson …
Many months back I hosted a pilgrim who gave me the little basket shown in the photo above made by https://www.facebook.com/gypsea.eco/. It is made out of recycled fisher nets collected at the Costa de Morte, the Galician coast. I loved it, I cherished it, but I thought I had lost it. Today as I stored away my friends’ boxes, I found the blue basket in an empty card board box. I now know how this had happened:
When I first set up our welcome tea point at the ecumenical centre, I carried over a water kettle; for safe keeping in its own cardboard box. And the little blue basket in it. I put a scallop shell on top of that to use it as a donativo basket. But when it was time to go home, I realised that was just wrong. A Christian welcome should never, ever be connected to money – even if it is ‘just’ a donation basket. Freely we have received and freely we should give … So I put the little blue basket back in the empty water kettle card board box and carried both home. And stored the box under the stair case.
And forgot to take the little blue basket out. Thought it lost. Even, I admit, sometimes I thought somebody sneaked into the Ecumenical Centre whilst I was not looking and snitched it.
I was wrong.
It is back.
I learned my lesson.
People are good.
And btw both of the pilgrims connected
to this story are called Tom …
The Rev Alasdair Kay (Church of England) served as a Camino Chaplain both in 2018 and 2019, here a short report by him about his experience:
Rev Alasdair before Santiago cathedral.
I walked my first Camino in 2016 whilst
on a sabbatical as a Parish Priest. I began in St Jean Pied de Port
and walked to Santiago de Compostela and then on to Finesterre and
Muxia. Since then I have walked another serving as an Anglican
Chaplain on the Camino.
The Camino is a life changing journey on several levels. It can be a time of deep reflection where pilgrims grow deeper in their spirituality and often Pilgrims talk of times of encountering the divine in solitude and silence. Every Camino has had its times of real physical exertion and pain. This pain can be cathartic as it releases stress and helps people to access inner emotional and spiritual pain that is carried in life. The Camino is a place of healing and the healing happens at a deep level in a very mystical way.
People walk the Camino for a host of
reasons. Our role as Chaplains on the Camino is to serve those
Pilgrims who are looking for spiritual support in their Camino. Some
pilgrims like to share with others and want to talk to someone about
their inner life and this is where the Anglican Camino Chaplaincy
comes in. Whilst walking the Camino as a Pilgrim we have many
spiritual conversations with people on a whole host of subjects,
faith, death, pain, relationships, prayer, the sacraments, and
especially blisters and tendonitis.
Our role as
Chaplains is to come alongside those who want to form this ongoing
connection and often we gather as Pilgrims in what is called “Camino
families” groups of Pilgrims who become friends as they walk on the
Camino. We then as we walk share together our joys and pains in the
inner and outer journey of the Camino. This often happens around the
daily pilgrims meal at the end of the day eating and drinking
together.
This year I walked the Camino
Portuguese from Porto to Santiago and made 12 good friends who I
still stay in contact with. Pilgrims from Malaysia, USA, Chile,
Holland, Germany, Brazil, and Denmark, together we formed a Camino
family and it was a real joy to all finish our pilgrimage together
celebrating a special Eucharist at Santa Susanna Church in Santiago.
A bit more than
two years ago I moved to Santiago de Compostela with the vague idea
of “doing something for pilgrims”. A lot
has happened since then and a lot of people, volunteers, friends and
pilgrims have visited my house. Eucharists have been
celebrated around the table and many meals have been shared.
Sometimes the doorbell rings and somebody asks for food. Sometimes
crutches have to be organized for a neighbour that can’t afford to
buy them. Sometimes a pilgrim, for whatever reason, only needs a bed
for one night, sometimes a bed, food and practical support for much
longer. Here is the story of one such pilgrim.
Scaughdt the Peace Pilgrim, photo (c) Michael Matynka, used with permission.
The first time I heard about Scott, or to use his preferred name, Scaughdt, was via Rebekah from the Peaceable Kingdom in Moratinos, on Facebook. He walks with no money only relying on Divine Providence and without a phone. Before I write a bit more about the house, the chaplaincy and our little Camino network dedicated to helping pilgrims, I will let Scaughdt introduce himself:
“Greetings one and all … My name is indeed Scaughdt (pronounced ‘scot’), and I have indeed been a Peace Pilgrim – essentially living without any money of my own while wandering the Earth serving others for free; fasting until offered food and sleeping wherever offered shelter – for the past 13+ years of my life. Currently I am in the middle of a pilgrimage that has been following the Camino de Santiago; a pilgrimage that started in Stuttgart, Germany (some 2700 km ago) and one that intends to end in Chattanooga, Tennessee (roughly 900 km from wherever I make landfall in the United States sometime later this month). This latest walk has been designed to be quite “radical” (without using or accepting any money, without carrying a Passport or any other form of personal identification, and without once ever asking for food along the way) and has been thus undertaken to prove to Americans & non-Americans alike that strangers are anything but dangerous; to prove that it is high time for us all to reach out with acts of according kindness towards the neighbors in our own communities … I am not sure how effective The Walk has been to date, of course, and yet it has been an honor and a privilege to serve humanity in this way, and if given the chance I would do it all again a thousand times over.”
Update: Scaughdt has meanwhile returned safely to the United States and is continuing his walk. If you see him, say ‘Hi and Buen Camino!’ from me!
Scaughdt is a good example of how the house and the chaplaincy work together to help pilgrims with whatever they need. As most of you know, my home place has two free guest bedrooms that are used to provide accommodation for the chaplaincy volunteers (they pay for their own travel here and don’t receive any money for the work they do.) and also for pretty much anybody that needs a bed for whatever reason. Plus, obviously, for visiting friends and family. The house is quite busy on occasions 😉 When Scaughdt arrived at the house, Rev Alasdair was still here wearing his Franciscan habit (Here more information about his community: https://cfcfranciscans.org/). And pilgrim and priest hit it off on the spot because as it turned out they realised that they both follow a Franciscan lifestyle, each in their own way. Lively discussions were had around the table and, again, we all discovered that old truth, there is more that unites us, then that separates us. Scaughdt, being a spiritual person, had no problem in participating in our services, handing out service booklets and generally helping around the house (my windows have never been cleaner, many Muchas Gracias, Scaughdt!).
So, if you ever wondered where
donations to the house or the chaplaincy go, you now
have an answer. They go into to feed
pilgrims like Scaughdt and volunteers like Alasdair. They are used to
buy glasses, mugs, a water kettle and other bits and bobs for the
Ecumenical Centre. They are used to print out boarding passes and
tickets, photocopies of lost passports and so many more things. They
are used to buy more chairs so that everybody has a comfortable seat
at the shared table. All these are, seen separately, small amounts
but they do add up over time. So many,
many Muchas Gracias from Santiago to all that have donated.
Congratulations that you made it to
here 😉 I have often been asked what the relationship is between me,
Egeria House, the chaplaincy and how it all works together. So here a
quick round-up for the curious:
Why the house has a name – When I lived in the UK, I was fascinated by the concept of house names, so when I moved to Spain I wanted the house to have a name. By giving the house a name, and taking care not calling it “my house” too often, I slowly managed to get into the mindset that ultimately it isn’t me that provides hospitality, it is the house, I am just its custodian and caretaker.
Why Egeria? – Little is known about this woman from the 4th century AD. She was most likely from Gallaecia (present-day Galicia, North Portugal, Asturias and León), she might or might not have been a nun, but she must have been from a wealthy and influential family. What we do know is that around 380 AD she made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and other places in the Holy Land. She wrote a long letter about it which is not only the oldest report of such a pilgrimage but also contains detailed descriptions of the Easter liturgy used in Jerusalem in the 4th century. Egeria must have been a courageous and well-educated woman to achieve all this, I would have been happy to offer her the hospitality of the house.
Camino Chaplaincy – If you browse this website a bit more, you can learn how it all started and developed over the last 1,5 years. As for my role: I am the lay coordinator for it here in Santiago. This means that I pick up the volunteers at the airport, help them to get settled in, introduce them to our Ecumenical partners and so on. Not all volunteers stay at the house as some wish to make other arrangements. For those who do stay I try to create a bit of community life, such as praying together and taking care of the house. I also help to welcome pilgrims at the Ecumenical centre and with our services on Sundays and Wednesdays. And if there is a gap between one priest going and the next one coming like at the moment, I lead Morning Prayer on Sundays at Santa Susana and Evening Prayer here at Egeria House on Wednesdays. Like everyone else involved in the Chaplaincy I am unpaid and I pay all of my own expenses.
Camino Network – I am we are not alone in this fascinating Camino adventure. Just as Rebekah referred Scaughdt to me, there are others around that help. Just a bit down the road lives an old hospitalero friend of mine to whom I can refer pilgrims, preferably Spanish speaking ones, when I run out of space. Others, like Michael Matynka donate guide books and maps to give to pilgrims free of charge (Michael also took the photo of Scaughdt shown on this blog post). Others share the produce of their gardens or other food with us. Others contribute their knowledge and wisdom about how things work here in Santiago. In short, if I run into a problem that I can’t solve alone, there is always somebody around that knows a solution or, at least, can point me in the right direction!
Living a life of hospitality – Living an open house hospitality is not for the faint of heart. Sharing “your” space with strangers changes you and the space. Pots and plates find new places to live in the kitchen, you learn new dishes to eat and cook, and, perhaps most importantly, you learn to see the world, and the Camino!, through different eyes and from different viewpoints. In short, it changes you. Sometimes I get asked: “Are you happy with the life you have chosen?” To which my answer is: “If not, I wouldn’t be where I am and doing what I am doing!”
I normally don’t review books on this
website, much less putting them up as ‘recommended reading’ in the
side bar, so why do I do it now? Simply because this book is so good,
everybody interested in the Camino, and its spirituality, should read
it! Ok, I am taking a step back now and get a bit less enthusiastic
and more in ‘book review mode’ 😉
With “It’s about time” the author
has accomplished a difficult task, writing a Camino book that is at
the same time interesting for those that never have even heard of the
Camino as well as those who have walked many. Short
paragraphs explain the history of the Camino as well as practical
matters like the Credencial and the Compostela. And it’s
framed by a foreword by Camino author Joyce Rupp and a conclusion by
Martin Sheen of ‘The Way’ fame. But most of the book is about the
inner experience of pilgrims, more precisely how they felt called and
answered that call.
The structure of the book itself is quite intriguing. The chapter headings are based on John’s own rendition of Ecclesiastics 3:1
‘For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven’
These are then followed by a pilgrim’s account how s/he felt called to walk the Camino de Santiago and the author’s account about his own pilgrim experience on many Caminos, starting from when he heard first about it and leading up to him living in Santiago, helping pilgrims. Answering also, among other questions, why somebody chooses to walk more then one Camino and/or pilgrimage.
The book focuses heavily on the Camino
de Santiago, but also contains one precious story about the Japanese
Shikoku 88 temples pilgrimage which the author undertook in 2014. And
this one is my favourite story in the book. ‘Osettai’ is the custom
to give gifts to pilgrims, be it food, drink or paying for their
snack in a bar. It is a way for the giver to participate in the
pilgrimage by helping and encouraging pilgrims in their difficult
task. And for the pilgrim it is a chance to … (see chapter 7).
“It’s about
time” has one main red thread running through it, the internal and
external changes pilgrims may make in the way they think and in their
daily lives through walking the Caminos. The author has struck a fine
balance between taking the readers with him on this inner journey but
not overwhelming them with too many personal details. This way,
readers can easier identify with the story and see themselves in it.
All proceeds from the book go to charities that help pilgrims. Because the author is not accepting any fees or royalties the publisher is providing up to 2,000 copies free of charge, to Pilgrim Associations worldwide. Already books are on their way to many of them for them to sell to raise funds. 100% of what you pay for a paperback book bought from a Pilgrim Association goes to them to help other pilgrims. The publisher is donating 50% of all Kindle sales to a pilgrim charity.
So, It’s about time – you read this book! You can get your copy here:
For other ‘Kindle countries’ do a
search for ‘It’s About Time: A call to the Camino de Santiago Kindle
Edition by Johnnie Walker’ in your respective store …
I
met Xohán
for the first time in 2001. I was a hospitalera in O Cebreiro, he a
hospitalero in Triacastela. On my day off, I walked down to “see
the colleague in the valley” and we have been friends ever since.
We have never been hospitaleros in the same albergue, but often in
neighbouring ones. He was my SAPO, and I was his, more times than we
both can remember.
“SAPO – Literally Spanish for ‘toad’ as like in ‘jumping in’ but also the acronym for Servicio de APOyo (Service of Help). Basically an experienced hospitaler@ that ‘jumps in’ for a few days into an albergue to help out and give some respite to the hospitaler@ on duty.”
‘Nena’ Xohán called me, which means girl in Galician.
“Nena,
I show you how to prepare pulpo.”
“Nena,
I am coming over to help with Saint John’s night and we are making
Queimada.”
“Nena,
let’s go to San Andrés de Teixido together.”
“Nena,
come and spend New Year with me and my family.”
“Nena,
I come over for Christmas to your albergue, let’s cook together and
give our pilgrims a Christmas they will never forget.”
“Nena,
let’s go to the aldea (ancestral village of the family) and spend a
day in the countryside collecting mushrooms, chestnuts and herbs.”
“Nena,
…”
Xohán
was very much in favour of celebrating life and wouldn’t want to be
mourned, to honour his wish here a few stories we lived through
together. May those memories lessen the pain:
When
he took me to see his ancestral home, a traditional Galician
farmstead, he wanted to hang a new mirror in the bathroom. So he
drilled a hole, right through the water pipe. It took us a while to
find out where to turn the main water supply off and we returned to
Lugo soaking wet. Thank God it was summer.
He
not only taught me many Spanish and Galician recipes but also many
songs. Our favourite was ‘Caminante no hay camino …’ and, most
importantly, he never cared how badly I actually sing.
He
was one of the few men, I wasn’t in a relationship with, I shared a
room, and on a couple of occasions even a mattress with when we were
on ‘Camino duty’. His snoring kept me awake, but that was it. We just
were comfortable with each other.
One
day, when he was a boy of six or seven, and spent time with his
grandparents in the aldea, his grandfather invited him to help carry
‘sopa de burro cansado’ (tired donkey soup, bread soaked in red wine)
to the barn where two pilgrims spend the night. That was in the 1950s
and I will forever remember this story he shared with me as a
first-hand account that the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela
never truly died – and the hope that it never will.
And
finally, a story that has nothing to do with the Camino, but all with
Xohán’s
beloved Lugo. He always said: “In Lugo, we are just half a metre
away from the Roman empire.” Why? One day repairs on the sewage
system before his mother’s shop were necessary but when the workers
started to dig they found a well preserved Roman mosaic. The
archaeologists were there for a long time, camping out in the
entrance of his mother’s shop …
But
Xohán
was more than ‘just’ a hospitalero on the Camino de Santiago, he was
also a social activist who put his money and hands where he saw a
need, a gifted photographer, musician and writer, an exceptional
actor – and so much more. He was my friend.
Xohán designed this logo for the Hospitaleros Voluntarios, a human being stretching out wide his/her arms to the pilgrims and carrying them all (as tiny figures) inside his/her very being. A symbol that is now worn by hundreds of volunteers …
I
am sure we will meet again in the celestial albergue de peregrinos
and if we two manage to behave ourselves perhaps the angelic
hospitaler@s will allow us to take finally a turn together as
hospitaleros. Cooking, singing, and yes, preparing Queimada for
peregrinos as we once used to do.
But
the heartbreaking thing is that only a few weeks ago I was in Lugo,
visiting a pilgrim in the hospital. I contacted Xohán
on very short notice, but we didn’t manage to meet up. Sometimes this
happens. You see more of each other if you live in different
countries as when you live only 100km apart. We were both busy, me
with pilgrims here in Santiago, he with his family and social causes
in Lugo. Xohán
died Friday, 26th
July 2019, just one day after the feast of Santiago.
Sit
tibi terra levis mi amigo hospitalero, we will see again! Your Nena
PS
Make time to see your friends and tell them how much they mean to
you, you never know …
Every now and then, and with increased
frequency this year it seems, the Donativo thematic raises its
agitated head on social media like Facebook. Often started by a
hospitaler@ complaining that the pilgrims of yesterday didn’t leave
enough money to take care of the pilgrims of tomorrow. Or by somebody
innocently stating that Donativo equals free as the Church (which
one?), the state, the European Union, or whoever or whatever comes to
mind, supports the Donativo albergues on the Caminos de Santiago. Or
a new pilgrim is just asking what would be the correct amount to
leave in a Donativo albergue. And then the discussions start …
Church and albergue of Grañón in La Riojy, on the Camino Francés, image (CC) Henri Bergius
I have served over the last 20+ years
in more than 20 albergues as a hospitalera and whilst Egeria House is
NOT an albergue, the work that I do here, be it practical pilgrim
help or the Camino Chaplaincy, is supported by fundraisers, donations
and my own money. If you don’t want to read the whole article to the
end, it has become rather long, here a short summary:
Donativo Albergues are maintained
exclusively with donations and don’t receive any public funds. They
are a work of love by veteran pilgrims and locals to help the
pilgrims currently on pilgrimage to Santiago.
If you can, leave:
… the place better, cleaner and
tidier than you found it.
… a generous donation, think what was
offered to you freely (not for free!) and respect the hospitaler@s,
as they are donating their precious vacation time, to help you, the
pilgrim.
…, as a rule of thumb, and if you
can, the same amount that you have left in a previous albergue where
you had to pay a fixed amount for everything you received.
… or 5 Euro (or even a bit more) each
for the following: a place to sleep, clean bathrooms and showers,
dinner and breakfast.
… nothing, if you have nothing, but
always, always leave a smile and a Thank You!
And now my longer take on the subject:
Donativo Albergues 101
A Short History – Medieval Times
The Roman-Catholic church did indeed support pilgrims to and from Santiago de Compostela, and other places, by providing food, shelter, spiritual and practical care. So belonged, for example, the little church and monastery in O Cebreiro to the powerful Benedictine abbey of Cluny in France. Or take the Parador here in Santiago, it was founded by the Catholic kings in 1486 as a hostel and hospital for pilgrims. These were financed by generous donations of the nobility and gentry plus with the income of the monasteries. Helping a pilgrim was, and is still, deemed a good work, a work that helped the donor to achieve salvation and his or her heavenly reward.
A Short History – Modern Times
In the late 80s and 90s of the last
millennium, the pilgrimage to Santiago picked up again, after its
decline caused by the Black Death, wars, reformation, enlightenment
and so on. Some 25+ years ago a young teacher from Catalunya
approached a parish priest who lived in a small village on the Camino
Frances with an unusual request: Could he help her to rent a house on
the Camino so that she could welcome pilgrims in it? Her reasoning
was that whilst albergues existed even back then, the human touch,
the personal hospitality was still missing. And so the modern
movement of volunteer hospitaleros started.
The priest was Don José Ignacio Díaz Pérez, at that time editor of the Spanish pilgrim magazine “Peregrino”. After the teacher finished her stint as a hospitalera, a couple of people took over and the albergue in Hornillos del Camino became the first of many albergues where the traditional hospitality of the Camino de Santiago has been revived. Today a hospitaler@, after having done the Camino, typically attends a preparation course that takes place over a weekend in many places of Spain and also worldwide. After that, they get assigned, typically for 15 days, to an albergue. These hospitaleros pay their own travel to and from the albergue, donate their free and/or vacation time to clean bathrooms, dormitories, kitchens, to cook with and for pilgrims and to pray with them. They don’t receive any remuneration for all the work they do in 15 very long days. The donativos are used to maintain the albergue, pay the water and electricity bills, buy food and other necessities.
Commemorative sign to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Hospitaleros Voluntarios, (cc) Jialxv
What Donativos can teach pilgrims and society in general
The traditional hospitality on the Caminos de Santiago shows that another approach to life, sharing and possessions is possible. The pilgrim receives what is on offer and available in the albergue. Sometimes it is just a place to shower, sleep and rest, sometimes it is a communal meal, a breakfast and/or a time of prayer and reflection. This hospitality aims to take care of the pilgrim and his/her needs without expecting anything in return. Yes, you read that right, if we hospitaler@s start to see pilgrims in terms of “possible donations” then we get it wrong. Of course, there is a box where those who want to keep this “pay it forward system” alive can leave their contribution, but that box should never be the centre of our hospitality. Generous hospitality, offered with an open heart and without judgement, has changed the life of many pilgrims, including my own, more than 20 years ago. Because of the hospitality I have received so many years ago I am now where I am and do what I do.
And a final word to my hospitaler@ colleagues
There is a fine line between explaining
to pilgrims what a Donativo albergue is and how it works and making
them uncomfortable by being too pushy towards the donation box. Here
some tips that might help:
Don’t overload the pilgrims, on
arrival, with information, they will forget it anyway. Instead show
them their bed, the showers and tell them to come back to you later
for more information, after they have recovered from their day’s work
of walking or biking.
A transparent or open donation box
helps and lets pilgrims see how much or little is in the box. If they
can’t see that, they will automatically assume that the box is as
full of money as the albergue is full of pilgrims.
Use, if possible, the conversation
during the common meal to explain a little bit about the albergue,
how it came into being and who actually maintains it and who not.
And, perhaps most importantly, try to
separate the pilgrims from the money they leave in the box. This
money doesn’t represent your worth as a hospitaler@ nor the
worthiness of the pilgrim as a pilgrim. It is just money and if it is
one day less than you need, rest assured the next day it will be more
than you need to take care of pilgrims.
Have I met true “freeloaders” aka pilgrims that had money, sometimes a lot, but decided to make their Camino as cheap as possible by staying mainly in Donativos and leaving nothing or next to nothing? Yes, over the last 20+ years it was around a handful … if you look at the numbers of pilgrims each year on the Camino, that isn’t many.
All things bright and beautiful. All creatures great and small. All things wise and wonderful. The Lord God made them all. … And some of them even end up with me in Santiago 😉
Adorable, isn’t she?
Like a lot of stories, also this one began – on Facebook! At least for me, the kitten’s story started earlier, so let’s go back to the beginning. Once upon a time, there was a tiny kitten that lived alone in a big, dark forest. And there was a well traveled route passing through this forest, a route taken by thousands and thousands every year. The little kitten was too young to hunt and, even when it found some food scraps from time to time, always hungry, always thirsty, always scared, always just a tiny step away from death.
The kitten ‘asked’ many pilgrims for help and a few gave it a bit of their food or water, some even played with it for a short while. But then they moved on and left it behind. One day it met a pilgrim that was different. Somehow the little kitten felt that this pilgrim was her last chance for survival. So, it took all its courage in its little paws and ran up to the pilgrim, right up his leg until it had reached his chest – where the heart is. Also this pilgrim fed the little kitten, and gave it water, lots and lots of water, and also this pilgrim played with the little white kitten. But this pilgrim didn’t leave it, like so many others had done before him, he took the little kitten with him on his Camino.
I know there is ham somewhere! WHERE is the ham??? Eating with Esti being in the same room proved quickly impossible …
He tried to find an animal shelter that would take over, but no luck, no shelter had the capacity to deal safely with such a small kitten. It needed feeding every few hours and animal shelters are chronically overburdened with abandoned pets and understaffed with humans. So the pilgrim carried the kitten with him for ‘a few more days’. He also took the kitten to the vet. The vet shook his head and said there was little he could do. He could give the kitten some meds to get rid of parasites but for any vaccination, it was far too young, only around four to five weeks old and also far too underweight. There went the idea of boarding the kitten in a cattery, as those require their guests to be properly vaccinated, right out of the window.
And so the pilgrim and the kitten continued their pilgrimage. But things got difficult, sneaking the kitten each day into accommodation that doesn’t allow pets, caring for and carrying it, after two weeks pilgrim and kitten were exhausted. And so the pilgrim asked on Facebook for help.
“Anybody here in Spain that wants to foster this adorable little creature until I have finished my pilgrimage and can take it home? Only for a short while, I promise!”
A friend of mine saw that post and tagged me in a comment. For good measure he also send me a message alerting me to it. I read the post and alarm bells went off. Sure, just for a short while and where does the pilgrim live? In the United States. It wouldn’t be easy to arrange that kind of travel at short notice … I politely replied and said that I was willing to help – if he couldn’t find anybody else. I had an idea that the Camino kitten, named Estela btw, would be more of a long term project than he thought…
And here goes a piece of spicy chicken …
All stayed quite for a couple of weeks, it was now mid-September, and I thought that the danger was over, when, out of the blue, I received a late phone call from the pilgrim. Yes, he had found a foster place for her, no it didn’t work out for various reasons and yes, could I take her like – tomorrow? I had the volunteers of the Anglican Camino Chaplaincy staying with me, so first course of action was asking everybody if they were OK with a kitten in the house. Everybody was happy, nobody was allergic, and so I gave the pilgrim the thumbs up and less then 24hours later, Estela arrived. God, was she still tiny! The pilgrim, by now accompanied by his wife, spent just an hour at the house and then they traveled back to finish their Camino. Saying that in a couple of weeks they would be back and taking Estela home to the States. I smiled …
Not the best picture of me, but a good one to show how tiny she was the day she arrived at the house.
If you have ever been at my house, you know it has quite a few stairs. Some of the stair steps are open at the back, I didn’t want the little one to take a really bad tumble, so it was carrying her up and downstairs as I moved around the house. She didn’t like to be left alone if there was action in the house, she wanted to be in the middle of it!
She soon learned to navigate the stairs carefully, giving me a few heart attacks in the process …
I must admit the first night I was afraid I would squash her to death, so tiny was she. But she survived and she ate and grew, and grew and ate. The pilgrims and I stayed in contact and quickly they realised that they had been ‘a bit’ too optimistic. No way they could start organising Estela’s immigration to the States whilst on the Camino, and, also, the rabies vaccination had to be done a certain amount of time before the travel and their flight was leaving earlier than that. So Plan A died a quick death and Plan B was developed. They would travel home and organise from there a transport with a professional company that picked Estela up at my place, did everything that needed to be done and transport her to her new home. I smiled again …
By now Estela had become quickly part of the life and on goings in the house and the chaplaincy. Many of the pilgrims that came in for a chat had either met her on the road, or had heard of her. And wanted to meet the ‘Camino Kitten’. So we got a fair bit of socialising done and when nobody else was in the house, the chaplains were always happy to play with her. And so it became October. And on Saint Francis Day she was the star, and only four-legged creature, at our pet blessing service.
Father Bob Bates blessing Estela the Camino Kitten on Saint Francis Day.
End of October saw the end, for this year, of the chaplaincy and the chaplains left and it was only me and Estela, and the odd visiting pilgrim friend in the house. Meanwhile Plan B had also died and we had arrived at Plan C. I would handle all the paperwork/vet appointments here in Santiago and the pilgrim would fly in from the States and take her back home with him. I smiled with a little bit more of optimism now.
And so it became November and, to make a rather long story short, here is what needed to be done to get her out of the country, on a plane, out of Europe and into the United States of America. And yes, over the weeks, Monika the vet and I became fast friends. Here is what the poor vet had to do to a rather reluctant kitten:
Apply another dose of anti-parasites liquid to her neck area. She really loved that! Nearly as much as having her temperature taken by the vet </sarcasm out>
Get a microchip into her, same neck area, with a horribly thick needle. She actually tolerated that quite well. The kitten, I mean 😉
Get her pet passport filled out and connected to microchip number and activate her registration. For this I needed a letter of authorisation of the pilgrim and all his contact info.
Get her her shots (rabies and another one I always forget the name of) and note and stamp them into pet passport.
Get her a health certificate that is not older then ten days at the time of traveling and check that microchip is still in place.
And we were done!
Oops, we were not done yet!
Monika the vet diligently checked everything and discovered that Esti, as I had nick-named her, also needed an export permission. Excuse me, a what? Correctly heard! Turns out that, in order to leave Europe and to travel to a non-EU country, little one needs an export permission. And so, the same day the pilgrim arrived from the States in the afternoon, I took an early morning train to A Coruña and to the agricultural department of the Galician government. The one that issue export permissions for little abandoned Camino kittens, and any other creature that wants to leave the country. Thank Bastet they didn’t wanted to see Esti, just her, by now substantial, paperwork. So me, a rather big stack of papers and a lots of prayers in my heart traveled up north by train whilst the pilgrim was traveling to Santiago. The civil servants examined all the papers, took various copies, asked a whole bunch of questions, stamped a lot of papers, asked more questions, and after half an hour I was issued that all important piece of paper that allowed Esti to leave the Kingdom of Spain …
And next day the pilgrim and the kitten, happily reunited, traveled to Madrid and flew home. Plan C had worked out and Estela the Camino Kitten is now ruling the pilgrims’ house over the big pond 😉 And as a little reward for being good pilgrim and good kitten, Iberia even upgraded them, for free, to business class! The little feral kitten was starting the next step of her new journey in style!
Do I miss her? Of course I do! She was great company and a really engaging little character. She has a zeal for life, and food !!!, very few cats I have met over the years, can match. Do I want a permanent pet? No, not at the moment! Would I foster a similar case again? Most likely, but I think I need to find another vet first. Monika warned me of that 😉
Look how Esti has grown in the two months she spent with me! This picture was taken shortly before she traveled to her furever home.
And here, congratulations that you made it so far btw! The checklist about what to do if you want to travel with a cat out of the EU/Schengen-Area, in this case from Spain to the US. For regulations importing pets into other countries, ask Auntie Google;-)
You need an export permission, issued by the agricultural department or, alternatively, at the airport IF that service is provided at the airport. Make sure to get that one right, if not … Oh, and you also need to make an appointment with them beforehand. And to get this Holy Grail of cat export, you need, in exactly that order!:
A cat 😉
A cat that is de-parasited.
A cat that is micro-chipped.
A cat that has been vaccinated against rabies and whatever else is required.
A cat that has a health certificate that is no older then ten days at the time of travel.
And with all these papers, but sans cat, you need to go to the aforementioned office and, fingers crossed, you will get your export permission. Well done!
Any questions/remarks/jokes? Please leave them in a comment!
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