Posted on 04/04/2021 11:14:50 PM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
If you're a walking fan, like Pilgrimages and are in the mood to have all of your sins forgiven then this is a good time to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Why? It's a Holy Year when the Feast of Saint James falls on a Sunday, and this year it is on July 25th. They open a special door at the back of the Cathedral. If you go through that door, go to the Apostle's tomb, ask forgiveness for your sins, go to confession, pray for the Pope, go to mass and receive communion you will have all of your sins forgiven. I would have had to have one heck of a bad sin to pray for our current Pope but for others it may be worth it.
Because of the Pandemic the Pope has extended this Holy Year until the end of 2022 then the next one won't be until 2027.
Even though this is a vanity post, if you click on the link at the top it will take you to search results where you can find out about walking during a Holy Year.
It’s been a long-term dream of mine to walk one or more of the Camino(s), and I’ve been talking about doing it for more than a dozen years. And I’m actually a huge walker here at home, often going on 12+ mile walks. But a few things have held me back (1) it’s thus far been hard to find a month free of any sort of obligation; (2) I’m not a hostel type person. I don’t necessarily need luxury accommodations, but I’m too old and cranky to slum it in hostels with a bunch of 20-something European vagabonds. I’d have to plan out a route wherein I had a decent room and bathroom every night.
Only if one can join groups who sing the cantigas of Alfonso el Sabio written for the pilgrimage. (Then again as a Lutheran my sins are already forgiven through Christ’s merit.)
I stayed in a hotel with air conditioning and a bathtub every night. They do have mostly hostels but there is a Camino for every budget. You also don’t have to take a month. You only have to walk 100km to qualify for a certificate. Most people start from Sarria for precisely that reason. The typical walk from there is 5 days but I did it in 6 because I wanted to take my time and enjoy the scenery. There is no way I would want to be away from my wife for a month, even if she was healthy like she was when I did my walk.
Even though it is a Holy Year the majority of people who walk the Camino nowadays list exercise as their main reason rather than religion. I live in Spain so I hear a lot about it.
go to confession,
While the walk is nice, just do confession and pennance: that forgives your sins...and stay at a Holiday Inn Express.
I walked this three years ago in honor of my daughter. It was a long 500 miles but I loved it. I met so many wonderful people from all over the world. I’ve wanted to do it again ever since.
That sounds like the perfect solution for people who want to live a boring life.
While I have wanted to do this for years, doing the E to W version across Spain, there is a possibility (if they open) of going N from Portugal. Unfortunately if this happens it probably won’t be until Oct. Thanks!!!
That's a shame, but not surprising.
I first "met" Alfonso el Sabio in music grad school in the 70s when I was researching medieval music half the time and ancient Greek scales the other half. In a sense the Fonz was, pardon the pun, instrumental in bringing back the use of musical instruments in Christian music, which had been banned since the time of Ambrose almost a millenium earlier (that's a whole 'nuther story in itself). Bringing their musical instruments is one of the few good things the Muslims did when they ruled Spain, or perhaps more accurately leaving their musical instruments behind is one of the many good things the Muslims did when they left Spain.
In the cantigas, a leader would sing the verses, almost always about a miracle that occurred because of the intervention of the Virgin Mary, and the walking pilgrims would join in on the repeated chorus. (You know all of this, but just in case someone else is reading...)
One of my favorites at first was "Non é gran cousa," until I found out what the medieval Spanish was actually saying, which was, well, a bit gruesome--no more so than some of Grimm's actual fairy tales, but I didn't know the truth about those either at the time.
¡Cristo ha resucitado! ¡Aleluya!
Thanks for that info. If I did it, I’d probably want to go “all in” and start from St. Jean Pied de Port. It’d take time and planning.
Walked the Camino Primitivo from Oviedo in 2018. Rendezvoused with my daughter, who had walked the Camino Frances solo, in Melide and continued on to Santiago where my son joined us and we walked to the ocean at Finisterra.People in Spain are very warm and kind. On the Camino you run into lots of Canadians, Australians, Germans and Koreans.
I'm in training to walk the Camino again. Just need Europe to get things together.
I was going to walk the last 100km of the Portuguese Camino, which is about the same length as from Sarria, but my wife got sick and now I don’t want to leave her. It’s very peaceful when you walk. We had a housekeeper cleaning our house 2 days a week and I was thinking about putting her and my wife up in the Hostal dos Reis Católicos for a week while I did a walk and meet them there but she just told us that she can’t afford to stay in Spain anymore so she is returning to France on May 1st. The could have gone sightseeing while I walked. I’ll have to see if I can find another way.
Walk if you want but your sins are forgiven just by asking Christ to do so. No mumbo jumbo necessary
The Portuguese route sounds like fun. My daughter and I took a long weekend bus trip down to Oporto from SdC while waiting for my son to show up. That's a fun city.
You can put me up for a week in the Hostal dos Reis Católicos if you'd like!
An Army historian I worked with said that he was going to walk the Camino Pilgrimage route after he retired. He was also an active duty USMC & Army vet who was in good physical shape to complete it. I hope he either has already done it or will get it done.
That Hostal was part of the worst special offer in the history of special offers.
For any of you FReepers not familiar with Spain, they have a series of hotels called Paradores scattered around the country. All have historical significance and are inside of old castles, monasteries, hospitals, etc. Most are spectacular, and, consequently, they usually aren't cheap. But, this being a pandemic and all, just about every part of the tourism industry is offering incentives to lure people back. If I wanted to fly from my nearest airport to Santiago de Compestela, for instance, it would only cost me about 15 Euros each way.
So I am looking on the Parador.es website for special offers and gift boxes and the one that really caught my eye was the 600 Euros for 5 Nights with Breakfast promotion. For 605 Euros (the 5 Euros is for delivery) they offer five nights for one or two people in a standard double room with breakfast. Not a bad deal, right? Then you take a look at the conditions, and those conditions weren't easy to find so you could easily overlook them.
For essentially any Parador that anyone would want to visit there are, ahem, supplemental charges. The charge for Santiago de Compestela? 100 Euros per night. Not 100 Euros, 100 per NIGHT! On the dates we were looking at the 5 Night Special would cost 1100 Euros for a standard twin, since they apparently don't have standard doubles. They call that a superior double and that would be 1350 Euros. What a deal!!
I've stayed in Paradors in Segovia, Santillana del Mar, Ribadeo and Cuenca. Wonderful hotels in every case.
It takes a special deal to get me to spring for what is a luxury hotel. The deals can be had, but not everywhere and never in SdC.
We last stayed in the SDC Parador in January of 2018 when we went to Santiago for the reopening of the Portico of Glory after a 10-year restoration. It was spectacular. The price of the Parador was a lot less than even the gift card price with no upcharges.
The hardest Parador to book, and the only one that was excluded from any special offers, was the one at the Alhambra in Granada. Last time I checked, which was in February, I could book a room there a day in advance if I wanted to. Tourism in Spain is dead for now, which is why I thought they would have some genuine offers at the Paradores.
Or you can simply repent, accept Christ's sacrifice and God's promise of redemption and thank Him for his mercy.
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