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See also:PILGRIMAGE (Fr. pelerinage, See also:Lat. peregrinatio) , a See also:journey undertaken, from religious motives, to some See also:place reputed as sacred. These journeys See also:play an important role in most pre-See also:Christian and extra-Christian religions: in the See also:Catholic See also: The four ancient sacred resorts are Kapilavastu, Gaya, Benares and Kusinagara.
In See also:Syria, the See also:temple of See also:Atargatis in See also:Hierapolis was an immemorial resort of pilgrims. In See also:Phoenicia, a similar significance was enjoyed by the See also:shrine of See also:Astarte, on the richly-watered source of the river See also:Adonis, till, as See also:late as the 4th See also:century after See also:Christ, it was destroyed by See also:Constantine the See also:Great. In See also:Egypt, the great See also:annual and monthly festivals of the indigenous gods
gave rise to all manner of religious expeditions. Even among the Israelites, the visitation of certain cult-centres prevailed from remote antiquity; but, when the restriction of Yahweh-See also:worship to See also:Jerusalem had doomed the old shrines, the Jewish pilgrimages were directed solely to the sanctuary on Mt Moria.
Among the Greeks the See also:habit was no less deeply rooted. Just as the inhabitants of each See also:town honoured their tutelar deity by See also:solemn processions to his temple, so, at the See also:period of the Olympic See also:games, the temple of See also:Zeus at See also:Olympia formed the See also:goal of multitudes from every Hellenic See also:country. No less powerful was the attraction exercised by the shrines of the oracular I divinities, though the influx of pilgrims was not limited to certain days, but, See also:year in and year out, a stream of private persons, or embassies from the city-states, came flowing to the temple of Zeus in See also:Dodona or the shrine of See also:Apollo at See also:Delphi.
The unification of the peoples of antiquity in the See also:Roman See also:Empire, and the resultant See also:amalgam of religions, gave a powerful impetus to the See also:custom. For, as See also:East and See also:West still met at the old sanctuaries of See also:Greece, so—and yet more—Greece and See also:Rome repaired to the temples of the See also:southern and eastern deities. In the shrine of See also:Isis at See also:Philae, Europeans set up votive See also:inscriptions on behalf of their kindred far away at See also:home, and it may be surmised that even among the festival crowds at Jerusalem a few Greeks found place (See also: The pilgrimage, however, attained its See also:zenith under See also:Islam. For See also:Mahomet proclaimed it the See also:duty of every Mussulman, once at least in his See also:life, to visit See also:Mecca; the result being that the See also:birth-place of the See also:Prophet is now the religious centre of the whole See also:Mahommedan See also:world (see MAHOMMEDAN See also:RELIGION; See also:CARAVAN; MECCA). II. The Pilgrimage under See also:Christianity.—The pilgrimages of Christianity presuppose the existence of those of paganism; Orin but it would be an See also:error to maintain that the former were a See also:direct development of the latter. For See also:primitive Christianity was devoid of any point by which these journeys of devotion might naturally have been suggested. It was a religion without temples, without sanctuaries, and without ceremonial. The saying of the Johannine See also:Gospel—that God is to be adored neither in Jerusalem nor on See also:Gerizim, but that His true worshipper must worship Him in spirit and in truth— is in See also:complete See also:harmony with the old Christian piety. And, accordingly, in the ancient Christian literature, we find no trace of a conception that the believer should visit a definite place in See also:order to pay See also:homage to his See also:Master. The See also:evolution of the Christian pilgrimage moved on other lines. See also:Cicero finely observes that, in See also:Athens, the glorious See also:architecture caused him less See also:pleasure than did the thought of the great men whose See also:work was done in its midst—" how here one had lived, and there fallen asleep; how here another had disputed, and there See also:lay buried " (De Legg. ii. 2). This feeling was not weakened by the See also:advent of Christianity, in fact, we may say that it was appreciably strengthened. Cicero had already compared the sites consecrated by the memory of some illustrious name with those hallowed by recollections of a loved one. But with the Christian, when his Redeemer was in question, both motives coincided: for there the greatest was also the dearest.
In this devotion to the memory of Jesus, we find the See also: 13 and 37). Soon we begin to hear the names of the pilgrims. In the course of the 3rd century, as See also:Jerome relates, Firmilian, See also:bishop of Caesarea in See also:Cappadocia, travelled to See also:Palestine to view the sacred places (De Vir. See also:ill. 54); while, according to See also:Eusebius, a second bishop from Cappadocia, See also:
of See also:Gethsemane and the See also:scene of the See also:Ascension. It may seem surprising that there is no mention of Golgotha and the See also:Sepulchre. But the visitation of these sites was rendered impossible to the Christians by the destruction of Jerusalem and the erection of the town of Aelia Capitolina. They had not forgotten them; but the See also:grave was concealed under a See also:mound of See also:earth and stones —a profanation probably dating from the See also:siege of the city and See also:Titus's attack on the second See also:wall. On the See also:summit of this mound there stood, in the days of Eusebius, a sanctuary of See also:Venus (Eus. Vit. Contt. iii. 26, 30). The Sepulchre and the See also: 12 sqq.)—Mary, the See also:mother of John See also:Mark, lived; and the belief was that there the Lord held the Last Supper, and that there the eleven assembled after the Ascension. It was there, also, that the scene of the Pentecostal effusion of the Spirit was laid (cf. Cyrill. Hierus. See also:Cat. xvi. 4). The pilgrimage to Palestine received a powerful impetus from the erection of the memorial churches on the holy sites, under Constantine the Great, as described by Eusebius in his See also:biography of the See also:emperor (iii. 25 sqq.). At the order of Constantine, the shrine of Venus above mentioned was destroyed, and the accumulated rubbish removed, till the ancient See also:rock-See also:foundation was reached. There the cave was discovered in which See also:Joseph of Arimathea had laid the See also:body of Jesus; and above this cave and the Hill of the Crucifixion the imposing church of the Holy Sepulchre was built (A.D. 326–336). The churches in Bethlehem and on the Mount of Olives were erected by See also:Helena, the mother of Constantine, who herself undertook the pilgrimage to the Holy See also:Land. These churches were then endowed with new sanctuaries of miraculous See also:powers; and See also:relics of Christ were found in the shape of the See also:Cross and the nails. Eusebius, the contemporary of Constantine, is silent on this point. To his continuators, on the other hand, it is an established fact that Helena brought all three crosses to See also:light, and ascertained
the genuine Cross by the instrumentality of a See also:miracle, in addition to discovering the nails of the Crucifixion (Rufin. i. 7; Socr. 1.17; See also:Sozomen. ii. 1; Theod. i. 17). It is impossible to See also:fix the date at which the supposititious relics were introduced into the church of the Sepulchre: it is certain, however, that in the 5th century the Cross was there preserved with scrupulous reverence, and accounted the highest treasure of the sanctuary.
After the 4th century, monks and nuns begin to See also:form no inconsiderable See also:part of the pilgrimages—a fact which is especially See also:manifest from the numerous notices to be found in Jerome, and the narratives of See also:Theodoret in the Historia religiosa. In fact, many were inclined to regard a journey to Jerusalem as the bounden duty of every See also: These utterances, however, must not be misinterpreted. They are not directed against the pilgrimage in itself, nor even against the belief that prayer possesses See also:special efficacy on sacred ground, but solely against the exaggerated developments of the See also:system. The theologians of the 4th and 5th centuries were at one with the masses in recognizing the religious uses of the pilgrim-ages. Jerome in particular considered it an act of faith for a See also:man to offer his prayers where the feet of the Lord had stood, and the traces of the Birth, of the Cross, and of the See also:Passion were still to be seen (Ep. 47, 2). We may gain some impression of the See also:mood in which the pilgrims completed their journey, when we read how Paula, the friend of Jerome, expresses herself on her visit to the church of the Sepulchre: " As oft as we enter its precincts we see the Saviour laid in the See also:shroud, and the See also:angel seated at the feet of the dead!" (Hieron. Ep. 46, 2). She assured Jerome that, in the church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, she beheld, with the See also:eye of faith, the Christ-child wrapped in swaddling clothes (Ep. 108, 10). But with these thoughts, others of an entirely different See also:stamp were frequently blended. Pilgrimages were conceived as means to ensure an See also:answer to particular prayers. So, for example, Eudocia, the wife of See also:Theodosius II., vowed to undertake a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, if she should see her daughter married. (Socr. Hist. eccl. vii. 47). And, closely as this approaches to See also:pagan ideas, the distinction between paganism and Christianity is completely obliterated when we find the See also:hermit See also:Julian and his companions travelling to See also:Sinai in order to worship the Deity there See also:resident (Theod. Hist. rel. 2). With the number of the pilgrims the number of pilgrim-resorts also increased. Of Jerusalem alone Jerome relates that the places of prayer were so numerous that it was impossible to visit them all in one See also:day (Ep. 46, 9). In the Holy Land the See also:list was still longer: the natives were ready to show everything for which the foreigners inquired, and the pilgrim was eager to See also:credit everything. In her expedition to the East, the Paula mentioned above visited, among other places, Sarepta and Caesarea. In the first-named place she was shown the See also:tower of See also:Elijah; in the second, the house of See also:Cornelius, that of See also: Geyer, Itin. hierosol. saec. iv–viii.). While pilgrim-resorts were thus filling the East, their See also:counter-parts began to emerge in the West. And here the starting-point is to be found in the veneration of martyrs. In the West. Care for the tombs of martyrs was sanctioned by immemorial custom of the Church; but, in this See also:case also, a later See also:age failed to preserve the primitive conception in its purity; and See also:Augustine himself was obliged to defend the usage of the Church from the imputation that it implied a transference of heathen ceremonial to the sphere of Christianity (Contr. See also:Faust. xx. 21). The martyrs were the See also:local heroes of particular communities; but there were men whose life and See also:death were of significance for the whole of Christendom—the apostles. Of these See also:Peter and See also:Paul had suffered martyrdom in Rome, and it was inevitable, from the nature of the case, that their See also:graves should soon become a resort, not only of See also:Romans born, but of strangers also. True, the See also:presbyter See also:Caius (c. 200) who first mentions the situation of the apostolic tombs on the Vatican and the road to See also:Ostia, and refers to the memorials there erected, has nothing to say of See also:foreign Christians journeying to Rome in order to visit them. And though Origen travelled to Rome, it was not to view the graves of dead men, but to establish relations with the living See also:flock (Euseb. Hist. eccl. ii. 25, 7; vi. 14, ro); still, it is certain that the Roman cemeteries were visited by numerous pilgrims even in the 3rd century: for the earliest graffiti in the papal See also:crypt of the Coemeterium Callisti must date from this period (De See also:Rossi, See also:Roma softer. i. 253 sqq.; Kraus, Rom. Sott. 148 sqq.). And if the tombs of the popes were thus visited, so much more must this hold of the tombs of the apostles. After these, the most frequented resort at Rome in the 4th century was the grave of See also:Hippolytus. The poet See also:Prudentius describes how, on the day, of the See also:martyr's death, an innumerable multitude of pilgrims flocked See also:round the site. Even on See also:ordinary days arrivals and departures were almost incessant—foreigners being everywhere seen mingled with the native Latins. They poured See also:balsam on the sepulchre of the See also:saint, washed it with their tears, and covered it with their kisses, in the belief that they were thus assuring themselves of his intercession or testifying their gratitude for his assistance. Prudentius says of himself, that whenever he was sick in soul or body, and prayed there, he found help and returned in cheerfulness: for God had vouchsafed His saint the See also:power to answer all entreaties (Perist. xi. 175 sqq.). See also:Paulinus of See also:Nola (d. 431) concurs—his custom being to visit Ostia each year, and Rome on the apostolic anniversaries (Ep. 20, 2; 45, 1). Next to Rome the most popular religious resort was the See also:tomb of See also:Felix of Nola (See also:August. Ep. 78, 3); while in See also:Gaul the grave of St See also: 3). The See also:motive that drew the pilgrims to the graves of the See also:saints is to be found in the conviction, expressed by Prudentius, that there divine succour was certain; and hence came the belief in a never-ending See also:series of miracles there performed (cf., e.g. Ennod. Ticin. See also:Lib. See also:pro syn. p. 315). Doubt was unknown. St Augustine observes that, though Africa was full of martyrs' tombs, no miracle had been wrought at them so far as his knowledge extended. This, however, did not See also:lead him to doubt the truth of those reported by others—a fact that is somewhat surprising when we reflect that the phenomenon caused him much disquiet and perplexity. Who, he asks, can See also:fathom the See also:design of God in ordaining that this should happen at one place and not at another? And eventually he acquiesces in the conclusion that God, who gives every man his individual See also:gift at pleasure, has not willed that the same powers should have efficacy at every sepulchre of the saints (Ep. 78, 3). IV. The Pilgrimage in the See also:Middle Ages.—The See also:medieval Church adopted the custom of the pilgrimage from the ancient Church. The See also:young Germanic and See also:Romance nations did precisely as the See also:Greek and Romans had done before them, and the motives of these devotional journeys—now much more difficult of See also:execution in the See also:general decay of the great world-system of See also:commerce—remained much the same. They were undertaken to the See also:honour of God (Pip p. Cap. 754-755, c. 4), for purposes of prayer (See also:Ann. Hild. 992), or in quest of assistance, especially See also:health (Vita Galli,ii.37; Vita Liudg. iii. io). But the old causes were reinforced by others of at least equal potency. The medieval Church was even more profoundly convinced than its predecessor that the miraculous power of Deity attached to the bodies of saints and their relics. But the younger nations—See also:French, See also:English and See also:German—were scantily endowed with saints; while, on the other hand, the belief obtained that the home-countries of Christianity, especially Rome and Jerusalem, possessed an inexhaustible See also:supply of these sanctified bodies. Pilgrimages were consequently undertaken with the intention of securing relics. At first it was enough to acquire some See also:object which had enjoyed at least a mediate connexion with the hallowed See also:corpse. Gregory of Tours (d. 594) mentions one of his deacons who made a pilgrim-age into the East, in order to collect relics of the See also:Oriental saints; and, on his return, visited the grave of the bishop Nicetius (St Nizier, d. 573) in See also:Lyons, where he still further increased his See also:store. His testimony showed how relics came to be distributed among the populace: one enthusiast took a little See also:wax dropped from the See also:taper; another, a portion of the dust which lay on the grave; a third, a See also:thread from the See also:cloth covering the See also:sarcophagus; and he himself plucked the See also:flowers which visitors had planted above the tomb. Such were the memorials with which he returned; but the universal belief was that something of the miraculous virtue of the saint had passed into these See also:objects (Vit. pair. 8, 6). Before long, however, these humble trophies failed to content the pilgrims, and they began to devote their efforts to acquiring the actual bodies, or portions of them —frequently by honest means, still oftener by trickery. One of the most attractive See also:works of early medievalism—See also:Einhard's little See also:book, Translatio Marcellini et Petri—gives a vivid description of the methods by which the bodies of the two saints were acquired and transported from Rome to Seligenstadt on the See also:Main. Far more important consequences, however, resulted from the fact that the medieval mind associated the pilgrimage with the forgiveness of sins. This conception of the pilgrimage, as a means of expiation or a source of See also:pardon for wrong, was foreign to the ancient Church. It is quite in accordance with the keener consciousness of See also:sin, which prevailed in the middle ages, that the expiatory pilgrimage took its place See also:side by side with the pilgrimage to the See also:glory of God. The pilgrimage became an act of obedience; and, in the books of See also:penance (Poenitentialia) which date from the early middle ages, it is enjoined—whether for a definite period (e.g. Poen. Valicell. i. c. 19; Theod. Cant. i. 2, 16) or for life (Poen. Cummeani, vii. 12, Casin. 24)—as an expiation for many of the more serious sins, especially See also:murder or the less venial forms of unchastity. The place to be visited was not specified; but the pilgrim, who was See also:bound by an open See also:letter of his bishop to disclose himself as a pentitent, lay under the See also:obligation, wherever he went, to repair to the churches and—more especially—the tombs of the saints, and there offer his prayers. On occasion, a See also:chain or See also:ring was fastened about his body, that his See also:condition might be obvious to all; and soon all manner of fables gained currency: how, here or there, the See also:iron had sprung apart by a miracle, in token that the sinner was thereby absolved by God. For instance, the Vita Liudgeri recounts the history of a fratricide who was condemned to this form of pilgrimage by See also:Jonas, bishop of See also: And, from an See also:absolution from the consequences of See also:guilt, it became, in the 14th and 15th centuries, a negation or the guilt itself; while simultaneously the opportunity was offered of acquiring an indulgence for the souls of those already in purgatory. Consequently, during the whole period of medievalism, the number of pilgrims was perpetually on the increase. So long as the number of pilgrims remained comparatively small, and the difficulties in their path proportionately great, they obtained open letters of recommendation from The pilgrim their bishops to the See also:clergy and laity, which ensured Resorts. them lodging in convents and charitable See also:foundations, in addition to the See also:protection of public officials. An instance is preserved in Markulf's formulary (ii. 49). To receive the pilgrim and supply him with See also:alms was always considered the duty of every Christian: See also:Charlemagne, indeed, made it a legal obligation to withhold neither roof, See also:hearth, nor See also:fire from them (Admon. gent. 789, c. 75; Cap. See also:Miss. 802, c. 27). The most important places of resort both for voluntary and involuntary pilgrimages, were still Palestine and Rome. On the See also:analogy of the old Itineraria, the See also: In the 8th century one of the most famous is the Anglo-Saxon Willibald, who died in 781 as bishop of the Frankish See also:diocese of See also:Eichstatt. He See also:left his home in the See also:spring of 720, accompanied by his See also:father and See also:brother. The pilgrims traversed See also:France and See also:Italy, visiting New Motives. every religious resort; in See also:Lucca the father died, and the brother remained behind in Rome. Early in 722 Willibald began his expedition to the Holy Land alone, except for the presence of two companions. He travelled past See also:Naples to See also:Syracuse, then on shipboard by See also:Cos and See also:Samos to See also:Ephesus, and thence through Asia See also:Minor to See also:Damascus and Jerusalem. On St Martin's day, in 724, he arrived in the Holy City. After a prolonged stay in the town and its environs, Willibald proceeded (727) to Constantinople, and in 729 returned to Italy. Such is the account given by the nun of See also:Heidenheim in her biography of Willibald; and her version is probably based on notes by the pilgrim himself (Mon. Germ. his'. scr. xv. 8o sqq.). In the 9th century the French monk See also:Bernard visited Palestine with two companions, and afterwards wrote a See also:simple and See also:trust-worthy account of his journey (Patrol. lat. 121, 569 sqq.). In the loth century See also:Conrad, bishop of See also:Constance (934–976), per-formed the pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times (Vita Chuonr. 7); and to the same period belong the first See also:women-pilgrims to Jerusalem of whom we have any cognisance—Hidda, mother of See also:Gero, archbishop of See also:Cologne (Thietm. Citron. ii. r6), and the countess Hademod of Ebersberg (Citron. ebersb.). The leaders, moreover, of the monkish reform See also:movement in the loth and 11th centuries, See also:Richard of St Vanne in See also:Verdun and See also:Poppo, abbot of See also:Stavelot (978–1048), had seen the Holy Land with their own eyes (Vita Rich. 17; Vita Popp. 3). In the year 1028 Archbishop Poppo of See also:Trier (d. 1047) undertook a pilgrimage which led him past Jerusalem to the .See also:banks of the See also:Euphrates, his return taking place in 1030 (Gesta Trevir. Cont. i. 4 seq.). But the most celebrated devotional expedition before the See also:Crusades was that of the four bishops—Sigfrid of See also:Mainz, See also:Gunther of See also:Bamberg, See also: They set out in 1064, with a See also:company whose See also:numbers exceeded seven thousand. The major portion, however, See also:fell in See also:battle against the Mahommedans, or succumbed to the privations of the journey, and only some two thousand saw their homes again(Annal. See also:Allah., See also:Lamb., Disib., Marian. See also:Scot. &c.). Among the followers of the bishops were two clerics of Bamberg, See also:Ezzo and Wille, who composed on the way the beautiful See also:song on the miracles of Christ—one of the oldest See also:hymns in the German See also:language. The See also:text was due to Ezzo, the tune to Wille (Mullenhoff and See also:Scherer, Denkm¢ler, i. p. 78, No. 31). A few years later See also:Count See also:Dietrich of Trier began a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with 113 companions, in See also:atonement for the murder of Archbishop Kuno. The See also:ship, however, which conveyed them went down with all hands in a See also:storm (See also:Berth. Ann. 1073).
As a result of this steady increase in the number of pilgrims, the old arrangements for their See also:accommodation were found deficient. Consequently hospices arose which were designed exclusively for the pilgrim. Those on the Alpine passes are common knowledge. The oldest, that on the Septimer pass, dates from the Carolingian period, though it was restored in 1120 by the bishop Wido of Chur: that on the Great St Bernard was founded in the loth century, and reorganized in the 13th. To this century may also be assigned the See also:hospice on the Simplon; to the 14th those on the St Gothard and the Lukmanier. Similarly, the Mediterranean towns, and Jerusalem in particular, had their pilgrim-refuges. Service in the hospices was regularly performed by the See also:hospital-See also:fraternities—that is to say, by lay associations working under the authorization of the Church. The most important of these was the fraternity of the Hospitale hierosolymitanum, founded between 1065 and 1075; for hence arose the order of St John, the earliest of the orders of See also:knighthood. In addition to the hospital of Jerusalem, numerous others were under its See also:charge in See also:Acre, See also:Cyprus, See also:Rhodes, See also:Malta, &c. Associations were formed to assist pilgrims bound for the East; one being the Confrerie See also:des pelerins de Terre-Sainte in See also:Paris, founded in 1325 by See also: Similar institutions existed also in See also:Amsterdam, Utrecht, See also:Antwerp and elsewhere in the See also:Netherlands. But since, in the middle ages, the Holy Land was no longer held by a Christian Power, the protection of the pilgrims wasno less necessary than their sustenance. This fact, after the close of the rrth century, led to the Crusades (q.v.), which in many respects are to be regarded as armed pilgrimages. For the old See also:dream of the pilgrim, to view the country where God had walked as man, lived on in the Crusades—a fact which is demonstrated by the letters of Bernard of See also:Clairvaux, with the songs of See also:Walther von der Vogelweide and other Crusaders. And, since the strongest motive in the pilgrimage was the acquisition of indulgences, unnumbered thousands were moved to assume the Cross, when, in 1095, See also:Urban II. promised them plenary indulgence (Conc. Claram. c. 2). The See also:conquest of Jerusalem, and the erection of a Christian empire in Palestine, naturally welled the influx of pilgrims. And though in 1187 the Holy City again fell into the hands of the infidel, while in 1291 the loss of Acre eliminated the last Christian See also:possession in Palestine, the pilgrimages still proceeded. True, after the fall of the city and the loss of Acre, they were forbidden by the Church; but the See also:veto was impracticable. In the 12th century these religious expeditions were still so common that, every See also:Sunday, prayers were offered in church for the pilgrims (Honor. Aug. Spec. eccl. p. 828). In the 13th century the annual number of those who visited Palestine amounted to many thousands: in the 14th and 15th it had hardly shrunk. In fact, between the years 1300 and 1600, no fewer than 1400 men of distinction can be enumerated from See also:Germany alone who travelled to the Holy Land (Rohricht and Meissner, Deutsche Pilgerreisen, pp. 465–546). It was not till the See also:Reformation, the See also:wars of the 16th century, and the loss of Rhodes, See also:Candia and Cyprus to the See also:Turks, that any appreciable alteration was effected. When See also:Ignatius de See also:Loyola (q.v.) set See also:sail in 1523 from Venice to Palestine, only some thirteen souls could be mustered on the pilgrim-ship, while eight or nine others sailed with the Venetian See also:state-See also:vessel as far as Cyprus. A considerable number had abandoned their pilgrim-age and returned home on the See also:news of the fall of Rhodes (Dec. 25, 1522: see Acta sanct. Jul. vii. 642 seq.). For pilgrimage overseas, as it was styled, the permission of the Church was still requisite. The pilgrims made their journey in See also:grey cowls fastened by a broad See also:belt. On the See also:cowl they wore a red cross; and a broad-brimmed See also:hat, a See also:staff, See also:sack and See also:gourd completed their equipment. During their travels the See also:beard was allowed to grow, and they prepared for departure by See also:confession and communion. Of their hymns many are yet extant (" Jerusalem mirabilis," " In gottes namen faren wir," &c.). The embarcation took place either in France or Italy. In France, See also:Marseilles was the main See also:harbour for the pilgrims. From there See also:ships belonging to the knights of St John and the knights See also:templars conducted the commerce with Palestine, and carried annually some 6000 passengers. In the See also:Italian ports the number of shipments was still greater—especially in Venice, whence the See also:regular passagium started twice a year. The Venetian pilgrim ships, moreover, carried as many as 1500 souls. The pilgrims formed themselves into unions, elected a " master " and concluded their agreements, as to the outward voyage and return, in common. After Venice, See also:Genoa and See also:Pisa occupied the most prominent position. The voyage lasted from six to eight See also:weeks, the stay in Jerusalem averaging ten days. The visitation of the holy places was conducted in processions headed by the See also:Franciscans of the See also:Convent of See also:Zion. The expenses of the journey to Palestine were no light See also:matter. In the 12th century they may be estimated at Too marks of See also:silver (£zoo) for the ordinary pilgrim. This was the amount raised in 1147 by one Goswin von Randerath to defray the expenses of his pilgrimage (Niederrhein. Urk. See also:Buck. i. No. 361). Later the cost was put at 280–300 ducats (£T4o-£T50). In the 13th century a See also:knight with two squires, one See also:groom, and the requisite horses, had to disburse 82 marks of silver for his passage, while for a single pilgrim the See also:rate was rather less than 1 mark. In the 16th century Ignatius de Loyola calculated the cost of the voyage from Venice to Jaffa at some 6 or 7 See also:gold florins (£3). The expenses of the princes and lords were, of course, much heavier. Duke William of See also:Saxony, who was in Jerusalem in 1461, spent no less than £10,000 on his journey (see See also:Prutz, Kulturgeschichte der Kreuzziige, pp. 'oo sqq.; Rohricht, Deutsche Pilgerreisen, p. 42). Great as was the number of pilgrims oversea, it was yet far exceeded by that of the visitants to the " See also:threshold of the apostles," i.e. Rome. As was the case with Jerusalem, guide-books to the city of the apostles were now composed. 'The oldest is the Notitia ecclesiarum urbis Romae, which was probably compiled under IIonorius I. (625–638). The mono-graph De locis s. martyrum is of somewhat later date. Both are to be found in De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, 138 sqq.). The Itincrarium einsidlense (ed. G. Hanel, Archiv. f. Philologie, v. 119) belongs to the second See also:half of the 8th century. Its composer would seem to have been a See also:disciple of Walahfrid; for his interests are not confined to the churches, their reliquaries, and the ecclesiastical ceremonial of saint-days, but he takes a pleasure in transcribing ancient inscriptions. William of See also:Malmesbury, again, when See also:relating the crusade of Count See also:Robert of See also:Normandy (1096), transfers into his Gesta regum anglorum (iv. § 351) an old description of Rome, originally intended for the use of pilgrims. This may have dated from the 7th century. The pilgrimages to Rome received their greatest impetus through the inauguration of the so-called Year of See also:Jubilee (q.v.). On the 22nd of See also:February 1300 the See also:bull of See also:Boniface VIII., Antiquorum ha See also:bet fidem, promised plenary indulgence to every Roman who should visit the churches of the apostles Peter and Paul on See also:thirty days during the year, and to every foreigner who should perform the same act on fifteen days. At the close of the Jubilee this See also:dispensation was extended to all who had expired on the way to Rome. This placed the pilgrimage to Rome on a level with the crusades—the only mode of obtaining a plenary indulgence. The success of the papal bull was indescribable. It is computed that, in the Year of Jubilee, on an See also:average, 200,000 strangers were See also:present in the city during the day. The greatest number of the pilgrims came from southern France, See also:England sending comparatively few on that occasion (see See also:Gregorovius, Gesch. d. Stadt Rom. v. 546 sqq.). The Jubilee dispensation according to the See also:edict of Boniface VIII. was to be repeated each century; but this period was greatly abridged by succeeding popes (see JUBILEE, YEAR OF), so that in the years 1350, 1390, 1423, 1450, 1475, 1500, the troops of pilgrims again came streaming into Rome to obtain the cherished dispensation.
Of the other pilgrim-resorts, we shall only emphasize the most important. Priority of mention is due to St See also: 144, viii.3). The first connexion of the apostle with See also:Spain is to be traced in the See also:Poona de aris b. See also:Mar. et xii. apost. dedic., which is ascribed to See also:Aldhelm (d. 709) and contains a See also:story of his See also:preaching in that country. The earliest account of the transference of his relics to the See also:Peninsula is found in See also:Notker Balbulus (d. 912, Martyrol. in Jul. See also:xxv.). But in Spain belief in this cherished possession was universal; and, step by step, the theory won See also:credence through-out the West. In 10J9, Archbishop Wido of Milan journeyed to St James (Damiani, Acta mediol. p. 98); and a little later we hear of bands of pilgrims from Germany and France. In England, indeed, the shrine of St James of Compostella became practically the most favoured devotional resort; and in the 12th century its visitation had attained such popularity that a pilgrimage thither was ranked on a level with one to Rome or Jerusalem (Honor. August. Spec. eccl. p. 828). In Paris, after 1419, there existed a special hospice for the " fraternity of St James," in which from 6o to 8o pilgrims were received each day, fed, and presented with a See also:quarter of a denarius (Dulaure, Hist. de Paris (1842), i. J31). Even in the period of the Reformation the " Song of St James " was sung in Germany (Wackernagel, Kirchenlied, ii. No. 1246); and in 1478 pilgrimages to that shrine were placed by See also:Sixtus IV. on See also:official equality with those to Rome and Jerusalem (Extray. See also:comm. c. 5; De poenit. v. 9).
In France St Martin remained the See also:chief goal of the pilgrim; while Notre See also:Dame de Sous-Terre in See also:Chartres (with a portrait of the " See also:black Virgin "), Le See also:Puy-en-Velay (dep. Haute See also:Loire), and others, also enjoyed considerable celebrity. In England pilgrimages were made to the tomb of the murdered archbishop, See also: Cantuar. chr. ann. 1184; See also:Ralph de See also:Diceto, Ymag. hist. ann. 1184). In addition, See also:Walsingham, See also:Peterborough, St Davids, See also:Holywell, and St See also:Andrews in See also:Scotland were much frequented. In See also:lower Germany, Cologne and See also:Aix-la-Chapelle, in See also:Switzerland See also:Einsiedeln, were the See also:principal resorts. In Italy the church of the See also:Archangel on Mt See also:Gargano was one of the most ancient centres of the pilgrimage, being visited even by the monk Bernard (vide supra). Later the Portiuncula church at See also:Assisi displaced all other religious resorts, with the exception of Rome; but in the 15th century it was overshadowed in turn by the " Holy House " at Loretto on the Adriatic. According to an extravagant legend, the house of Joseph and Mary in See also:Nazareth was transported by angels, on the See also:night of the 9th–loth of May 1291 to See also:Dalmatia, then brought to the Italian See also:coast opposite (Dec. ro, 2294), till, on the 7th of See also:September 1295 it found See also:rest on its present site. The pilgrimage thither must have attained great importance as early as the 15th century; for the popes of the See also:Renaissance found themselves constrained to erect an imposing pilgrim church above the " Holy House." The significance of the pilgrimage for the religious life of later medievalism cannot be adequately estimated. The possession of an extraordinary relic, a bloody See also:Host, or the like, was every-where considered a sufficient claim for the privileges of indulgences; and wherever this privilege existed, there the pilgrims were gathered together. All these pilgrimages, great and small, were approved and encouraged by the Church. And yet, during the whole of the middle ages, the See also:voice of suspicion in their regard was never entirely stilled. See also:Earnest men could not disguise from themselves the moral dangers almost inevitably consequent upon them; they recognized, moreover, that many pilgrims were actuated by extremely dubious motives; and they distrusted the exaggerated value set on outward works. The Roman papacy had no more zealous adherent than Boniface; yet he absolutely rejected the idea that Englishwomen should make the journey to Rome, and would willingly have seen the princes and bishops veto these pilgrimages altogether (Ep. 78). The theologians who surrounded Charlemagne held similar views. When the See also:abbess Ethelburga of Fladbury (See also:Worcester-See also:shire) found her projected pilgrimage impracticable, See also:Alcuin wrote to her, saying that it was no great loss, and that God had better designs for her: " Expend the sum See also:thou hast gathered for the journey on the support of the poor; and if thou givest as thou canst, thou shalt reap as thou wilt "(Ep. 300). Bishop See also:Theodulf of Orleans (d. 821) made an energetic protest against the delusion that to go to Rome availed more than to live an upright life (See also:farm. 67). To the same effect, the See also:synod of Chalon-sur-See also:Saone (813) reprobated the superstition which was wedded to the pilgrimage (c. 13); and it would be easy to collect similar judgments, delivered in every centre of medievalism. But, fundamentally, pilgrimages in themselves were rejected by a See also:mere handful: the protest was not against the thing, but against its excrescences. Thus Fridank, for instance, in spite of his emphatic See also:declaration that most pilgrims returned worse than they went, himself participated in the crusade of See also:Frederick II. V. The Modern Pilgrimage.—The Reformation eradicated the belief in the religious value of visits to a particular locality. It is only pious memory that draws the See also:Protestant to the sites consecrated by ecclesiastical history. On the other hand, while in the Eastern Church things have undergone little See also:change, —the pilgrims, in addition to the Holy Land, visiting Mt See also:Athos and See also:Kiev—the developments in the Roman Church show important divergences. The Year of Jubilee, in 1525, was unprecedented in its scant attendance, but the See also:jubilees of 1575 and 'boo again saw great armies of pilgrims marching to Rome. Fresh pilgrim resorts now began to spring up, and medieval shrines, which had fallen on evil days, to emerge from their obscurity. In the 16th century we must mention the pilgrimages to the " Holy Mount " at See also:Gorz on the See also:Austrian coast, and to See also:Montserrat in the Spanish province of See also:Barcelona: in the 17th century, those to See also:Luxemburg, Kevelaer (See also:Gelderland), Notre Dame de Fourviere in Lyons, Heiligenberg in Bohemia, See also:Roermond in the Netherlands, &c. The 18th century, which witnessed the religious Aufklarung, was not favourable, to the pilgrimage. Enlightened bishops and princes prohibited it altogether: so, for instance, Joseph II. of See also:Austria. Archbishop See also:Clement See also:Wenceslaus of Trier forbade, in 1777, the much-frequented, medieval " leaping-procession " of See also:Echternach (duchy of Luxemburg). The progressive theologians and clergy, moreover, assumed a hostile attitude, and, in 1800, even the See also:Curia omitted the Year of Jubilee. The 19th century, on the other hand, led to an extraordinary revival of the pilgrimage. Not only did new resorts spring into existence—e.g. La Salette in See also:Dauphine (1846), and more particularly See also:Lourdes (1858) in the See also:department of Hautes See also:Pyrenees—but the numbers once more attained a height which enables them to compete with the medieval figures. It is computed that 6o,000 pilgrims were present in La Salette on the zgth of September 1847, the first anniversary of the appearance of Mary which gave rise to the shrine. The See also:dedication of the church of Lourdes, in 1876, took place in the presence of 30 bishops, 3000 priests and See also:Ioo,000 pilgrims. In 1877 the number See also:rose to 250,000; and similar See also:statistics are given of the German and Austrian devotional resorts. The sanctuaries of Aix-la-Chapelle are said to have been visited by 65,000 pilgrims on the 15th of See also:July 186o; and on the following Sunday by 52,000. From 25,000 to 30,000 persons take part each year in the resuscitated " leaping-procession " at Echternach; and the annual visitants to the " Holy Mount " at Gorz are estimated at 50,000. No new motives for the pilgrimage emerged in the 19th century, unless the ever-increasing cultus of the Virgin Mary may be classed as such, all of the new devotional sites being dedicated to the Virgin. For the rest, the See also:desire of acquiring indulgences maintains its influence: but doubting voices are no more heard within the See also:pale of the Roman Catholic Church. (A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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