Pilgrimage to the End of the World

Within, Around, Between: Micro Pilgrimage and the Archivolted Portal

“…This was particularly true when the procession moved outside the contained space of the church into the public sphere where its realm of influence was thought to increase. 17 In essence, this ritualized movement allowed the relics' mystical force to lay claim to a territory beyond the proscribed enclosure where its effect was thought to be controlled (Shaver-Crandell & Gerson 1995;Gerson, Shaver-Crandell, Stones, & Krochalis 1998;Rudolph 2004). 18 In Visigothic and early Asturian churches, the spatial segmentation, dictated by the liturgy, made a strictly interior processional path difficult.…”

Walking Pilgrimage as Caritas Action in the World

“…It is not rest, recreation, fun, or even escape. One of the medieval meanings of the word pilgrim is that of an exile on this earth (Rudolph, 2004). A pilgrim is not a tourist; you are and feel very much apart from the rest of the world, a world in which you are familiar but of which you are not at that moment an immediate part.…”

“…Whereas the original, ancient pilgrimages were taken for purely religious reasons, geared toward abandoning the outer material world, today the lay pilgrim is one who travels through the material world, rather than abandoning it (Rudolph, 2004). On the path of El Camino, there is an external "way marker," which becomes significant and symbolic in that the way marker helps orient us to the path, the way, helping to connect and align the outer with the inner path.…”

“…The goal of a conventional pilgrimage is to spiritually attain a particular place, an embodied spiritual quest, with the challenge being to somehow localize the nebulous inner processes with specific endurance toward an outer way marker. This inner-outer alignment becomes the quest for putting oneself in the midst of unknowns (Rudolph, 2004).…”