Seattle aP cific nivU ersity Digital Commons @ SPU Honors Projects University Scholars January 1st, 2014 The aN ture of Pilgrimage: Similarities and Differences Between El Camino de Santiago de Compostela and El Santuario de Chimayo Miguel Ortega Seattle Pacific nU iversity Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/honorsprojects Part of the History of Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Ortega, Miguel, "The aN ture of Pilgrimage: Similarities and Differences Between El Camino de Santiago de Compostela and El Santuario de Chimayo" (2014). Honors Projects. 15. https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/honorsprojects/15 This Honors Project is brought to you for free and open access by the University Scholars at Digital Commons @ SPU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ SPU. The Nature of Pilgrimage: Similarities and Differences Between El Camino de Santiago de Compostela and El Santuario de Chimayo by MIGUEL ORTEGA FACULTY ADVISOR, DR. JEFF KEUSS SECOND READER, DR. ALBERTO FERREIRO A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University Scholars Program Seattle Pacific University 2014 Approved Date i Abstract This project looks at two holy sites in the Christian world and their respective pilgrimages: El Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain and El Santuario de Chiamyó in New Mexico, USA. The project first discusses the general background of pilgrimage, specifically in the Christian tradition, laying some theological and historical foundations. It then looks at the history of El Camino de Santiago de Compostela up through the modern day, tracing the importance of the pilgrimage and the associated saint, Santiago Mayor (The Apostle James the Greater). The project then continues to El Santuario de Chimayó and discusses its development through pre-Christian native beliefs in the area, the associated saints Nuestro Señor de Esquípulas and El Santo Niño de Atocha, and its birth and growth as a holy site. The project concludes by tying El Santuario de Chimayó back to Santiago de Compostela, looking at the medieval hagiography, presence of Santiago, and transformations similar between the two but also the unique development of identity at each location. This comparison between these two unique sites connected by heritage hopes to provide perspective on the evolution of Christian pilgrimage throughout time and history by illustrating El Santuario de Chimayó as a continuation of evolution of the spirit of El Camino de Santiago de Compostela. ii Table of Contents I. Introduction 1 II. Pilgrimage 2 III. El Camino de Santiago de Compostela 8 IV. El Santuario de Chimayó 14 V. Connections 30 VI. Conclusion 40 VII. Appendices 41 Illustrations 41 Bibliography 47 Integration of Faith and Learning 50 Bibliography: Integration of Faith and Learning 52 iii From Compostela to Chimayó: The Continuation and Evolution of Christian Pilgrimage I. Introduction Tucked in the red hills of New Mexico is a tiny brown adobe church. The shrine known as El Santuario de Chimayó sits quite a way off the most travelled routes in the area and in no way does it give the impression of prominence (see Fig. 4). Yet somehow, this tiny shrine has received remarkable attention, from Catholic pilgrims and later from other curious visitors. Pilgrimage has been a major part of El Santuario’s legacy, drawing walkers from up to 100 miles away. Many of the visitors come to behold images of Nuestro Señor de Esquípulas, El Santo Niño de Atocha, and el pocito , a tiny hole from which a holy dirt is taken. It is these legends, the healing powers of the dirt from el pocito , the healing powers of the venerated images, and the miraculous apparitions of the images, that are the cause of Chimayó’s prominence. Despite its isolation in the hills, El Santuario maintains a very wide-reaching sphere of connections, from the diversifying demographics in America, to diversifying issues in the modern world. These connections span time as well, drawing from the Spanish and Latin American traditions of Nuestro Señor and El Santo Niño, the pilgrimage tradition that flourished in medieval Europe, and even the emblematic Santiago de Compostela. It is to this pilgrimage in northwest Spain that El Santuario can connect itself historically and thus, the development of the shrine at Chimayó has made itself, in a sense, a simultaneous continuation and divergence from the pilgrimage spirit that has existed at Santiago de Compostela since the Middle Ages. 2 II. Pilgrimage Both Santiago de Compostela and El Santuario de Chimayó are likely best identified as pilgrimage sites for the Christian, specifically Catholic, tradition. Where do the pilgrimage traditions come from and why has it become so important in Christian practice? Understanding the origins of pilgrimage in humanity, Christianity, and the modern day will help to illuminate some of the phenomena that present themselves in Santiago de Compostela and Chimayó. Pilgrimage is a practice with deep roots in Christian tradition, but also in religious traditions around the world. While the idea of pilgrimage exists today, the meaning and gravity of this practice in the modern day is qualitatively different than it was in ancient times or its heyday in the Middle Ages. Defined by Davidson and Dunn-Wood, pilgrimage as a “journey inspired by inner or outer forces toward a physical, and perhaps inner, religious goal,” 1 is a phenomenon present in virtually all major world religions. Devotees would travel to the temple of Zeus, shrines of Osiris, and shrines of other gods and goddesses. The Epic of Gilgamesh is sometimes considered an ancient example of pilgrimage. Religious pilgrimages were most common in ancient and medieval times, though many persist today. The Muslim Hajj to Mecca is a famed pilgrimage that has remained for centuries and, even more surprisingly, maintained its religious gravitas as well. Buddhist and Hindu pilgrimages have also survived with their religious significance largely preserved in the modern day. Christian pilgrimage has had a very dynamic character in relation to pilgrimage, involving many holy locations, many motivations, and many participants. The term pilgrim comes from the Latin word peregrini , meaning “stranger” or “foreigner.” In this sense, Christians were 1 Linda Kay Davidson and Maryjane Dunn-Wood, Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages: A Research Guide (New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1993), 16. 3 considered peregrinis on earth, foreigners on a journey between earth and heaven.2 Thus, life was a spiritual pilgrimage with the pilgrim as an aimless wanderer on earth. 3 Pope Calixtus II argued in his Veneranda Dies sermon that Adam, Abraham, and even the disciples were pilgrims in the fallen world. 4 Jesus himself is the main pilgrim model in his wandering of the desert and even in his post-resurrection journey to Emmaus. 5 This was the first of two pilgrimage models in Christianity.6 The second type of pilgrimage became the journey to a specific holy site. This was a practice borrowed from pagan tradition and references in Matthew 23:29 (“"the tombs of the prophets and … the monuments of the righteous") arguably suggest that certain sites were venerated by the faithful in biblical times.7 Over time, “travel to a site which is known as a point of connection between the spiritual world and those in this physical space” would be the prominent pilgrimage form in Christianity. 8 This means that holy people and holy events were the focus of pilgrims. Locations where biblical events happened were the first pilgrimage sites. As the faith grew and gained saints around the known world, visiting the tombs of saints became another pilgrimage practice. Then, mixing people and events, relics became a major focus of Christian pilgrimage, starting in the Middle Ages. Items touched, used, or related to saints, or even body parts of the saints themselves, were seen as spiritually powerful, the connection between heaven and earth desired by believers. Miraculous occurrences such as healings and apparitions quickly became associated with relics and cults developed around these saints and their relics. Thus pilgrimage 2 Diana Webb, Medieval European Pilgrimage, c. 700-1500 (Hampshire: Palgrave and MacMillan, 2002), 2. 3 Heb. 11:13 Vulgate 4 Thomas F. Coffey, Linda Kay Davidson, and Maryjane Dunn, The Miracles of Saint James: Translations from the Liber Sancti Jacobi (New York: Italica, 1996), 24. 5 Yu, “Two Literary Examples of Religious Pilgrimage,” 204 6 Davidson and Dunn-Wood, Medieval European Pilgrimage , 23. 7 Anthony C. Yu, “Two Literary Examples of Religious Pilgrimage: The "Commedia" and "The Journey to the West",” History of Religions 22, no. 3 (1983), 204. 8 Ibid., 24 4 expanded outside of the Holy Land and later outside of the homes of known saints to anywhere that could confidently claim to possess an item related to a saint. Many religious pilgrims travelled voluntarily (with no order from the Church) to holy sites to venerate the saints and relics. 9 Other pilgrims would make a vow to complete a pilgrimage to a certain holy site should its patron saint would grant a healing or miracle. This vow turned the voluntary pilgrimage of devotion into obligation. 10 Other forms of obligatory pilgrimage came as orders from the church and its priests as a form of penitence. Though monetary indulgences replacing penances reduced the practicality of pilgrimage in later centuries, long distance pilgrimages continued. 11 The crusades, declared in 1095, were considered a pilgrimage by some accounts as the remission of sins was offered to those taking up the sword. The destination of pilgrimages drew many pilgrims, but just as important was the journey of a pilgrim, the actual peregrinatio. The journey of a pilgrim was intended to be arduous and trying. Travel in before the modern day was inherently more difficult, modes were slower, safety was less common, and travel ways were thus more dangerous.