Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2020 "Treading on the footprints of history": American Catholic Pilgrimage as Public History Charlotte Vester [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Part of the Public History Commons Recommended Citation Vester, Charlotte, ""Treading on the footprints of history": American Catholic Pilgrimage as Public History" (2020). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 7946. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/7946 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. 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For more information, please contact [email protected]. “TREADING ON THE FOOTPRINTS OF HISTORY”: AMERICAN CATHOLIC PILGRIMAGE AS PUBLIC HISTORY Charlotte Vester Thesis submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Public History Melissa Bingmann, Ph.D., Chair Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Ph.D. Jennifer Thornton, Ph.D. Christopher Cantwell, Ph.D. Department of History Morgantown, West Virginia 2020 Keywords: Pilgrimage, Public History, Catholicism, American Catholics, Heritage Tourism, Intangible Heritage, Cultural Landscape, Historic Preservation Copyright 2020 Charlotte Vester ABSTRACT “Treading on the footprints of history”: American Catholic Pilgrimage as Public History Charlotte Vester In this thesis, I demonstrate how Catholic pilgrimage is a public history phenomenon. I define public history as public engagement, understanding, and use of the past. While I assert that pilgrimage is a public history phenomenon both in the past and in the present, my thesis will focus on American Catholic pilgrimage at the turn of the twentieth century. Each individual chapter will demonstrate that through pilgrimage, the faithful are engaged in public history in its various forms. Catholics actively took part in past-making and identity-construction in their roles as pilgrims. Through pilgrimage, Catholics were involved in the preservation and interpretation of tangible forms of heritage. On pilgrimage, pilgrims used intangible heritage practices to engage with cultural landscapes. Pilgrimage is a way of passing down tradition and knowledge, that sustains familial, community, and religious connections. My research contributes to the genealogical literature of public history by pushing the roots of the discipline outside of the United States and back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Public historians need to seriously consider pilgrimage as an origin of the field and as a site of inquiry. The secularization that came out of the Enlightenment and is inherent within the public history field in the United States strips sacred objects and places of particular histories and meaning. The discipline does the public a disservice by artificially cordoning off religion from historical interpretation and ignoring sites that are significant due to sacredness. Although the collaboration between religious groups and public history professionals may not be clear-cut or simple, it is a valuable partnership that can add nuance, complexity, and sensuality to historic interpretations of religious spaces. The alliance is sure to bear fruit for the pilgrim as well as the tourist. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project has evolved and developed from its conception to its final product, and I would not have been able to complete it without the help of my family, my friends, and my professors. I want to thank my husband Gabriel for continually supporting me in all that I do. In the moments when this project seemed unbearably overwhelming, your love and encouragement kept me grounded and reminded me to take one step at a time. Thank you for sharing the load with me. I want to thank my parents for teaching me to think for myself and showing me that I am capable of intellectual pursuit. I would not be the woman I am today without your devoted love and support, and I am eternally grateful. A special thank you to my father who suggested exploring this topic and shared sources, ideas, and advice. Thank you to my brother Ben for continually inspiring me to broaden the boundaries of my intellect. I am very fortunate to call you my brother. I want to thank my oldest and dearest friend Alaine. Thank you for believing in me, cheering me on, and celebrating all that I accomplish. A large chunk of my writing took shape in your presence, during cherished study dates on sunny fall Saturdays. I want to thank my beloved friends Mara and Mary. Thank you for your constant prayers, kind words, and support from afar. I felt your presence keenly throughout this process, despite the long distance. I want to thank all of my professors who pushed me to become a better scholar and helped transform my thesis from a series of discombobulated thoughts to a cohesive narrative. A special thanks to Dr Melissa Bingmann, Dr Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Dr Jennifer Thornton, and Dr Christopher Cantwell, all who sat on my committee. You all informed my work in various ways that strengthened and enriched it. iv Finally, I would be remiss not to thank my Eternal Father who gave me an intellect to think, a will to act, and hands to write. Totus tuus. v CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii PROLOGUE 1 INTRODUCTION 6 Chapter One. The Stars and Stripes on Holy Ground: 27 American Catholic Pilgrimage at the Turn of the Twentieth Century Chapter Two. Pious Preservation: 71 Safeguarding and Interpreting Tangible Heritage through Pilgrimage Chapter Three. Worn Down by the Knees of Pilgrims: 102 Turn-of-the-Century Catholic Pilgrimage Practice as Intangible Heritage CONCLUSION 149 EPILOGUE 159 BIBLIOGRAPHY 163 1 PROLOGUE On a chilly Friday afternoon in February, I interviewed Wanda Franz, a practicing Catholic living in Morgantown, West Virginia. She was born in 1944 into a Protestant family. Her father was in the army, and she spent several years of her childhood living in post-World War II Germany. Growing up, she attended a Sunday School associated with a Baptist church, and in her adolescence she was Episcopalian. She remembers traveling around Europe with her family as a child and admiring the many churches they visited. “I was really taken by the churches…I sometimes say that I became Catholic seeing the churches of Italy because I was so moved by how beautiful they were and that people who prayed there and worshipped there had to have something important.” As she was preparing for her marriage to Gunter Franz (a Catholic), she converted to Catholicism. When asked about how she understands her Catholicism today, she responded, “It’s just hard for me to separate my personality and my life and my activities…I mean everything is kind of a reflection of being Catholic.” Going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land is something that Wanda and her husband had been wanting to do for a while. When Gunter passed away in the fall of 2018, Wanda felt it was time to make the trip. “I had a sense of wanting to feel closer to Jesus and closer to the source of my faith and in that way also feeling closer to Gunter.” Wanda is a member of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. The origins of the order are somewhat obscure, but the first documentary evidence dates back to 1336. Today, the order is a lay institution dedicated to aiding in the charitable, cultural, and social works of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land. A large portion of its members’ donations 2 go towards maintaining and preserving the historic Christian sites in Jerusalem and throughout the region. The pilgrimage that Wanda participated in was organized and led by the order. According to Wanda, once one joins the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, it is encouraged that one embarks on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Wanda was also very interested in seeing the archaeological sites she had read about for many years in biblical archaeology magazines. Before leaving on pilgrimage, she expected to be impressed. The pilgrimage spanned ten days in total, with the first two days spent in Jordan visiting sites like Petra and a Christian mosaic-making factory, where they trained disabled people to make mosaics. The pilgrims then stayed three days in Galilee, and the rest of the trip they spent in Jerusalem. Father John, a Franciscan monk based out of Washington DC, served as their guide throughout the journey. At each site, he would begin by reading the relevant Bible passages associated with the site, he would then give the pilgrims historical context to situate the Bible scenes within contemporary life in Judea, and then he would give information on the site, such as when it was founded, some historical background, and some architectural interpretations. Pilgrims would then get some time to walk freely within the space (often a church). The highlights of the pilgrimage for Wanda were participating in a solemn procession into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where she was able to touch the stone where Jesus had been prepared for burial, and walking along the Via Dolorosa holding a cross, as Jesus did as he marched to his crucifixion. In regard to the Via Dolorosa, Wanda explained that it was very meaningful to “be a part of that and know that this is where everybody walks on Holy Friday.” The pilgrimage organizers paid for a local photographer to take pictures as the pilgrims took turns carrying the cross.