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ISSUE XV | SPRING 2025

Santiago de Compostela: The Inner Path of an External Pilgrimage

KATHERINE ADEE '27

In 44 A.D., Saint James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Christ, was beheaded by King Herod Agrippa I in Jerusalem. In the ninth century, the Apostle’s bodily remains were supposedly found in a field in Iria Flavia, located in Galicia, Spain, where legends explained the miraculous transportation of his body by a rudderless boat. Even though there was no proof those bones were his, by the eleventh and twelfth centuries, his remains at Santiago de Compostela became among the most important pilgrimage sites for Christians (first is the Holy Land, second is Rome, and then, Compostela). What is it about the pilgrimage that transforms a long hike to the site of a doubtful discovery into a sanctified exercise to achieve spiritual transcendence? The pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was a significant exercise of Christian mysticism in the Middle Ages because many of the pilgrims believed that by completing the physical journey and interacting with the relics they could advance their soul’s metaphysical journey towards God. 

  

Scholarship on Santiago de Compostela is flooded by a vocabulary that alludes to the mystic tradition of inner pilgrimage. William Melczer primes his translation of Book Five of Codex Calixtinus with a portrait of the “fundamentally mystic bent of the medieval mind” (Melczer 1) and pilgrims’ integral belief in “the mysticism of the Jacobean pilgrimage route” (42). Additionally, Catherine Gasquoine Hartley records that “Christian Spanish mysticism, which, though common to all Spain, found its most fruitful centre in the Apostle’s city” (70). Yet, this language does not explain what specific aspects of the physical pilgrimage affect mysticism’s focus on inner transformation. However, during the Middle Ages, “pilgrimage was a dominant metaphor for the liminality of human existence itself,” which reflected in the “duty of the Christian [...] to make sure that life was not just a physical journey through time but also a metaphysical one of movement towards God” (Ashley and Deegan 10). This follows close to Christian mysticism, which proposes inner pilgrimage as an intellectual exercise that can unify the soul with God. If the pilgrimage to Santiago is perceived to be “mystic,” then its completion has the potential to allow masses of people to achieve spiritual transcendence. At each stage of the pilgrimage (separation, liminality, and contact), the pilgrim performs the metaphysical journey of their soul. As Victor Turner explains it: “If mysticism is an interior pilgrimage, pilgrimage is exteriorized mysticism” (7).

The first stage of pilgrimage is separation: an individual must become a pilgrim for the soul to detach from the material world and realize a higher divinity. The pilgrimage naturally separates an individual “away from the reiterated ‘occasions of sin’ which make up so much of the human experience” (V. Turner and E. Turner 7). because the participant must disengage from daily routine and responsibilities for a more humble lifestyle. Pilgrims were expected to be seeking spiritual relief, commonly in the form of penance and absolution. To uphold the integrity of the practice and protect pilgrims’ rights, the Roman Catholic Church (through local religious and political authority) evaluated the authenticity of a prospective pilgrim’s travels in the process of issuing letters of safe conduct (Ashley and Deegan 63). More so, the pilgrim severed their attachment to social status by adopting “the appearance of a homogenous, simplified group” (Smelser 68). The walking stick, scrip, and specifically for pilgrims to Santiago, items of simple clothing adorned with scallop shells, required the release of burdens to worldly possessions. Thus, in this first stage of separation, the pilgrim directs their soul away from disillusionment and distractions through both spatial and symbolic separations.

 

The next stage is liminality, a transitional period characterized by hazardous conditions, which treat the soul to meditative contemplation and a process of purification. The geographic terrain of Santiago’s pathways is naturally rigorous. In addition to factors, like weather, crime, and the availability of food and clean water sources, the route becomes more – a life-threatening challenge. The author of a twelfth-century pilgrim’s guide warns: “In a place called Lorca, towards the east, runs a river called Rio Salado. Beware from drinking its waters or from watering your horse in its stream, for this river is deadly” (Melczer 89).1 However, the notorious obstacle for pilgrims traveling to Santiago are the Pyrenees. Three of the major footpaths to Santiago converge at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (via Turonensis, via Lemovicensis, and via Podiensis) before the mountain range’s treacherous crossing (26). But these hardships are inherent to the function of the pilgrimage as an exercise in penance and mortification. This is evident by Compostela’s status as a pilgrimage of punishment for major crimes. Accordingly, “Compostela seems to have been the most commonly nominated destination, appearing on twenty-fixe lists that Van Cauwebergh examined” (Webb 55). This demonstrates an authoritative belief in the efficaciousness of the tribulations to purify a pilgrim, even one who is guilty of a severe crime, from sins. Therefore, through successful navigation and subjection to hazardous conditions, the pilgrim prepares their soul to be relieved by an unification with God at the Cathedral.

 

While the Camino de Santiago is an arduous physical test of faith, it is misleading that, within this liminal period, there was only suffering and discomfort. A concurrent characterization of this stage was in its rich traditions of miracles, folklore, and myths, cultivated by the many towns that pilgrims had to pass through. It is within this aspect of the pilgrimage that the “sacred periphery [...] suddenly, transiently, becomes central for the individual, an axis mundi of his faith” (V. Turner and E. Turner 254). Therefore, the hazards of the road are offset by the moments of spiritual (and physical) recharge at local shrines and churches, which reinforced the pilgrims’ continual devotion and prayer. As a result, while contained by this state of meditative contemplation, the soul undergoes further purification. The fifth book of Codex Calixtinus lists many saintly remains to be visited along the way to St. James; for each entry, the pilgrim is informed of relevant information, including miraculous incidents and the date of celebration for the saint’s feast. The longest entries focus on St. Giles in Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, St. Mary Magdalene in Vézelay, and St. Eutropius in Saintes (Melczer 96-118). Yet, the town of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, which invites pilgrims into the miracle of the “Hanged Unhanged,” is the popular entry in many pilgrim accounts. The story involves a pilgrim traveling through Santo Domingo who is framed for theft and is hanged. His parents continue to Compostela and pray for their son; upon returning to this town, they find him alive. When the judge is confronted, he exclaims, “‘If your son is not dead, as you claim, I want this cock that is turning on the spit to hop on the table and crow’” and certainly, the chicken springs to life (Ashley and Deegan 193-195). Pilgrims who stopped at Santo Domingo’s church are reminded of the miracle because “in a cage, are a wax cock and hen” (Harff 268). In addition, a formative miracle by Saint James is his visit to a pilgrim from Barcelona, who after praying for bodily deliverance instead of his soul’s salvation, was caught in a cycle of capture and release (Ashley and Deegan 193). As a whole, these towns and their thaumaturgical saints sustain the pilgrim’s active participation in the pilgrimage. In particular, the appearance of St. James to the pilgrim from Barcelona asks the listening pilgrim to reflect on and correct their motivations. Therefore, within this aspect of the liminal period, a pilgrim’s contemplation sustains their soul’s purity, and thus, its trajectory toward God. 

 

Whereas miracles are reaffirmed by an infrastructure, like the local churches, folklore and myth are more often reaffirmed by oral and literary tradition. This feature of the liminal stage contributes in the same way to the metaphysical journey of the pilgrim’s soul; however, it adds a demonstration of how pilgrimage met a demand for human-divine intersection. According to Harold Peake, most Spanish writers identify the following myth with the origin of Santiago’s signature emblem of the scallop shell:   

When the body of the saint was being miraculously conveyed in a ship without sails, or oars, from Joppa or Galicia, it passed the village of Bonzas, on the coast of Portugal, on the day that a marriage had been celebrated there. The bridegroom with his friends were amusing themselves on horseback on the sands when his horse became unmanageable, and plunged into the sea; whereupon the miraculous ship stopped in its voyage, and presently the bridegroom emerged, horse and man, close behind it. A conversation ensued between the knight and the saint’s disciples on board, in which they apprised him that it was the saint who saved him from a watery grave, and explained the Christian religion to him. He believed, and was baptized there and then, and immediately the ship resumed its voyage [...] Now, when the knight emerged from the sea, both his dress and the trappings of his horse were covered with scallop shells; and therefore the Galicians took the scallop shell as the sign of St. James. (Peake 224-225)

It is important to recognize that authors shape myths and folktales to reflect the interests of their audience, and the popularity of this particular version seems to indicate that the medieval pilgrim was not seeking a rational explanation. Instead, this myth transforms the arbitrary scallop shell that all pilgrims to Santiago possess into one inherent to Saint James’s appearance in Spain. The divinity of the pilgrimage is not just attached to the sites of miracles in towns, or the final destination, but contained in one’s pocket. Therefore, even if the veracity of myths and folktales is vulnerable, they reflect a pilgrim's desire to spend time within a sacred atmosphere, and thus, a belief in the pilgrimage’s effect on their soul. 

 

The ultimate conclusion of the pilgrimage is to make physical contact with Saint James, which for the soul of the pilgrim can be understood as the moment of unification with God. Although the liminal stage suggests a process of purification for the soul, to ensure that the body was cleansed, “a certain river located at a distance of two miles from the city of Santiago” was used to “wash off the dirt from their entire body” (Melczer 89-90). Then, the pilgrims are welcomed into the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela by the Portico de la Gloria. The pilgrims visually take in a marble statue of a Tree of Jesse before they encounter Saint James enthroned at its top. Yet, it is the tympanum’s “Christ in Majesty” scene that evokes the most powerful reactions. Here, the pilgrim is witness to the visual motifs of the Apocalypse and Day of Judgment (Ashley and Deegan 226-233).2 Thus, the Cathedral becomes the site of salvation and redemption. Nicola Albani reports “My heart and my mind were illuminated and I felt as if I had entered heaven” (228). In this account, the fundamental insight is that the sacred relics within the Cathedral blessed the pilgrims in the immediate environment; therefore, to feel as if they were entering heaven was presumably an experience many shared. In addition, touching Saint James’s body was the ultimate ritual for the pilgrim. Unlike the Apostle’s other relics, from the mid-twelfth to late nineteenth century, pilgrims were not allowed to touch the tomb, and occasionally it was not even visible (235-237).3 Instead, it became paramount for pilgrims to ascend behind the main altar up to a large statue of the Saint and hug it because “the spiritual presence of the sacred is transferred, no matter to what minimal degree, into his own spirit, mind, intellect, and body” (Melczer 3). Nevertheless, in this moment of physical contact, the pilgrimage is complete and the soul temporarily unites with God, whereupon the pilgrim is “reborn” – free from sin (Ashley and Deegan 237).4

 

Even so, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela saw a significant decline in activity throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries because of public criticism that the integrity of the pilgrimage was vulnerable to worldly motivations contradictory to its intended spiritual function. This is evident to any reader of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. One does not have to read any further than “The General Prologue” to understand that not all pilgrims have pure intentions: pilgrimage was used for social, economic, and political motivations as well. For example, Américo Castro, a Spanish historian, frames Santiago de Compostela as a manufactured, political response to Spain’s war to take back Muslim-controlled land (Castro 130-201). In addition, many scholars observe that while the development of the infrastructure (i.e., towns, hospices, bridges, roads, etc.) is for the betterment of pilgrims, these projects became economic incentives to promote commerce. Although this evidence describes how pilgrimage systematically could be vulnerable, until religious officials began speaking out against the spiritual limitations, the true and disciplined pilgrim could remain separate or partially distant from any corruption. In 1618, Pope Paul V made Saint Teresa of Avila the co-patron of Spain with Saint James, signaling the religious shift in Spain towards an exclusively internal religious practice (196-198). A sermon by Berthold of Regensburg, an earlier critic, exemplifies how the eventual break in popularity with Santiago had been building from the following discourse: 

‘What did you find when you came to Compostela?’ ‘St James’s head.’ ‘That’s really good. That’s a dead man’s bone, a dead man’s skull; the better part is in heaven. What do you find at home, in your own backyard, when the priest sings Mass at church? There you find true God and true Man, with all the power and strength that He has in heaven, whose holiness is above all saints and all angels.’ (Webb 239)  

The implication is that pilgrimage limits the individual’s scope for spiritual enlightenment because it is finite: there is an end, and for many, it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Even if a pilgrim was genuine, critics contend that because there is a certain level of dependence on the pilgrimage as the medium to engage with God, it is flawed and restrictive as a spiritual exercise. Therefore, as the intended function of pilgrimage was debased, there is a reduction – not a total erasure – of activity at Santiago.   

However, Santiago de Compostela has survived to the modern day, where it is still viewed as a spiritual path, which is a significant demonstration in the belief that engaging in the physical process of separation, liminality, and rebirth, could affect the soul’s transformation. In the nineteenth century, the bodily remains at the Cathedral of Santiago were authenticated by the Church, promoting a revival of the pilgrimage route (Pack 345-346) and the rhetoric of its mysticism. John Brierley guides twenty-first-century pilgrims on the “Mythical Path” that runs parallel to the practical one. He asks his pilgrims to reflect on many probing questions, but the final question signifies the potential that is accessed when seeking out Santiago: “What have you harvested from this journey and what have you sown in the deep rich soil of your soul?” (306).

​Explanatory Notes

1. It should be acknowledged that the author of Codex Calixtinus asserts the text as being approved by the Church (on page 133), demonstrating further religious authority’s involvement in the pilgrimage, as a regulating or evaluating force. 

2. The Portico de la Gloria (translates to Portico of Glory) was sculpted by Master Mateo in the twelfth century. The sculpture of Saint James holds in his right hand the message ‘The Lord sent me’ and in his left a staff called a Tau-crozier. On the tympanum, details recall the Apocalypse, or Day of Judgment, including but not limited to the four Evangelists, angels with instruments of the Passion, and the 24 musician-Elders.

3. The Cathedral held relics of the Apostle, including his staff, the chain he wore in prison, the weapon used to behead him, and his cross. At one point, as Arnold Harff reports, a crown could be worn by the pilgrims as well. The reason why the tomb was inaccessible for such an extended period is not explained, however.

4. Like the letter of safe conduct, the “compostela” was the official certificate awarded to pilgrims once their responsibilities at the Cathedral were completed and demonstrates an authoritative belief in the efficaciousness of the practice of pilgrimage.

Works Cited

Ashley, Kathleen, and Marilyn Deegan. Being a Pilgrim: Art and Ritual on the Medieval Routes to Santiago. Farnham, Lund Humphries, 2009. 

 

Brierley, John and Peace Pilgrim. A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Camion Francés: From St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela. Forrest, Findhorn Press, 2003. 

 

Castro, Américo. “Chapter 6: Christianity Faces Islam.” The Structure of Spanish History, translated by Edmund L. King, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1954, pp. 130- 201, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.

183882/page/n13/mode/2up.

 

Harff, Arnold. The Pilgrimage of Arnold von Harff, Knight: From Cologne through Italy, Syria, Egypt, Arabia, Ethiopia, Nubia, Palestine, Turkey, France, and Spain, Which He Accomplished in the Years 1496 to 1499, edited by Malcolm Henry Ikin Letts, Surry, Ashgate, 2010, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315554686.

 

Hartley, C. Gasquoine. The Story of Santiago de Compostela. Illustrated by Frank H. Mason, London, J.M. Dent & Sons, ltd., 1912. 

 

Melczer, William. The Pilgrim’s Guide to Santiago de Compostela. New York, Italico Press, 1993.

 

Pack, Sasha D. “Revival of the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela: The Politics of Religious, National, and European Patrimony, 1879-1988.” The Journal of Modern History, vol. 82, no. 2, 2010, pp. 335-67, https://doi.org/10.1086/651613.

 

Peake, Harold. “Santiago: The Evolution of a Patron Saint.” Folklore, vol. 30, no. 3, 1919, pp. 208-26, 

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1255662.

 

Smelser, Neil J. The Odyssey Experience : Physical, Social, Psychological, and Spiritual Journeys. Berkeley, University of California Press, 2009.

 

Turner, Victor and Edith Turner. “Introduction: Pilgrimage as a Liminoid Phenomenon.” Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture, Columbia Classics in Religion, 2011, pp. 1-39.EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=584608&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

 

Webb, Diana. Pilgrims and Pilgrimage: In the Medieval West. New York, I.B. Tauris, 1999.

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