SPAIN: Compostela pilgrimage finishes with a surprise

By John Newton

Aid to the Church in Need pilgrims outside Santiago Cathedral

Friends and supporters of Aid to the Church in Need who completed a week-long pilgrimage to the Tomb of Saint James in Spain were delighted to be granted last-minute special access to the relics of the saint.

Twenty-two benefactors of the charity, who walked up to 18 miles a day, arrived in Santiago de Compostela on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (11^th June).

But mile-long queues stretching out of the cathedral that day meant that some members of the group were unable to visit the relics.

Next morning, the guide from Christian tour operator Pax Travel, which coordinated the pilgrimage alongside Aid to the Church in Need, asked the cathedral sacristan for a special viewing.

Initially the request was refused until eventually the sacristan changed his mind and Aid to the Church in Need’s pilgrims were granted a private visit to the relics at least an hour before they were opened to the general public.

2010 is a special jubilee year of the Apostle James and pilgrims who visit his shrine in Compostela can obtain a plenary indulgence.

The veneration of Saint James in Santiago Cathedral includes climbing up steps behind the altar to embrace a golden statue of the saint.

Pilgrims then descend to the crypt under the altar, where the relics are kept in a silver casket.

During this jubilee year, an indulgence is granted to any pilgrim who prays at the tomb of the Saint James, and fulfils the usual conditions – prayer for the Pope’s intentions, reception of communion and recent confession. The next jubilee will not be until 2021.

Aid to the Church in Need’s pilgrimage coordinator Portia Borrett was delighted that everyone got to see the saint’s relics.

She said: “I felt that every person had brought something special to the pilgrimage and I felt privileged to have travelled with them.”

The pilgrims were accompanied by Aid to the Church in Need’s UK chaplain Father Martin Edwards, who said daily Mass.

Also travelling to Santiago in the same week was Damian Carroll. He walked about 500 miles from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-port in France over six weeks to raise funds for the Aid to the Church in Need-supported Save the Saveable schools project in the Sudan.

Save the Saveable is providing Christian education for more than 15,000 children living in displacement camps around Khartoum, the capital of the Sudan.

Pax Travel made a £20 donation towards Save the Saveable for each pilgrim.

Sudan is a priority for Aid to the Church in Need’s help in Africa. Bishops there receive key support for projects including catechesis programmes, training for priests, Sisters and seminarians, construction of churches and Aid to the Church in Need’s Child’s Bibles.

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• Pilgrimage
• Save the Saveable Schools in Sudan
• Spain

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