Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/114

 PILGRIMAGES

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PILGRIMAGES

of psychology. So John de Burg in 1385 (Pupilla oculi, fol. LXIII), "contra acediam, opera laboriosa bona ut sunt peregrinationes ad loca sancta."

History in General. — In a letter wTitten towards the end of the fourth century by Sts. Paula and Eustochium to the Roman matron Marcella urging her to follow them out to the Holy Places, they insist on the universality of the custom of the.se pilgrimages to Palestine: — "Whosoever is noblest in Gaul comes hither. And Britain though di\-ided from us yet has- tens from her land of sunset to these shrines known to her only through the Scriptures." Thej' go on to enu- merate the various nationalities that crowded round these holy places, Armenians, Persians, Indians, Ethio- pians, and many others (P. L., XXII; Ep. xlvi, 489- 90). But it is of greater interest to note how they claim for this custom a continuity from Apostolic days. From the Ascension to their time, bishops, martyrs, doctors, and troops of people, say they, had flocked to see the sacred stones of Bethlehem and of wherever else the Lord had trod (489). It has been suggested that this is an exaggeration, and certainly we can offer no proof of any such uninterrupted practice. Yet when the first examples begin to appear they are repre- sentefl to us without a word of astonishment or a note of novelty, as though people were already fully accus- tomed to like adventures. Thus in Eusebius, "His- tory" (tr. Crusi^, London, 1868, VI, xi, 215), it is re- marked of Bishop Alexander that "he performed a journey from Cappadocia to Jerusalem in consequence of a vow and the celebrity of the place. " And the date given is also worthy of notice, A. D. 217. Then again there is the story of the two travellers of Placentia, John and Antoninus the Elder (Acta SS., July, II, 18), which took place about 303-4. Of course with the conversion of Con.'^t ant ine and the ^-isit to Jerusalem of the Empress St. Helena the pilgrimages to the Holy Land became very much more frequent. The story of the finding of the Cross is too well known to be here repeated (cf. P. L., XXVII, 1125), but its influence was unmistakable. The first church of the Resurrec- tion was built by Eustathius the Priest (loc. cit., 1164). But the flow of pilgrimages began in vigour four years after St. Helena's visit (Acta SS., June, III, 176; Sept., Ill, 56). Then the organization of the Church that partly caused and partly resulted from the Council of Nicaea continued the same custom.

In 333 was the famous Bordeaux Pilgrimage ("Pal- estine Pilgrim Text Society", London, 1887, preface and notes by Stewart). It was the first of a whole series of pilgrimages that have left interesting and detailed accounts of the route, the peoples through which they passed, the sites identified with those men- tioned in the Gospels. Another was the still better- known " Peregrinatio Silvia;" (ed. Barnard, London, 1891, Pal. Pilg. Text Soc; cf. "Rev. des quest, hist." 1903, 367, etc.). Moreover, the whole movement was enormously increased by the language and action of St. Jerome, whose personality at the close of the fourth century dominated East and West. Slightly earlier St. John Chrysostom emphasized the efficacy in arousing devotion of visiting even the " life- less spots" where the saints had lived (In Phil., 702-3, in P. G., LXII). And his personal love of St. Paul would have unfailingly driven him to Rome to see the tomb of the Apostles, but for the burden of his episco- pal office. He says (In Ephes. hom. 8, ii, 57, in P. G., LXII), " If I were freed from my labours and my body were in sound health I would eagerly make a pilgrim- age merely to see the chains that had held him captive and the prison where he lay." While in another pas- sage of extraordinary eloquence he ex-presses his long- ing to gaze <iii the dust of the great Apostle, the dust of the lips that had thundered, of the hands that had been fettered, of the eyes that had seen the Master; even as he speaks he is dazzled by the splendour of the metropolis of the world lit up by the glorious tombs of

the twin prince Apostles (In Rom. hom. 32, iii, 678, etc., in P. G., LX). Nor in this is he advocating a new practice, for he mentions without conment how many people hurried across the seas to Arabia to see and venerate the dunghill of Job (Ad pop. Antioch. hom. 5, 69, in P. G., XLIX). St. Jerome was cramped by no such official duties as had kept St. Chrysostom to his diocese. His conversion, following on the famous vision of his judgment, turned him from his studies of pagan classics to the pages of Holy Writ, and, uniting with his untiring energy and thoroughness, pushed him on to Palestine to devote himself to the Scriptures in the land where they had been written. Once there the actual Gospel scenes appealed with supreme freshness to him, and on his second return from Rome his enthu- siasm fired several Roman matrons to accompany him and share his labours and his devotions. Monasteries and convents were built and a Latin colony was estab- lished which in later times was to revolutionize Europe by inaugurating the Crusades.

From the Holy Land the circle widens to Rome, as a centre of pilgrimages. St. Chrysostom, as has been shown, expressed his vehement desire to visit it. And in the early church histories of Eusebius, Zosimus, Socrates, and others, notices are frequent of the jour- ney ings of celebrated princes and bishops of the City of the Seven Hills. Of course the Saxon kings and royal families have made this a familiar thing to us. The "Ecclesiastical History" of St. Bede is crowded with references to princes and princesses who laid aside their royal diadems in order to visit the shrine of the Apostles; and the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" after his death takes up the same refrain. Then from Rome again the shrines of local saints begin to attract their votaries. In the letter already cited in which Paula and Eustochium inWte Marcella to Palestine they argue from the already established custom of visiting the shrines of the martyrs: " Martyrum ubique sepul- chra veneramur" (Ep. xlvi, 488, in P. L., XXII). St. Augustine endeavours to settle a dispute by sending both litigants on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Felix of Nola, in order that the saint may somehow or other make some sign as to which party was telling the truth. He candidly admits that he knows of no such miracle having been performed in Africa; but argues to it from the analogy of Milan where God had made known His pleasure through the relics of Sts. Gervasius and Protasius (Ep. lxx-\'ii, 269, in P. L., XXXIII). Indeed, the very idea of relics, which existed ;is early as the earliest of the catacombs, teaches the essential worth of pilgrimages, i. e., of the journeying to visit places hallowed by events in the lives of heroes or of gods who walked in the guise of men (St. .\ug., "Deciv. Dei", XXII, 769, in P. L., XXXVIII).

At first a mere question of individual travelling, a short period was sufficient to develop into pilgrimages properly organized companies. Even the "Peregrina- tio Silvia;" shows how they were being systematized. The initiators were clerics who prepared the whole route beforehand and mapped out the cities of call. The bodies of troops were got together to protect the pilgrims. Moreover, Christian almsgiving invented a method of participation in the merits of a pilgrimage for those unable actually to take part in them; it established hospices along the line (Ordericus Vitalis, "Hist, eccles.", ed. Le Prevost, Soc. hist. France, II, 64, 53; Toulmin Smith, "Enghsh Guilds", passim'^. The conversion of the Hungarians amplified this system of halts along the road; of St. Stephen, for example, we read that "he made the way very safe for all and thus allowed by his benevolence a countless multitude both of noble and common people to start for Jerusalem" (Glaber, "Chron.", Ill, C. I. Mon. Germ. Hist., VII, 62). Thus these pious journeys gradually harden down and become fixed and definite. They are allowed for by laws, civil and ecclesiastical Wars are fought to insure their safety, crusades are