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 PILGRIMAGES

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PILGRIMAGES

too early. In much more recent times a calvarj-, with various stations, has been erected and has brought back the flow of pilgrims. The Basque population round about knows it as one of its most sacred centres (Champagnac, I, 302-11).

Boher, near Leith Abbey, King's Co., Ireland, con- tains the relics of St. Manchan, probably the abbot who died in 664. The present shrine is of twelfth- centurj' work and is very well preserved considering its great age and the various calamities through which it has passed. Pilgrimages to it are organized from time to time, but on no verj' considerable scale (Wall, "Shrines of British Saints", 83-7).

Bonaria, Sardinia, is celebrated for its statue of Our Lady of Mercy. It is of ItaUan workmanship, prob- ably about 1370, and came miraculously to Bonaria, floating on the waters. Every Saturday local pilgrim- ages were organized; but to-day it is rather as an object of devotion to the fisherfolk that the shrine is popular (Champagnac, I, 1130-1).

Boulogne, France, has the remains of a famous statue that has been a centre of pilgrimage for many centuries. The early history of the shrine is lost in the legends of the seventh centurj'. But whate\-er was the origin of its foundation there has always been a close connexion between tliis particular shrine and the seafaring population on both sides of the Channel. In medieval France the pilgrimage to it was looked upon as so recognized a form of devotion that not a few judicial sentences are recorded as having been commuted into visits to Xotre-Dame-de-Boulogne- sur-mer. Besides several French monarchs, Henry III visited the shrine in 12.5.5, the Black Prince and John of Gaunt in 1360, and later Charles the Bold of Burgundy. So, too, in 1814 Louis XVIII gave thanks for his restoration before this same statue. The devo- tion of Our Lady of Boulogne has been in France and England increased by the official recognition of the Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Compassion, estab- lished at this shrine, the object of which is to pray for the return of the English people to the Faith (Cham- pagnac, I, 342-62; Hales in "Academy", 22 April, 1882, 287).

Bruges, Belgium, has its famous relic of the Holy Blood which is the centre of much pilgrimage. This was brought from Palestine by Thierry of Alsace on his return from the Second Crusade. From 7 April, 11.50, this relic has been venerated with much devo- tion. The annual pilgrimage, attended by the Flemish nobility in their quaint robes and thousands of pil- grims from other parts of Christendom, takes place on the Monday following the first Sunday in May, when the relic is carried in proce.ssion. But every Friday the relic is less solemnly ex]30sed for the ven- eration of the faithful (Smith, "Bruges", London, 1901, passim; cf. "Tablet", LXXXIII, 817).

Buglose, Landes, France, was for long popular as a place of pilgrimage to a statue of the Blessed Virgin; but it is perhaps as much visited now as the birthplace of St. Vincent de Paul. The house where he was born and where he spent his boyhood is still shown (Cham- pagnac, I, 374-90).

Canterbury, Kent, England, was in medieval times the most famous of English shrines. First as the birthplace of Saxon Christianity and as holding the tomb of St. Augustine; secondly as the scene of the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket, it fitly represented the ecclesiastical centre of England. But even from beyond the island, men and women trooped to the shrine of the "blissful martyr", especially at the great pardons or jubilees of the feast every fifty years from 1220 to 1.520; his death caused his own city to be- come, what Winchester had been till then, the spiritual centre of England (Belloc, "The Old Road", London, 1904, 43). The spell of his name in his defence of the spirituality lay so strongly on the country that Henry VIII had to make a personal attack on the dead saint

before he could hope to arrogate himself full eccle- siastical authority. The poetry of Chaucer, the wealth of England, the crown jewels of France, and marble from ruins of ancient Carthage (a papal gift) had glorified the shrine of St. Thomas beyond com- pare; and the pilgrim signs (see below) which are continually being discovered all over England and even across the Channel ("Guide to Mediaeval Room, British Museum", London, 1907, 69-71) emphasize the popularity of this pilgrimage. The precise time of the year for visiting Canterbury seems difficult to determine (Belloc, ibid., 54), for Chaucer says spring, the Continental traditions imply winter, and the chief gatherings of which we have any record point to the summer. It was probably determined by the feasts of the saint and the seasons of the year. The place of the martyrdom has once morebecomea centre of devo-

tion, mainly through the action of the Guild of Ran- som (Wall, "Shrines", 152-171; Belloc, op. cit.; Danks, "Canterbury", London, 1910).

Carmel, Palestine, has been for centuries a sacred mountain, both for the Hebrew people and for Chris- tians. The Mohammedans also regard it with devo- tion, and from the eighteenth century onwards have joined with Christians and Jews in celebrating the feast of Elias in the mountain that bears his name.

Ceylon may be mentioned as pos.sessing a curious place of pilgrimage, Adam Peak. On the suiimiit of this mountain is a certain impression which the Mo- hammedans assert to be the footprint of Adam, the Brahmins that of Rama, the Buddhists that of Buddha, the Chinese that of Fo, and the Christians of India that of St. Thomas the Apostle (Champagnac, I, 446).

Chartres is in many respects the most wonderful sanctuary in Europe dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, as it boasts of an uninterrupted tradition from the times of the druids who dedicated there a statue I'irgini pariturae. This wooden statue is said to have been still exi.sting in 1793, but to have been destroyed during the Revolution. Moreover, to enhance the sacredness of the jilace a relic was preserved, presented by Charlemagne, viz., the chemise or veil of the Blessed Virgin. Whatever may be the history or