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 PILGRIMAGES

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PILGRIMAGES

authenticity of the relic itself, it certainly is of great antiquity and resembles the veils now worn by women in the East. A third source of devotion is the present stone image of the Blessed Virgin inaugurated with great pomp in 1857. The pilgrimages to this shrine at Chart res have naturally been frequent and of long continuance. Amongst others who have taken part in these visits of devotion were popes, kings of France and England, saints like Bernard of Clairvaux, An- selm of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, Vincent de Paul, and Francis de Sales, and the hapless Mary Queen of Scots. There is, moreover, an annual procession to the shrine on 15 March (Champagnac, I, 452-60; North- cote, "Sanct. of the Madonna", London, 1868, IV, 169- 77; Chabarmes, "Hist, de N.-D. deChartres", Char- tres, 1873).

Chichesler, Sussex, England, had in its cathedral the tomb of St. Richard, its renowned bishop. The throng of pilgrims to this shrine, made famous by the devotion of Edward I, was ,so great that the body was dismembered so as to make three separate stations. Even then, in 1478, Bishop Storey had to draw up stringent rules so that the crowd should ap- proach in a more seemly manner. Each parish was to enter at the west door in the prescribed order, of which notice had to be given by the parish priests in their churches on the Sun- day preceding the feast. Besides3.4pril, another pilgrimage was made on Whit- Sunday (Wall, 126- 31).

Cologne, Rhenish Germany, as a city of pilgrimage centres round the shrine of the Three Kings. The

relics are reputed to have been brought by St. Helena to Constantinople, to have been transferred thence to Milan, and evidently in the twelfth century to have been carried in triumph by Frederick Barbarossa to Cologne. The present chdsse is considered the most remarkable exampltj extant of the medieval gold- smith's art. Though of old reckoned as one of the four greater pilgrimages, it seems to have lost the power of attracting huge crowds out of devotion; though many, no doubt, arc drawn to it by its splen- dour (Champagnac, I, 482).

Conipiislrllii. Spain, has long been famous as con- taining the shrine of St. James the Greater (q. v., where the authenticity of the relics etc. is discussed at some length). In some senses this was the most renowned medieval pilgrimage; and the custom of those who bore back with them from (lalicia scallop shells as proofs of their journey gradually extended to every form of pilgrimage. The old feast-day of St. James (5 August) is still celebrated by the boys of London with their grottos of oyster shells. The earhest records of visits paid to this shrine date from the eighth century; and even in recent years the custom has been enthusiastically observed (cf. Rymer, "Focdcra", London, 1710, XI, 371, 376, etc.).

Ctincf prion, Chile, has a pilgrimage to a shrine of the Blessed Virgin that is perhaps unique, a rock- drawn figureof the Mother of (Jod. It was discovered by a child in the eighlccnih ('cntury and was for long jHjpular among the Chilians.

Cordova, Spain, posses.ses a curious Madonna which

Poles in Pari;

LoRETO — Interior of the Holy House

was originally venerated at Villa Viciosa in Portugal. Because of the neglect into which it had fallen, a pious shepherd carried it off to Cordova, whence the Por- tuguese endeavoured several times to recover it, being frustrated each time by a miraculous intervention (Champagnac, I, 525).

Cracow, Poland, is said to possess a miraculous statue of the Blessed Virgin brought to it by St. Hyacinth, to which in times past pilgrimages were often made (Acta SS., Aug., Ill, 317-41).

Croyland, Lincolnshire, England, was the centre of much i)ilgrimage at the shrine of St. Guthlac, due princiixtlly to the devotion of King Wiglaf of Mercia (Wall, 116-8).

Czenstochowa, Poland, is the most famous of Polish shrines dedicated to the Mother of God, where a pic- ture painted on cypress-wood and attributed to St. Luke is publicly venerated. This is reputed to be the richest sanctuary in the world. A copy of the picture has been set uji in a chapel of St. Roch's church by the

" "■ • 540).

D own pair ick , County DowTi, Ire- land, is the most sacred city of Ireland in that the bodies of Ireland's highest saints were there in- terred.

"In the town of Down, buried in one grave

Bridget, Patrick, and the pious Co- lumba."

Nothing need be said luTc about the relics of these saints; it is sufficient merely to liint at the pilgrim- ages that made this a centre of devotion (Wall, 31-2).

Drumlane, Ire- land, was at one time celebrated as containing the relics of S. Moedoc in the famous Breac Moedoc. This shrine was in the custody of the local priest till 1846, when it was borrowed and sold to a Dublin jeweller, from whom in turn it was bought by Dr. Petrie. It is now in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy (Wall, 80-3).

Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, was the resort of countless pilgrims, for in the abbey was the shrine of St. Margaret. She was long regarded as the most popular of Scottish saints and her tomb was the most reveri-d in all that kingdom. Out of devotion to her, Dunfermline succecilcd lona as being the burial place of the kings (Wall, 48-50).

Durham, England, possessed many relics which drew to it the de\otion of many visitors. But its two chief shrines were those of St. Cuthbert and St. Bede. The former was enclosed in a gorgeous reliquary, which Wius put in its finished state by John, Lord Nevill of Raby, in 1372. Some idea may be had of the number of pilgrims from the amount put by the poorer ones into the money-box that stood close by. The year 138.5-6 yielded £63 17s. 8d. which would be equivalent in our money to £1277 13s. 4d. A dispute rages round the present relics of St. Cuthbert, and there is also some uncertainty about the body of St. Bede (Wall, 176-207, 110-6).

Edmunilshunj, Suffolk, England, sheltered in its abbey church the shrine of St. Edmund, king and martyr. Many royal jiilgrims from King Canute to Henry VI knelt and made offerings at the tomb of the saint; and the conuuon people crowded there in great