Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/530

 514 PILGRIMAGE others, attest the frequency of these pilgrim- ages and mention the great number of pil- grims. The dedication of the church of the Resurrection at Jerusalem, built by Constan- tine, attracted an immense concourse from east and west. The empress Helena also went thither as a pilgrim, and built many churches. The subsequent increase of this devotion re- mained unchecked till Palestine and Jerusalem passed into the possession of the Mohamme- dans. Still the hardships which this conquest threw in the way of pilgrims served rather to stimulate their fervor. Their departure from western Christendom was attended with pe- culiar religious solemnities. Each pilgrim on setting out received from the priest a scrip and staff, together with a coarse woollen gown marked with a cross ; a blessing was pro- nounced on him, and he was accompanied by a procession as far as the next parish. He carried neither money nor arms, but had to show a passport from his sovereign and a let- ter of communion from his bishop. He was received by all Christians with ready kind- ness ; for next in merit to being one's self a pilgrim was accounted the providing for the safety and comfort of the wayfarers. Hospi- tals and monasteries were built for their recep- tion along the most frequented routes and in the city of Jerusalem, and Christians residing there exposed themselves to great dangers in order to go and meet them on the road. Fe- male pilgrims were received by religious com- munities of their own sex. The merchants of Amalfi, Venice, and Genoa, and the princes of the West, bore most of the expense of support- ing these hospitals, and every year monks of Palestine came to Europe to collect alms for the same purpose. When the pilgrim arrived at the holy city he prepared himself by fast- ing and prayer, and then visited the sepul- chre covered with a robe which he afterward preserved to be buried in. He viewed Mount Zion, the mount of Olives, the valley of Je- hoshaphat, Bethlehem, Mount Tabor, and the other principal places associated with the mira- cles of Christ ; and having bathed in the Jor- dan, he gathered in the territory of Jericho a palm branch, which on his return home he pre- sented to his priest to be laid upon the altar in token of the completion of his enterprise. From this circumstance the pilgrims to Pales- tine were called palmers. The Mohammedan caliphs treated the pilgrims alternately with cruelty and kindness; but under the Seljuk Turks, who conquered Palestine about 1076, they were subjected to violent persecution. About this time the archbishop of Mentz, with the bishops of Bamberg, Utrecht, and Ratis- bon, undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and the multitude of their followers amount- ed to T,000 persons, of whom fewer than 2,000 reached home again in safety. A few years later the miseries of the pilgrims and Chris- tian inhabitants of Jerusalem gave rise to the crusades, which may be considered as armed pilgrimages on a large scale. (See CRUSADES.) Besides relics of saints and precious remains of Christian antiquity, the pilgrims brought back the industrial and artistic products of the East ; French and Italian merchants established warehouses in Jerusalem, and every year on Sept. 15 a fair was opened on Mount Calvary, where the Franks and Moslems exchanged their goods. In the present century a society was organized in France for promoting yearly pil- grimages to Palestine. Some pilgrims travelled as far as Egypt, and penetrated to the solitudes of Memphis and the Thebaid, inhabited by the disciples of St. Anthony and of St. Paul of Thebes, the first hermit. The tombs of St. Pe- ter and St. Paul at Rome were reckoned only less sacred than Palestine, and Loreto on the E. coast of Italy was famous for the Virgin Mary's house (see LORETO), as well as Assisi for the tomb of St. Francis. But the greatest crowds of pilgrims were drawn to Rome by the devo- tions of the jubilee, which at first was cele- brated the last year of each century, was held with increased solemnity by Boniface VIII. in 1300, was fixed for every 50th year by Clement VI., for every 33d year by Urban VI., and for every 25th year by Paul II. As the indul- gences granted for the jubilee can, by permis- sion of the pope, be gained by Roman Cath- olics at home on certain conditions, the influx of pilgrims to Rome on such occasions ha^ been diminished. In Germany, the church of St. Peter and St. Paul at Treves boasted from 1190 the possession of the seamless robe worn by Christ. During the middle ages pilgrims flocked thither from every country in Europe ; and this devotion, which had almost died out since the reformation, revived in 1810, and grew to such a degree that in 1844 1,100,000 pilgrims visited the city. Cologne, with the supposed tomb of the three kings, and the shrine of St. Ursula and her companions, was next in popularity. Next came Getting, Celle, and Einsiedeln in Switzerland. The tomb of St. John Nepomuk in Prague was a devotion- al centre for Bohemia. In Spain the most famous shrines were those of St. James the Apostle at Compostela and of the Virgin Mary at Monserrat. The former ranked with the pil- grimage to Rome, and almost rivalled that of Jerusalem. After the 16th century Loyola in Guipiizcoa, the native place of St. Ignatius, became a favorite resort of numerous pil- grims from the Iberian peninsula, France, and Italy, among whom were many crowned heads. France counted many famous shrines from an early date. The most celebrated were : Mont St. Michel on the coast of Normandy, St. Mar- tin at Tours, St. Anne d'Auray in Brittany, the churches of Ste. Genevidve and St. Denis in and near Paris, La Vierge Noire at Chartres, the churches of Notre Dame at Liesse near Laon and at Fourvidres near Lyons, and that of Notre Dame de la Garde at Marseilles. In our own times Paray-le-Monial, Lourdes, and La Salette have acquired a sudden and re-.