Historical Event in Christianity

Abstract

The Camino de Santiago, also known as “The Way of Saint James,” is the very famous pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the north west of Spain, where fable has it that the remnants of the apostle of Jesus Saint James the Great lie. This walking pilgrimage has existed as a Christian ritual for more than thousand years. Thus, this research paper aims to discuss the historical background of this religious practice and also discusses its significance in the history of Christianity.

Table of Contents

Abstract2

Introduction4

Discussion5

Historical Background5

Importance of Camino de Santiago in Christianity5

Conclusions7

References9

Historical Event in Christianity

Introduction

The famous walking pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain is an early Catholic practice which was started in the 9th century CE (Rudolph, 2004), the Spanish fight back in opposition to the Moors, and the political requirement for a national building plan. As per the legend, the objective is believed to be the ultimate burial place of the Apostle James (Rudolph, 2004). For this extended journey, the emotional and bodily experience is vital. The participants trained by the Oficina de Sociología de Santiago de Compostela, the authorized statistical source, were around hundred in 1984 (Roseman, 2004); ever since then the quantity has grown significantly, and in the year 2007, 114,026 pilgrims walked the road. Furthermore, the Camino had noteworthy success during latest holy years. For the 1993 jubilee, there were 99,436 pilgrims. In the year 1999, for the closing stages of the millennium, there were 154,613 pilgrims, and in the year 2004, they exceeded 181,036 (Roseman, 2004). A pertinent feature of this revival is the internationalization of this conventional European pilgrimage. Spain stays the major country furnishing pilgrims that is approximately 60% of the participants, and this augmented considerably during the holy years. Major European countries like France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Belgium furnish a very considerable number of walkers (Rudolph, 2004). Though, since the 2nd millennium, the Spanish attendance has tended to decline due to the presence of pilgrims arriving from outside Europe and embarking on this expedition from all over the globe. Each year somewhere between 4,500 and 6,000 South or North Americans in addition to Oceanians, Asians and Africans walk the Camino.

Discussion

Historical Background

The origins of the city of Santiago de Compostela as a shrine date from the discovery of the relics of James the Apostle in the 9th century AD (Stokstad, 1978), this heralding the onset of the arrival of pilgrims from the north of the Iberian Peninsula and the Frankish Kingdom. On the other hand, it would not be till the 11th century that this pilgrimage got hold of immense popularity, bringing about the formation of a structured system of cities and towns (Stokstad, 1978) in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, an association of Christian cities and towns of which the most significant were Logrono, Pamplona, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Sahagun, Burgos, Astorga, Leon, Sarria, and Santiago de Compostela, in the region of which the Christian kingdoms of the north of the peninsula were established ...