Albert Hauck

“ I. The Pilgrimage in pre-Christian and non-Christian Religions. -To the Germanic religions the pilgrimage is unknown. On the other hand, it is an indigenous element, not only in the creeds of Asia, but in those of the ancient seats of civilization on the Mediterranean. The fundamental conception is always that the Deity resides–or exercises a peculiarly powerful influence–in some definite locality, and to this locality the devout repair, either in reverence of their god, or in quest of his assistance and bounty. ”

“ John of Damascus, the great exponent of dogma in the 8th century, gave expression to the result of a uniform development which had been going on for centuries when he taught that Christ offers the relics to Christians as means of salvation. They must not be looked upon as something that is dead; for through them all good things come to those who pray with faith. Why should it seem impossible to believe in this power of the relics, when water could be made to gush from a rock in the desert? ”

“ Nothing is more natural than that the pious solicitude felt by all men for the bodies of their loved ones should in the primitive Christian Churches have been turned most strongly towards the bodies of those who had met with death in confessing their faith. ”

“ The medieval Church was even more profoundly convinced than its predecessor that the miraculous power of Deity attached to the bodies of saints and their relics. But the younger nations-French, English and German—were scantily endowed with saints; while, on the other hand, the behef obtained that the home-countries of Christianity, especially Rome and Jerusalem, possessed an inexhaustible supply of these sanctified bodies. Pilgrimages were consequently undertaken with the intention of securing relics. ”

“ It is curious that while the popular craving for relics had passed all bounds, medieval theology was very cautious in its declarations on the subject of the veneration of relics. Thomas Aquinas based his justification of them on the idea of reverent commemoration; since we venerate the saints, we must also show reverence for their relics, for whoever loves another does honour to that which remains of him after death. ”

“ The pilgrimage with a predetermined goal was not recognized by the books of penance; but, in 1059, Peter Damiani imposed a pilgrimage to Rome or Tours on the clerics of Milan, whom he had absolved (Acta medial. patrol. lat. 145, p. 98) .
As the system of indulgences developed, a new motive came to the fore which rapidly overshadowed all others: pilgrimages were now undertaken to some sacred spot, simply in order to obtain the indulgence which was vested in the respective church or chapel. ”

“ This statement, that the Christians of the 3rd and 4th centuries were in the habit of visiting Jerusalem for prayer, proves that the non-Christian conception of the religious pilgrimage had already entered the sphere of Christian thought. That men travelled for purposes of prayer implies acceptance of the heathen theory of sanctuaries which it is an act of piety to visit. ”

“ And, since the strongest motive in the pilgrimage was the acquisition of indulgences, unnumbered thousands were moved to assume the Cross, when, in 1095, Urban II. promised them plenary indulgence (Conc. Claram. c. 2) . The conquest of Jerusalem, and the erection of a Christian empire in Palestine, naturally welled the influx of pilgrims And though in 1187 the Holy City again fell into the hands of the infidel, while in 1291 the loss of Acre eliminated the last Christian possession in Palestine, the pilgrimages still proceeded. ”

“ From 25,000 to 30,000 persons take part each year in the resuscitated “leaping-procession” at Echternach; and the annual visitants to the “Holy Mount” at Gorz are estimated at 50,000. No new motives for the pilgrimage emerged in the 19th century, unless the ever-increasing cultus of the Virgin Mary may be classed as such, all of the new devotional s1tes being dedicated to the Virgin. For the rest, the desire of acquiring indulgences maintains its influence: but doubting voices are no more heard within the pale of the Roman Catholic Church. ”

“ These ideas had taken shape, in all essentials, during the early days of the Church, underwent further development in the middle ages, and were maintained by the Catholic Church in the face of the opposition of the Reformers, while all the Protestant Churches rejected them.
The origins of the veneration of relics lie in the anxiety for the preservation of the bodies of the martyrs. ”

“ Thus, as the cult of a particular divinity spreads farther and farther, so the circle expands from which are drawn those who visit his sanctuary.
One of the oldest homes of the pilgrimage is India There the army of devotees tends more especially to the Gangesthe hallowed river of Hindu belief On the Ganges lies Benares, the holy city of Brahminism: and to look on Benares, to visit its temples, and to be washed clean in the purifying river, is the yearning of every pious Indian. Even Buddhism—originally destitute of ceremonial—has adopted the pilgrimage ”

“ The Roman papacy had no more zealous adherent than Boniface; yet he absolutely rejected the idea that Englishwomen should make the journey to Rome, and would willingly have seen the princes and bishops veto these pilgrimages altogether (Ep. 78) . The theologians who surrounded Charlemagne held similar views. When the abbess Ethelburga of Fladbury (Worcestershire) found her projected pilgrimage impracticable, Alcuin wrote to her, saying that it was no great loss, and that God had better designs for her: “Expend the sum thou hast gathered for the journey on the support of the poor ”

“ Earnest men could not disguise from themselves the moral dangers almost inevitably consequent upon them, they recognized, moreover, that many pilgrims were actuated by extremely dubious motives, and they distrusted the exaggerated value set on outward works. ”

“ The significance of the pilgrimage for the religious life of later medieval ism cannot be adequately estimated. The possession of an extraordinary relic, a bloody Host, or the like, was everywhere considered a sufficient claim for the privileges of indulgences ”

“ A few years later Count Dietrich of Trier began a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with 113 companions, in atonement for the murder of Archbishop Kuno The ship, however, which conveyed them went down with all hands in a storm (Berth. Ann. 1073) .
As a result of this steady increase in the number of pilgrims, the old arrangements for their accommodation were found deficient Consequently hospices arose which were designed exclusively for the pilgrim. Those on the Alpine passes are common knowledge. ”

“ Next to Rome the most popular religious resort was the tomb of Felix of Nola (August. Ep 78, 3) , while in Gaul the grave of St Martin at Tours drew pilgrims from all quarters (Paul. Nol. Ep. 17, 4) . Africa possessed no sanctuary to compete with these; but we learn from Sulpicius Severus (c. 400) that the tomb of Cyprian seems to have been visited even by a Gaul (Dial. i. 3) .
The motive that drew the pilgrims to the graves of the saints is to be found in the conviction, expressed by Prudentius, that there divine succour was certain ”

“ As soon as the non-Christian ideas of priests, sacrifices, houses of the god, and so forth, were naturalized in the Christianity of the 3rd century, it was but a short step to the belief in holy places.
III. The Pilgrimage in the Ancient Church.—In the passages cited above, Bethlehem and the Mount of Olives figure as the main goal of the pilgrim: and on the Mount of Olives the mind must naturally turn to the Garden of Gethsemane and the scene of the Ascension. It may seem The East. ”

“ Later the Portiuncula church at Assisi displaced all other religious resorts, with the exception of Rome, but in the 15th century it was overshadowed in turn by the “Holy House” at Loretto on the Adriatic. According to an extravagant legend, the house of Joseph and Mary in Nazareth was transported by angels, on the night of the 9th–10th of May 1291 to Dalmatia, then brought to the Italian coast opposite (Dec. 10, 1294) , till, on the 7th of September 1295 it found rest on its present site. The pilgrimage thither must have attained great importance as early as the 15th century ”

“ In later periods, that of Romberch a Kyrspe, printed at Venice (1519) , stood high in favour.
A long list might be compiled of men of distinction who performed the pilgrimage to Palestine. In the 8th century one of the most famous is the Anglo-Saxon Willibald, who died in 781 as bishop of the Frankish diocese of Eichstätt. He left his home in the spring of 720, accompanied by his father and brother. The pilgrims traversed France and Italy, visiting every religious resort; in Lucca the father died, and the brother remained behind in Rome. ”

“ Not only did new resorts spring into existence—e.g. La Salette in Dauphine (1846) , and more particularly Lourdes (1858) in the department of Hautes Pyrenees—but the numbers once more attained a height which enables them to compete with the medieval figures. It is computed that 60,000 pilgrims were present in La Salette on the 29th of September 1847, the first anniversary of the appearance of Mary which gave rise to the shrine. The dedication of the church of Lourdes, 1n 1876, took place in the presence of 30 bishops, 3000 priests and 100,000 pilgrims. ”

“ The unification of the peoples of antiquity rn the Roman Empire, and the resultant amalgam of religions, gave a powerful impetus to the custom. For, as East and West still met at the old sanctuaries of Greece, so-and yet more-Greece and Rome repaired to the temples of the southern and eastern deities In the shrine of Isis at Philae, Europeans set up votive inscriptions on behalf of their kindred far away at home, and it may be surmised that even among the festival crowds at Jerusalem a few Greeks found place (John xii. 20) .
The pilgrimage, however, attained its zenith under Islam. ”