When I read Edward Hays book The Passionate Troubadour: A Medieval Novel about Francis of Assisi (which I highly recommend), I assumed the part about his trip to Santiago de Compostela was invention by Hays. It wasn't. The Camino or the Way has haunted me for years, maybe since I spent my junior year of college in Spain and visited Santiago at the end of the year. I read Shirley MacLaine's version years ago and it really came back with the movie The Way with Martin Sheen and his son Emilio Esteves. I saw it 3 times in the theater and then bought it. A young Salvadoran man and an older American from Most Holy Trinity parish in Tucson gave a wonderful report on their trip and preparations. The head of Arbico in Tucson is a devotee and gave a passionate overview at REI.
In this trip the references to The Way of St. James keep coming back. The Basilica of San Sernin in Toulouse was a major stop on the southern French route to Santiago. Even Chartres had a plaque in front with the way to Santiago marked. The American religious scholar i sat next to at the restaurant in Chartres had done the Camino in the proscribed 33 days (for years of Christ's life), even though he was badly out of shape and urged me to seriously consider it. And now, this anniversary of my favorite saint's trip...
In addition to the classic The Little flowers of St. Francis of Assisi, I highly recommend Carlo Carretto's I,Francis (Io, Francesco). It starts out something like this, "I was born in Assisi some 800 years ago and I still remember a thing or two."
No comments:
Post a Comment