Path of life

The Camino de Santiago or the Way of St. James

The Camino de Santiago or the Way of St. James is one of the most important Christian pilgrimages during medieval times, together with Rome and Jerusalem,
The Camino is a spiritual journey that pilgrims of all faiths and backgrounds have traversed for over a thousand years. While there are a number of established routes leading to Santiago from all directions, the most popular is the Camino Frances, which crosses the Pyrenees Mountains along the Spanish-French border starting in St. Jean Pied de Port.

This Camino Frances route covers 800 kilometers that traverses an idyllic northern Spanish countryside to Santiago de Compostela . By following the yellow painted arrows marking the road. Some choose to travel by bike, and some have done the Camino on horseback. Along the way travelers encounter albergues, refugios and casa rurals that cater specifically to the thousands of pilgrims of all ages that take this journey each year, immersing themselves in the local food, culture and history dedicated to this experience.
Pilgrims walk the Camino for various reasons:
Some to seek penance,religious, spiritual or cultural reasons, the meditative nature of the Camino offers the perfect landscape in which to dedicate contemplation. Pilgrims follow the path amidst the villages, towns, rivers, mountains and fertile valleys that have changed the lives of millions of pilgrims who walked before them.
Most pilgrims choose to carry a scallop shell with them to symbolize their journey in honor of St. James. According to legend, scallop shells are said the have covered St. James’ body after it was found on the shores of the Galician coast. Another, perhaps more useful symbol is a walking stick to aid a weary pilgrim on his or her journey. Most pilgrims also carry a document called the credencial,
The credencial

is a pass which gives access to inexpensive, sometimes free, overnight accommodation in refugios along the trail. Also known as the "pilgrim's passport", the credencial is stamped with the official St. James stamp of each town or refugio at which the pilgrim has stayed. It provides walking pilgrims with a record of where they ate or slept, but also serves as proof to the Pilgrim's Office in Santiago that the journey is accomplished according to an official route. The credencial is available at refugios, tourist offices, some local parish houses, and outside Spain. The stamped credencial is also necessary if the pilgrim wants to obtain a compostela, a certificate of completion of the pilgrimage.
The Compostela

is a certificate, a accomplishment of the pilgrimage. given to pilgrims on completing the Way. To earn the compostela one needs to walk a minimum of 100 km or cycle at least 200 km. Pilgrims arriving in Santiago de Compostela who have walked at least the last 100 km, or cycled 200 km to get there (as indicated on their credencial), are eligible for the compostela from the Pilgrim’s Office in Santiago.
Santiago de Compostela was proclaimed the first European Cultural itinerary by the Council of Europe in 1987. This route from the French-Spanish border was – and still is – taken by pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela. Some 1,800 buildings along the route, both religious and secular, are of great historic interest
Pilgrimages were an essential part of western European spiritual and cultural life in the Middle Ages and the routes that they took were equipped with facilities for the spiritual and physical well-being of pilgrims. The Route of St James of Compostela has preserved the most complete material record in the form of ecclesiastical and secular buildings, settlements both large and small, and civil engineering structures. This Route played a fundamental role in facilitating the two-way interchange of cultural developments between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe during the Middle Ages. There is no comparable Christian pilgrimage route of such extent and continuity anywhere in Europe: the other two pilgrimage routes, to Jerusalem and Rome, are only recognizable in a very fragmentary fashion. In addition to its enormous historical and spiritual value, it also represents a remarkably complete cross-section of European artistic and architectural evolution over several centuries.

St. James the Apostle

His name was Yaakov or Jacob Bar-Zebdi but he is better known as James the son of Zebedee, St. James, James the Major (to differentiate him from the other Apostle James, the son of Alphaeus named Minor) or Santiago in Spain. According to Christian stories, he was born around 5 BC in Galilee, the son of Zebedee and Mary Salome and was the older brother of John, the apostle. Mark tells us that Jesus nicknamed the two brothers “boanergués”, meaning the "sons of thunder". The two brothers were fishermen, and it was during their work on the Gennesaret Lake ‌that they were called by Jesus of Nazareth to follow him. They were among his first disciples and most appreciated by him.
James was present in the most important episodes recounted in the Gospels. He was one of the three apostles who witnessed the transfiguration (metamorphosis) of Jesus, when he transforms to show his divine nature between the prophets Moses and Elijah. He was also witness to the prayer in the Olive Garden with Peter and his brother. After the resurrection he was in the small group who saw Jesus at the Lake Tiberias and participated in the miraculous catch of fish. The Acts of the Apostles tells how he received the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire during the Pentecost (about AD 33). It is then that he took his stick and boat, and set off to the West to evangelize it.
According to the legend, James crossed the Mediterranean to preach Christianity in Roman Hispania, the Iberian Peninsula. Around the year 650, Bishop Isidore of Seville wrote in his De Ortu and Obitu Patrum Sanctorum, "James, son of Zebedee and brother of John [...] preached the Gospel in Hispania, in the western regions, and spread the light of his preaching to the ends of the earth. " These ends of the earth are the Finisterre (Finis Terrae), the most western cape of Galicia.
Shortly after this episode, he decided to return to Jerusalem, leaving his seven disciples the task of continuing his work. His wish was to see the living Virgin Mary once more.
He continued to preach in Judea. The Acts of the Apostles tells of a sermon around the year 44 A.C., he was taken prisoner by Herodes Agrippa and tortured to death. He became one of the first Christian martyrs. The king forbid to bury him, but in the night Jacob's disciples stole the body and brought him, in a sarcophagus of marble, on board of a small boat. The current of the sea drove the boat to the Spanish coast, into the port of the Roman province's capital, Iria Flavia. Here the Apostle was buried at a secret place in a wood.
Centuries later, in 813, the hermit Pelayo listened music in that wood and saw a shining. For this shining the place was called, in Latin, "Campus Stellae", field of the star, name that was lateron turned into Compostela.
Bishop Teodomiro, who received notice of that event, instituted an investigation, and so the tomb of the Apostle was discovered. King Alphonse II declared Saint James the patron of his empire and had built a chapel at that place. It is reported that from then on Saint James did several miracles, even that he fought side to side with King Ramiro I in the decisive battle against the Moors.
More and more pilgrims followed the way of Santiago, the "Way of Saint James", and the original chapel soon became the cathedral of the new settlement
Santiago de Compostela

In 12^th and 13^th century the town had its greatest importance, and Pope Alexander III declared it a Holy Town, like Rome and Jerusalem. Pope Calixto II declared that the pilgrims who went to Santiago in a Holy Year should be free of all their sins. El Año Santo (Holy Year) is celebrated each time when the Apostol's day (July, 25)