Changes in Santiago

[Rosina Lila]

Hello you all,
I should think that pilgrims may volunteer to do the lay Mass readings at Santiago, and, likely, they need not be Catholic.
I was asked to read because, guide book in hand, I was looking around the Cathedral for the image of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, (of whom I had developed a certain fondness because of the chickens), and, not finding it, I asked two nuns about it in Spanish. The nuns were going about getting things ready for Mass. After they guided me to the right place a conversation of 'where are you from?', 'how did you come'? and so on ensued. It was then that they asked me if I would do the reading at Mass.  At no time did they ask whether I was a Catholic.
Those two nuns and a civilian woman that watched over the enclosed area around the altar appeared to be in charge of the pre-Mass preparations.
The image of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, by the way, is in the San Juan Apostol Chapel which was restored in the sixteenth century by Jacome Garcia. The chapel contains several medieval sepulchers and Santo Domingo's image which was completed in 1965 by a sculptor named Frechilla.  The image, rather small and unostentatious, can easily be missed. But once found one rejoices in the familiar details. The saint sustains a staff, with the gourd, with his left hand while his right hand holds a little bridge with an encrusted small star and at his feet there is a hen resting.
You will remember that Santo Domingo went around building bridges and passable routes for Santiago pilgrims, and all of us know of the miracle of the hen who sang, though roasted, and the young man that transcended and survived an unjust hanging.
Regards,
Rosina