Reçois cette besace, insigne de ton pèlerinage...

[David planning Le Chemin de St Jacques/El Camino de Santiago]

According to the Chamina guidebook for Cluny to Le Puy, the Codex Callixtinus
contained benedictions for departing pilgrims (but not apparently in Book 5
that Melczer translated - I didn't see it).   Besides the walking
staff (bourdon), the beggar's bag (besace) was also blessed as an emblem
of the pilgrimage.

My questions:  was this besace the same as the gourd or bag
that one often sees in paintings,
hooked to the top of the staff next to the scallop shell?

The handy online French dictionary http://www.francophonie.hachette-livre.fr/
only calls it a bag with two pockets and an opening in the middle.
The French Academy dictionary
http://www.academie-francaise.fr/dictionnaire/index.html
refers to Latin bisaccium, a bag with two compartments, and suggests that
it was typically worn by mendicant monks, thrown over the shoulder for balance.

And was the significance and intention that it symbolize the pilgrim's
willingness to receive charity, or to provide it?


Interesting questions - I'll get a little blessing in church this coming
Sunday, and receiving the prayer list to leave with a local rock at
Cruz de Ferro, and I'll have my trekking pole in lieu of bordon, but I
was wondering about the besace.    This process is new to me and to our
church, so we are somewhat making it up as we go along.