Reason for issuing the Compostela (was Re: Re: numbers..final)

[Ed]

Howard Mendes wrote:

> I think most people regard it as a certificate of accomplishment
> after a
> grueling, but rewarding experience.  It is more than a souvenir or a
> trophy if an official authority awards it to you.  Whether the
> Catholic Church "bestows" it
> is incidental to most of us who wanted something symbolic at the end
> of the
> Camino to evidence the achievement.  It is also a curiosity when the
> Church latinizes your given name on the Compostela.
> It annoys me that the Church wants to know the purpose of the
> pilgrimage when
> many people including some of you on Listserve have expressed private
> or
> personal reasons for doing it.  Most of the pilgrims that I met had
> various
> reasons, some of which were personal as well.
> Jean-Pierre Lacaze, a Frenchman I met on the Camino, is a person of
> principle.  He refused to tell the Compostela Office what they wanted
> to hear and was denied the certificate.  He told me that it is just a
> meaningless piece of
> paper so far as he was concerned.  He said he had his own personal
> Compostela and then pointed to his head.  He made me feel ashamed
> that I complied with the
> Church's regulations and bureaucracy in order to get the Compostela.
> In my opinion, a minority of the pilgrims walked the Camino for purely
> religious reasons alone.  So all the fuss about statistics seems like
> nonsense to me.
> Howard Mendes, NYC



As the issuing authority, I think that the Catholic Church has every right
to set the terms and conditions under which it hands out its Compostela.
And if you look at the translation of the text that appears on the
document(see below) you will see that it is granted for very specific
reasons (i.e. pietatis causa).  It is certainly not meant to be a trophy or
a souvenir for people having merely arrived in Santiago,  even if for many
of them it was an arduous journey.    Against this background, I think it is
very proper that the Church does inquire as to the motives of those
requesting its document so as not to devalue or subvert the reasons for its
award.

I think the Frenchman referred to in the posting above is indeed a person of
principle and will surely have reaped his own spiritual award for his
honesty and integrity.


Translation of Latin text appearing on La Composela:
----------------------------------------------------

The Chapter of this Holy Apostolic Metropolitan Cathedral of St. James,
custodian of the seal of St. James' Altar, to all faithful and pilgrims who
come from everywhere over the world as an act of devotion, under vow or
promise to the Apostle's Tomb, our Patron and Protector of Spain, witnesses
in the sight of all who read this document, that: Mr.......has visited
devoutly this Sacred Church in a religious sense (pietatis causa).

Witness whereof I hand this document over to him, authenticated by the seal
of this Sacred Church.

Given in St. James de Compostela on the (day)..(month)..A.D. ...