Pilgrim's death

[Rosina Lila]

Hola,
An Italian female pilgrim, dying of cancer, achieved her expressed desire to
die"at the feet of the Apostle".
She made the trip to Santiago by bus, with other Italians going to Santiago,
despite the warnings of her doctors that the trip might hasten her death.  On
September 8, she attended the Pilgrims' Mass during which she became quite
ill; she was taken to the Sacristy by her companions and from there  to the
cloister where she was attended by nurses of the Malta Order.  She is described as
being about fifty years old, blonde, and vary pale. While on a gurney at the
cloister she appeared to be in a great deal of pain holding her stomach. The
Archbishop, Msgr. Julian Barrio, who was in the Cathedral at the time, went to
her side, gave her communion and administered Extreme Unction rites.
A summoned ambulance arrived shortly after and, at the urging of her family,
she was taken to a private site where she died almost immediately.
Her family informed that she knew herself to be suffering from terminal
stomach cancer, but that, despite the attending pain of such illness,  she had
insisted on going to Santiago and attending a Pilgrims' Mass, in an ultimate act
of faith and sacrifice.

Some of you may remember the don Gayferos de Mormaltan romance in which he
goes to Santiago to die "porque eu morrerei contento nesta Santa Catedral"
(because I will die happy in this Holy Cathedral), and the myriad of ill and dying
pilgrims  who have made their way to Santiago, or tried to, throughout the
centuries.
The book "Aventura y Muerte en el Camino de Santiago" (Adventure and Death in
the Santiago Camino) by Valdivieso  Ausin, ISBN 84-8991-5-09-1, recounts many
abundantly documented such pilgrimages and deaths.
I guess that neither faith, nor the heart ever changes.
The Archdiocese offered a Mass for the soul of the Italian pilgrim;  I am
sure that many of us will add our prayers.

Rosina
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