[Gocamino] going on pilgrimage in Wales

[Kathy Gower]

leaving in minutes...but I know the church in Aberdaron...it was the woman 
rector who told me about the Templar graves...

and R.S. Thomas wrote this about the Llleyn peninsula and Bardsey:

"...These very seas are baptised.  The parish has a saint's name time cannot 
unfrock.  In cities that have outgrown their promise people are becoming 
pilgrims again, if not to this place, then to the recreation of it in their 
own spirits..."

I hope you rec'd the American Pilgrim news journal and will let me know if 
you need more for the pilgrims of St. Gergory's, Donald.

I'll be soon in a couple of weeks,
hurray,
k

From: Donald Schell <djschel at attglobal.net>
To: "Kathy Gower" <kathygower at hotmail.com>
CC: gocamino at oakapple.net
Subject: Re: [Gocamino] going on pilgrimage in Wales
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 23:00:08 -0700

Dear Kathy,

Yikes, I hope you get this.  I didn't realize you were planning this trip or 
would have said something sooner - - -
- - - If at all possible visit Pennant Melangel just across the Welsh border 
from England in the north.  In a really beautiful, steep valley at the end 
of a country road, it's a 7th century church/foundation with a round 
churchyard, huge vertical stones buried deep in the earth and a restored 
Norman pilgrimage shrine honoring the Irish nun who came there as a 
missionary and whose hut was the first sacred dwelling on the site.

I think you may know that Bardsey is where I bought my pilgrim's walking 
stick at the nature shop in Bardsey's retreat house in 1995.  That stick has 
now crossed the Pyrenees twice and done parts of the Camino in Spain three 
times.  There are stones from one of the springs there (and a couple of 
other springs that were medieval pilgrims' destinations) as well as small 
stones from Juan de la Cruz's monastery garden in Segovia and Teresa's first 
convent in Avila are buried under the baptistry at St. Gregory's.

You'll be taking the boat from Aberdaron to Bardsey.  Be sure to look in at 
the church there.  It's where the great Anglican poet/priest R.S. Thomas 
served and it's an old place with a wonderful fresh aura of holiness and 
faithful love and service.  Thomas wrote some lovely poems about the 
stillness of that church just before the first words of a Sunday liturgy.  
His was a kind of rootedness that feels profoundly akin to pilgrimage.  Just 
a bit north of Aberdaron is the town where Gerard Manley Hopkins served as 
Catholic pastor in the 19th Century (a Jesuit).

I don't know about church dedicated to James there, but the pilgrimage 
tradition is very, very old in Wales.  St. David, when he was elected bishop 
journeyed to Jerusalem for consecration.  The tradition is that Bardsey was 
first settled by Egyptian (!) monks and that the area around Bardsey was a 
place where Celtic and Coptic Christianity met and the traditions blended 
for a century or more.

Have a blessed pilgrimage!

love,
donald

On Jun 28, 2005, at 12:30 PM, Kathy Gower wrote:

>I will be on pilgrimage in North Wales for the next two weeks, traveling to 
>Bardsey Island in the North Sea off the coast of the Lleyn peninsula.
>
>Bardsey was called the "Land of 20,000 Saints" and it was said that three 
>pilgrimages to Bardsey were worth one to Rome.  The tides are rough and 
>boats sail only when the weather is right, from Aberdaron.
>
>The coast there is noted for old Viking settlements and at Rhiuw, places 
>where the Templars stopped on their way to Scotland after being persecuted 
>out of France by Phillip the Fair. (not the same one as the story of Juana 
>la loca...)  Stories abound....
>
>I'll write about it somewhere, I'm sure, but in the mean time, two very 
>pedantic questions:
>
>does the post ofice in London take credit cards...and
>
>are there any churches to St. James in Wales?
>
>hoping to here before I leave tomorrow am.,
>ultreya,
>k
>
>
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