[Gocamino] Saint Rocco; Saint Francis, Via de la Plata

[Rosina]

There have been quite a few references recently to Saint Rocco (Saint Roche, San Roque) as a “Santiago” pilgrim in the Galician press. The question whether Saint Rocco had gone to Santiago was raised here some years ago, but I do not remember any concrete findings or conclusions, as to whether he did, in fact, made the pilgrimage to Santiago.  Certainly he lived during “high pilgrimage season” times, and, for sure, he was a wanderer.  If he did go he must have done so before his fateful pilgrimage to Rome in which he was he was hurt, and subsequent to which he became an “hospitalero” for lepers, plague victims and such unfortunates for the rest of his life.

Whether or not Saint Francis of Assisi did, or didn’t,  go to Santiago has fascinated pilgrims and scholars for centuries and persuasive arguments and indicia go both ways.  For one, there is the question of the building of the Saint Francis monastery in Santiago which a less determined person than Saint Francis may not have brought about in view of the fierce opposition from the San Martin Penario monks.  In fact, the Saint Francis church and monastery are much lower in height than San Martin’s at the insistence of the San Martin monks.  Also, after the town of Assisi suffered terrible flooding a few years ago, and many of its artistic treasures were washed away or damaged, most of the priceless documents in the Assisi archives were confined to the custody of the Vatican library in Rome; among them there is said to be a document given to San Francis “by a bishop in Santiago”. For some reason, such document has not been made available to the general public.

The Leyre monastery, in the Aragonese part of the French Camino, does allow for viewing a facsimile of a sort of “guests’ book” with Saint Francis’ name in it. In medieval times the Leyre monastery was famous for giving refuge to pilgrims, and it was the custom of the abbot to ask those who had stayed there to write their name on a book that he maintained for the purpose; the last name of a group of five pilgrims staying there in one occasion does read “Francesco d’Assisi”.  But, of course, Leyre is a long way from Santiago.

We will probably never know for sure, nor does it matter.  Someone once defined “faith” as believing in something that cannot be proven, but it would sure be nice to have some clear evidence.

 

Finding an albergue in the Via de la Plata can be challenging, despite the fact that the Via does count with albergues. To facilitate the task of locating albergues an association has been formed called “Asociacion de Albergues de Via de la Plata”  (Association of Via de la Plata Albergues). The association’s president, Noria, is in the process of setting up an internet source for the purpose. Meanwhile, those interested in locating an albergue in the Via can telephone Noria at 923-34-44-01 or 600-75-84-87. These are the numbers to be dialed within Spain itself.

 

Lastly, I have a few (very nice) duplicate books about the Camino to give away; they are, however, in Spanish. Let me know if you are interested and I’ll send them out.

 

Hugs!

 

Rosina 


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