[Gocamino] In Martin Luther's footsteps: A pilgrimage to Rome

[Sil]

In Martin Luther's footsteps: A pilgrimage to Rome

Rome - Winter was about to arrive when the Augustinian monk Martin Luther
and his fellow monks began their journey one November day 500 years ago.  A
1,800-kilometre-long trek on foot awaited them. Their destination: Rome, the
Holy City.
Now, the half-millennium anniversary of that event has inspired a number of
modern-day trekkers to follow in Luther's footsteps in the pilgrimage trail
leading from Germany, proceeding over the Alps and ending in the centre of
Christianity.  In contrast to the well-known St James Trail leading to the
Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, this hiking route going over the
Alps poses a major adventure. The large stream of pilgrims to the Eternal
City such as seen in the Middle Ages has long since disappeared, and the
road with its network of hostels and inns has become nearly forgotten.
But lately, new life has blossomed along the "Via Francigena" - the
Franconian Trail - leading from northern Europe to the papal seat on the
Tiber River.
Italy and the European Union are now promoting the route as being a
"European cultural road." A promotional society in the central Italian city
of Fidenza provides maps and is posting trail-markers along the route.
According to the society, each year some 3,000 pilgrims cover all, or at
least part of the trail. Those who this autumn have taken off from the
German cities of Wittenberg or Erfurt will need 10 to 12 weeks to reach
Rome. In contrast to the situation 500 years ago, today people are not
walking along some idyllic lanes. Particularly in Italy, longer stretches of
the trail are located right next to roads with a lot of heavy traffic. In
some cases, the only way to seek safety from lorries rushing past is by
jumping over a ditch.
The Via Francigena promotional society is trying to find some parallel
routes which are quieter, but so far with only modest success.  But still,
now and then there are pretty landscapes which reward the pilgrim for all
the strenuous effort and car exhaust. Among others, there are the cherry
tree-lined lanes along the Unstrut River in south-eastern Germany, the huge
chestnut tree forests in the Bergelltal Valley in Switzerland and the
hazelnut forests north of Rome.
It's an inspirational feeling, after a strenuous climb to finally reach the
Septimer Pass at 2,300 metres altitude in the Swiss Alps. The proud hiker
does not yet realize that the Apennine mountains outside Bologna will be
similarly difficult to conquer. The period of the man who would later shake
the Church with his Protestant reform movement is recalled in many places
along the way, such as in pilgrims' hostels, church communities, or now
nearly-empty monasteries.
 In the Capuchin order monastery in Fidenza the hiker is provided a room
which in its size and furnishing comes close to resembling a cell in a
cloister. There is no charge, although of course a voluntary donation is
welcome. On departure, the monastery stamps the pilgrim's pass document.
During the final two weeks of the pilgrimage one finds the final destination
is pulling more and more strongly. "Rome" is now written on the
trail-markers and the hiker can now readily grasp the distance still to be
covered.
He proceeds along the Via Flaminia, then crosses the ancient Ponte Milvio
bridge over the Tiber River and strides the final kilometres of the
straight-line old Roman road leading to the Porta del Popolo, a gate in the
city wall dating back to the time of Marcus Aurelius.
Over the previous weeks, one had often fantasized about what arriving at the
final destination would be like. But the reality is rather unspectacular.
One stands, somewhat lost, amid crowds of other tourists visiting the piazza
with its fountains and obelisks.
Right behind the gate the Augustinian church Santa Maria del Popolo rises
up. With so many travel groups, there is no prospect for some kind of
ceremony or service marking the successful completion of the pilgrimage. A
priest, asked to stamp the pilgrim's pass, murmurs a few words of
recognition. But of course, the reception in the Evangelical-Lutheran
congregation of Rome is all the more heartfelt.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356896,footsteps-a-pilgrimage-rome.html


-- 
Sil
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http://amawalker.blogspot.com/