[Gocamino] About Santiago 2

[Rosina]

Hello you all,
Re Santiago 2
First, to answer your questions: 
1.       The fellow asking for money and/or shelter at the Pilgrims’ Office when I was there said he was from Austria. He was tall and blond and dressed in camouflage military fatigues. The beagle-sized dog seemed well cared for, almost puppyish and did not appear to have been out walking, least of all on the Camino.  Because the guy went on and on after being told what to do, I thought that he may not be sober.  Occurrences like this take place daily at the office. It is logical to expect that, like any other place fairly open, the Pilgrims’ Office will attract its fair share of people with mental, financial or other problems.   You may remember the young man that climbed up to Santiago’s statue above the outside entrance to the Holy door, entirely naked;  he had been repeatedly at the Pilgrims Office and the Arch confraternity’s office (next t  to the Holy Door) asking for money  and/or to be allowed to sleep there.  After he was arrested (in the altogether) he was sent to a psychiatric unit in Santiago until a family member came to take him back to his Barcelona hometown.
There are a great many charitable organizations in Santiago, but the function of the Pilgrims Office, besides granting Compostelas to those who have earned them, is to assist pilgrims with information as to where to go for their needs.  This is exactly what they did by telling the guy in the military fatigues to go to the Saint Francis monastery where he might find shelter. . The Pilgrims’ Office is neither a Welfare Office nor an albergue and cannot provide wither money or facilities. I guess one could call it a center of information for Pilgrims.
2.       The groups that go up the scaffolding to the Portico de Gloria do have a guide that points out, and explains, the salient features of that magnificent work.  The tours take place every couple of hours, but reservations need to be made. In addition to wearing a hard-hat (provided by the Cathedral) those who go up must wear rubber-soled shoes.  Understandably, one cannot linger up there and the tours move rather rapidly.  Again, the reservations are made on a desk right after entering the door, at ground-floor level, which is located between the stairs leading up to the Cathedral from Obradoiro.
3.       The people at the Vatican’s travel agency said that they can arrange for travel to a pilgrimage site from anywhere.  I suppose that one can get more detailed information, in languages, by going to the Vatican’s website.
4.       The new foundation will also arrange for the manufacture of tasteful and Camino-worthy mementos. When I was there they had just completed a model of a ceramic gourd) which somehow had transcended its gourd-ness and brought to mind a church) into were going a cluster of pilgrims depicted as they are in the Holy Year poster.  The figure is absolutely lovely and it is about 4 or 5 inches high. Unfortunately I couldn’t get one.  I was told that proposals for these mementos can be submitted for approval.
The timetable for services in the Cathedral this Holy Year is as follows:  
Pilgrims’ Masses:  10:00, 12:00, 13:15, 18:00 and 18:30
Matins (laudatory morning service) at 9:30.
Individual confessions (in all languages) from 8:00 to 13:00 and from 16:30 to 21:00 every day
Communal confession at 11:00 Monday to Saturday.
Vespers (evening service) at 18:45
Prayer vigils at 20:30
Veneration of the tomb and embracing of the Apostle’s image, 9:00 to 14:00 and 16:00 to 20:30 every day. 
Tourism from 7:30 to 8:15 and from 14:00 to 16:30. No guides are allowed; instead tourists must use audio-guides.
Ordinarily there are two guards patrolling the inside of the Cathedral, in addition to the personnel of the church.  The number of guards has been increased and infra-red gizmos have been installed to make sure that the number of people in the Cathedral does not exceed a given number at any one time.  Backpacks and such need to be left in the seminary across  Azabacherias (now outfitted for the purpose) and cannot be brought into the church.
While it is possible that the Botafumeiro will be used at Pilgrims’ Masses other than the one at noon it is not certain that it will be so since a replacement rope has not yet been tested.
 
Concerts and other special celebrations to be held at the Cathedral will take place after 21:30.
 
More later.
 
Hugs! 
 
 



Rosina