<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Palatino Linotype" LANG="0">Hello you all,<BR>
A few days ago the feast of "Our Lady of the Pillar" was celebrated in Santiago and record numbers of pilgrims and visitors made their way to the Pilar bridge nearby. As you may know, our Lady of the Pillar and Santiago are intrinsically connected.<BR>
You may have also noted that possibly the most common name in Spain for females is "Maria del Pilar" (Mary of the Pillar). My own maternal grandmother, who was from Granada, was so named, as well as my oldest sister.<BR>
Tradition holds that the Apostle St. James the Elder, which is to say Santiago, had sought to travel to the ends of the earth (Finisterre) in an attempt to follow the directive given by Jesus to His apostles: that they carry the Good News (Gospel) to 'the ends of the earth'. <BR>
St. James made his way to the northernmost coast of Spain, Finisterra, at the time believed to be the end of the earth, and was not very successful in attracting followers to the Good News. At one time, indeed, he was stoned by the locals and painfully injured. Discouraged, abased, hurt and dejected, he was musing about his failure as a "messenger" (apostle), believing himself to be a total failure and unworthy to have walked besides Christ, and wishing to disappear into obscurity, when Mary (who was his aunt, being a sister of his mother Salome), appeared to him standing atop a small, abandoned, Roman pillar (column) and gave him encouragement and belief in his endeavor. Thenceforth he regained his inner strength and pursued his ministry so vigorously that because of it he was beheaded by the king of the Jews, becoming the first apostle to be martyred.<BR>
The Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to many people all over the world throughout the centuries: famously in Fatima, Lourdes, Mexico (the Virgin of Guadalupe) , Mudjoerge, etc. Here in New York City, in the middle of the block on 71st. street between First Avenue and York Avenue, on the north sidewalk, there is a tree, now protected with a wrought iron gate, laden with rosaries and surrounded by candles and roses, and, not infrequently, people praying, at a spot where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared a few years ago to some injured construction workers doing some work for the nearby Memorial Hospital that treats cancer victims. <BR>
What is significant about the Virgin appearing to St. James atop the pillar in Galicia almost two thousand years ago is that Mary, the flesh-and-blood woman, the mother of Jesus, was still very much alive at the time of the pillar apparition. In fact, when St.James made his way back to Jerusalem, with the four disciples from Spain who followed him, he went to see her before he saw anyone else, according to the writings of James the younger.<BR>
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The Santiago newspapers also report that Prince Frey Andrew Bertie, the chief of state of Malta, a Cardinal, and the Grand Master of the Malta Order, arrived in Santiago yesterday with 225 Knights and Dames of Malta, from several countries, to pay homage to the Apostle and to conduct a series of seminars with the thesis that the Templars have perdured over a millennium through various organizations worldwide.<BR>
It is gratifying that the Knights of Malta have also "Dames" and that they come from several countries. Personally, I have a very soft spot in my heart for the Templars. I'd like to know how one goes about joining a society that remembers and honors them. <BR>
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Well, I suppose that this is the last message that I shall post in the much esteemed GOCAMINO list. Kudos to Linda.... and much admiration and gratitude.<BR>
The new Gocamino list is up and running, and, assuredly, will seek to maintain as much as possible the lofty ideals and standards of Linda's list. In other words, it will seek not be a chatroom given to self-indulgence. The new list also has the support and participation of the well, and formally, established group "American Pilgrims on the Camino".<BR>
Those of you who have not yet done so, may subscribe to the new GoCamino list by sending an e-mail to:<BR>
Gocamino-subscribeaoakapple.net<BR>
Once subscrbed,you can post messages by addressing them to:<BR>
Gocaminoaoakapple.net<BR>
Warm regards to you all, <BR>
and to Linda, a very big hug..... Thanks, thanks, thanks. and, DO write a book about the Via de la Plata. Pleeeeeeeze?<BR>
Love ya!<BR>
Rosina<BR>
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