Franciscan’s journey in a new era of pilgrimage

Sydney
27 July 2003

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Franciscan’s journey in a new era of pilgrimage

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Franciscan’s journey in a new era of pilgrimage

Br Patrick Henigan and his booklet

By Marilyn Rodrigues

At times during his lone pilgrimage to the Cathedral of St James in Compostela in Spain, 78-year-old Br Patrick Henigan, of Waverley, wondered why on earth he kept on with such a daunting endeavour.

Br Patrick walked and hitchhiked 2000km down the west side of France from Calais and across the mountain tops in the north of Spain to Compostela in 2001. It took him six days.

He wore his Franciscan habit with no change of clothes and travelled with no money or food, only his breviary and some small personal effects.

“I kept asking myself, ‘why am I doing this?’ But I wanted to give witness to society of the presence of the Franciscans and presence of the Church and Christ in society,” he says.

“And I want to do what Jesus asked, to follow him without money or clothes.”

Br Patrick writes in his recently published account, A Franciscan’s Journey to Compostela, that it was the “pilgrimage of his life”; not merely a holiday but a journey driven by his deeper personal need for God.

“The physical journey of a pilgrimage is like a metaphor for the journey that you travel within your soul. It is a metaphor for the journey of life,” says Selina Hasham of Harvest Pilgrimages.

She says there is a renewed interest in the pilgrimage walk known as the Camino del Santiago del Compostela (the pilgrim’s way to St James at Compostela), especially among young people.

“It captures people’s imagination; letting go of everything and walking over the beautiful Pyrenees mountains, with no radio and no TV, and with the physical strain that is involved,” she says.

Each year millions of pilgrims travel to sacred Christian sites, including the ever-popular Marian shrines at Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe and Medjugorje.

Pilgrims are even returning to the Holy Land.

“The notion of pilgrimage has been a major part of the Catholic imagination since the time of Christ,” says Selina.

“It has been part of the thing that Christians have done for centuries: Go on a journey to leave things behind; pack up your little haversack; set off and trust God; not necessarily knowing how the road will go but trusting on the destination.

“It speaks of our journey to our eternal destination.

“In modern times we can re-awaken that whole concept and get the modern pilgrim to go and walk these ancient paths.

“In that way we can contribute to re-awakening the Catholic imagination, which is especially needed in our secular world.”

Marist Fr Paul Glynn points to the Jewish tradition of pilgrimages to the Holy Land for the feasts of Passover, the Tabernacle and Pentecost as part of the Christian heritage of pilgrimage.

“Some of the Psalms, from Psalm 120-131, refer to going on pilgrimage. It goes back to the time of Moses when the Jewish people entered the Promised Land,” he says.

And, importantly, pilgrimages have had a “profound influence” on people and societies in modern times of oppression, too, he says.

The traditional lengthy pilgrimages to Czestochowa were a blessing in communist Poland, when pilgrims had a two-week walk during which they could discuss their desire for a free Poland away from the notice of spies.

“It was perfect because none of the communists wanted to walk for one or two weeks just to get to Czestochowa,” he says.

Pilgrimages had a similar place in Mexico under the socialist regime, he said.

“They have been important in helping people keep their faith in those times,” he said.

As for pilgrims who travel to shrines to pray for cures, Fr Paul writes in his book, Healing Fire from Frozen Earth, that he believes God does grant some physical cures but that the efforts of those who do not obtain them are never in vain.

He has a friend who works as a nurse in the healing baths at Lourdes.

“She says that parents bring their child to Lourdes who has Down syndrome or some other affliction and they are all tense and begging God for a cure,” says Fr Paul.

“But when they leave they are peaceful; they understand that if their child is not cured that is part of their vocation, too, and they and their child are loved by God.”

Br Patrick Henigan says that his pilgrimage was the most spiritual experience he can remember having and it opened his eyes to where God had been working in his life.

But the most meaningful moment was gazing at the reliquary of St James the apostle at Compostela.

“Here was someone who has actually seen the person I am totally committed to and have never seen,” he says.

“He walked, talked and ate with Jesus.

“His remains are more than simply a first-class relic; they are proof that it all happened. It was a wonderful experience.”

A Franciscan’s Journey to Compostela by Fr Patrick Henigan OFM, $14.95 from Pauline Books and Media, Castlereagh St, Sydney.