The Two Saints Way

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a fellow pilgrimage enthusiast and long distance walker, David Pott who is the project leader of the Two Saints Way. This is a project which will hopefully signal the revival of other, mostly forgotten pilgrimage routes. David’s work links together the cathedral cities of Chester and Lichfield along a pilgrimage path based on a story trail relating to the legend of the founding of Stone. This legend possesses references to both Saint Chad whose shrine can be found in Lichfield and Saint Werburgh whose shrine can found Chester (hence the name of the pathway). This pathway offers an authentic pilgrimage experience incorporating not only the spiritual elements but also the social aspects of such a journey including story-telling. Another feature of the pilgrimage is the revival of “Whacky Customs” including bringing stones to Stone, foot washing at Lichfield cathedral and the marking of the forearm with a cross.

I am both envious of and delighted by the work which David and the rest of the Two Saints Way organisers have done. This is an amazing achievement by people dedicated not only to reviving physical pilgrimages centred on spiritual healing but also drawing attention to the historical importance of  pilgrimages in the middle ages.

I would encourage anybody who has an interest in walking pilgrimage routes, be they modern or medieval, to consider the Two Saints Way. Please click on the link here to find out more about this fantastic project!

http://twosaintsway.org.uk/

Positively Deviant!

Just a quick update on my first conference last week. It was an incredibly positive experience. I don’t know what I was expecting really. If I slipped up reading my paper, mispronounced something, would people  start throwing rotten vegetables at me? If I wasn’t able to answer a question, would I have been heckled to death? Funny things go through the nerve-wracked mind. The conference itself was conducted in a fantastic way, with live tweeting, live blogging and lovely herbal teas at the breaks. Interesting papers were given by all and I would like to thank the Bookends team again for a great experience (even though I didn’t get to the after-conference party).

Instead of posting the entire piece (all 2500 words of it), check out this  link to the Bookends live blogging page from my paper “Of swiche cursed stories I sey fy”: Incest and its consequences in Middle English Exempla.

http://bookendsucc.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/634/

Shocking and most certainly deviant!

Here’s hoping my next conference will be as positive as this!

Curiosity and the pilgrim

I am embarrassed to say that over the course of the last few years and much research into medieval pilgrimage, I have only given a very brief amount of time to one of the most famous pilgrimage sites, not only in Ireland but also in Europe: Saint Patrick’s Purgatory situated on Lough Derg, Co. Donegal. The pilgrimage to Lough Derg offered those who ventured to this little island within an island a penitential experience like no other.  It provided the penitent with the opportunity to set out on a physical journey, eventually leading to a spiritual event where visions of both the torments of hell and the pleasures of heaven were witnessed. Its beginnings as a place of pilgrimage are described by H. of Saltery who explains that Saint Patrick, on requests from the Irish to prove the existence of both hell and heaven before they convert to Christianity, is shown the Lough by Jesus.

In The Medieval Pilgrimage to St Patrick’s Purgatory, de Pontfarcy describes the strong relationship between this site and the  anchoretic tradition. The isolation of Lough Derg and its history steeped in visions of the otherworld would have drawn not only the truly penitent pilgrims but also those motivated by a desire to see the wonderous and the curious for themselves. The Medieval Pilgrimage to Saint Patrick’s Purgatory provides a study of the various accounts of pilgrims from all over Europe including the earliest which is the Tractus de Purgatorio  Sancti  Patricii describing Saint Owein’s journey  and the detailed day-by-day account of the Hungarian pilgrim, George Grissaphan.

It is the account of another Hungarian pilgrim, Laurence of Pászthó, which I am drawn to as his motivations to travel to Lough Derg initially seem to be quite secular but change during the course of his pilgrimage. The compiler of this account is the Dublin notary James Yonge who, having completed the account, questions Laurence about his purpose for undertaking this pilgrimage. Laurence provides three reasons. The first reaffirms that Laurence did in fact question the “catholic faith” and travelled to the Lough out of what appears to be curiosity. He states that his mind has now been changed by his experiences at Saint Patrick’s Purgatory. His second and third reasons hark back to his secular tendencies as he explains that he also travelled to Lough Derg so he could tell the king of Hungary and also so that he could witness the “marvels and the miracles of the saints of Ireland”. I believe Laurence’s experience of pilgrimage provide us with a good model for what pilgrimage had become by the 15th century, a mixture of interest, curiosity, boastfulness and, mixed in there somewhere, spirituality.

Saint Patrick’s Purgatory, Lough Derg