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A Pilgrim’s New Path
Returning to the Camino de Santiago to serve, and finding a new beginning on the trail to Finisterre…
In the third week of August, two of my friends from the US and I arrived in the ancient, whispered city of Santiago de Compostela. This capital of the northwest region of Galicia in Spain, veiled in legend and myth, stands as the final echo for countless souls who have followed the starlit path of the Camino de Santiago, the very way of St. James.
Of all the world’s holy cities — Jerusalem, Rome, and this sacred ground — Santiago stands unique, rooted in the tale of a long-lost apostle. Legend tells of St. James the Great, who brought the light of Christianity to Iberia, only to return to Jerusalem and meet a martyr’s end. His faithful disciples, with a sorrowful and reverent hand, placed his body upon a boat and set it adrift, a final voyage that carried him back to the wild shores of Galicia. Time, however, veiled his final resting place.
Then, in the ninth century, a hermit’s eye caught a falling star, a celestial compass pointing to a forgotten Roman tomb. Within it, the remains of St. James were rediscovered, and a small chapel was born — the first stone in a city of pilgrimage. The Way had been revealed.
