Saint Bona of Pisa

May the 29th is the Feast day of Saint Bona of Pisa and you may wonder why it is that her day is being mentioned here - she is the Patron Saint of Pisa, guides, couriers, flight attendants and, importantly to us, Pilgrims.

She was canonized in 1962 by Pope John XXIII and lived in the 12th century from 1156-1207.

Santa Bona - Giovanni Lorenzetti" by Giovanni Lorenzetti - http://www.giovannilorenzetti-f.com/. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Santa_Bona_-_Giovanni_Lorenzetti.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Santa_Bona_-_Giovanni_Lorenzetti.jpg - she is shown holding a Scallop shell to symbolize her devotion to Saint James and to shoe that she is the Patron Saint of Pilgrims

She was reported to have experienced visions from an early age and once saw a vision of Jesus, Mary and three Saints including James but was frightened by the light around them and ran away but James pursued her and led her back to the image of Jesus. After this she was devoted to Saint James and was dedicated as an Augustinian tertiary at the age of ten and regularly fasted, eating only bread and water three days a week.

She always wanted to travel and so at 14 she travelled to see her Father who was on Crusade near Jerusalem (according to some sources she was the daughter of a single mother who told her children that their father was on Crusade and Bona had a vision that led her to her Father).

On her way home she was captured by Muslim pirates and was imprisoned but was rescued and returned home.

Shortly after that she led a group of Pilgrims on the 1000 mile journey to Santiago and after that was made an official pilgrim guide by the Knights of Santiago.

In all she led 10 groups of Pilgrims to Santiago becoming ill on her last trip and returning home where she died aged 51.

Comments

The Camino Primitivo

The Camino Primitivo (or the Original Way) is reportedly the very first Camino Way to Santiago in the 9 th century when most of Spain was under the control of the Moors and it runs from near the city of Ovideo in Asturias as it starts in Villavicosa (which also lies on the Camino Norte so many people follow this Way from Basque city of San Sebastian (Donosti in Basque) or in from the French border at Irun ( this route then hugs the Bay of Biscay passing through Guernica, Bilbao, Santander, Llanes before going under the Picos de Europa and then heads along the coast to Ovideo) before branching off onto the Primitivo which goes across the mountains and through the city of Lugo before joining the Frances at Melide. The route is 320km long. Image taken from https://viaalpina2013.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/camino-del-norte-camino-primitivo/

Symbols of the three main Christian Pilgrimages

The symbol of the Pilgrim to Santiago is the Scallop shell of which many can be found on the coast of Galicia and it is actually a symbol of the Pilgrimage (and has become a symbol of other Christian Pilgrimages too) partly because you could find the shell easily there and so could go back home and show it off as proof that you had done the Pilgrimage. It has also been included in carvings in some Churches.

Pilgrims' Trail to Saint Michels Mont, France

I have only walked two of the Camino routes (the Frances and Portuguese) and still want to try many of the others and yet I am also finding other Pilgrimage routes that I want to walk - I did the Pilgrims' Way in the summer which starts from Winchester which is also the starting point for the Pilgrims' Trail a 155 mile route that finishes at Mont St Michel in Normandy, France. The cult of saint Michel was popular in Britain from the 9th century and the Pilgrims walking this way were called Miquelots and many Pilgrims on their way to Santiago. The route is marked by green way markers in Hampshire taking walkers from Winchester to Bishop's Waltham to Southwick and then to Portsmouth where ferries are caught to France and Way markers become blue. Tradition says that, in 709 Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to the bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert, and told him to build a chapel in his honour on the island. The bishop obeyed and soon sent a group of monks over...

On the Camino

Search This Blog