There is a new cicerone guidebook on the way of Saint Francis in Italy from Florence to Assisi and then on to Rome out on September 15th Image taken from http://www.amazon.co.uk/Way-St-Francis-Francesco-Florence/dp/1852846267/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437858892&sr=8-1&keywords=Cicerone+assisi
Came across this today if anyone's in Santiago in August or September and fancies a look More information on Pilgrim's House can be found on this post: http://footprintsonthecamino.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/pilgrim-house-in-santiago_13.html?m=1 The artist has a website at: http://caminoestrella.com/
Thomas Merton was an American monk of Gethsami Kentucky who was ordained to priesthood as Father Lois. He wrote more than 70 books on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism. My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going .... Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
In Santiago there are several things that you can do at little cost (I know I have entitled this blog 'free things to do in Santiago' but some of these require a donation).
Here's an idea for a card for Saint James' Day on the 25th of July - I sent it to my family last year and it even includes a present for their Camino backpacks!
This is a question that I have sometimes wondered about: on the surface it seems like a very simple question but truthfully it is not simple. Pilgrimage as a word comes from the Latin word peregrinus which means ‘one who is in spiritual exile’ that is looking for a spiritual homeland (and definitions of pilgrimage are a journey to a sacred place or shrine) but since mediaeval times the pilgrimage to Santiago has been more than this – the journey to Santiago was undertaken to visit the shrine of Saint James but also for other reasons:
'With beauty before me, may I walk With beauty behind me, may I walk With beauty above me, may I walk With beauty below me, may I walk With beauty all around me, may I walk Wandering on the trail of beauty, may I walk' - Navajo: Walking Meditation