The 20th century....

From outside Spain the shrine at Compostela was slow to awaken and notably so.  Obviously times had changed  and with all that was going on in the world it probably had simply just fallen through the net.  I mean think about it, most people simply worked for a living and if there was anything left over for an extended vacation it wasn't going to be spent walking across Spain. Not unless there is something in it for me.......hummm but what could that be?

The first real response to the "trail" came from France, and why not in that France was actually the custodian of the four major routes that feed into  Spain.  In 1950 a small group of historians connected with the Societe Des Amis du Chemin de Saint Jacques pioneered a formal study and produced a modern text that was essential information for any would-be pilgrim.

But then something else is going on.....why the pathway to Saint James? Why now in this modern world?  There seems little doubt that there is a great thirst for a genuine spiritual experience.  In Spain alone, what was always a deeply spiritual society, now has less then 20% of its population practicing Catholicism.  Some will tell you that people around the world are becoming bored and disillusioned with the religion that was fed to them since childhood and that a slow collapsing of formalized religion is inevitable.  But personally I really don't think so and I can only attribute this line of thinking to what I saw as I watched with millions of others the inauguration of Pope Frances and the expressed feeling that my wife shared with me at the time. 

But is it the God in heaven that they are searching for? Or is it the god within that the pilgrims of Camino de Santiago are trying to become more attuned with.    ....hummmm!!

To be continued........