Christian pilgrimage

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Christianity.

Christian pilgrimage was first made to sites connected with the birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Surviving descriptions of Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land date from the 4th century, when pilgrimage was encouraged by church fathers like Saint Jerome. Pilgrimages also began to be made to Rome and other sites associated with the Apostles, Saints and Christian martyrs, as well as to places where there have been apparitions of the Virgin Mary.

Major Christian pilgrimage sites

Bosnia-Herzegovina

• Međugorje. Apparitions of the Virgin Mary at the present.

Brazil

• Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida - one of the largest churches in the world and receives about 8 million visitors per year.

France

Basilica of St. Thérèse in Lisieux.

• The several churches and basilicas in Lourdes - associated with Marian apparitions receive over 5 million pilgrims a years, making Lourdes the second most visited Christian pilgrimage site in Europe after Rome.

• Paris - the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, and Basilica of Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre

• Basilica of St. Thérèse (Lisieux) - in Normandie. The second pilgrimage site in France after Lourdes with over 2 million visitors per year.

Israel

The Holy Land, location of many events in the Old Testament and New Testament:

• Bethany, site of the resurrection of Lazarus
• Bethlehem, birthplace of Jesus and King David.
• Jerusalem, site of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus.
• Mount Tabor, site of the Transfiguration
• Nazareth, hometown of Jesus
• Sea of Galilee, site of Jesus' early ministry.

Italy

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

• Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

• Rome - on roads such as the Via Francigena. Site of the deaths of Saint Peter, Saint Paul and other early martyrs. Location of relics of various saints, relics of the Passion, important churches and headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church.

• Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church - the Padre Pio shrine located in San Giovanni Rotondo of southern Italy; also Pietrelcina as the birthplace of Padre Pio

• Basilica of St. Francis - in Assisi; also church of Saint Clare

Mexico

• Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe - one of the largest churches in the world and receives about 20 million pilgrims per year. It can accommodate 40,000 people for a mass.

Portugal

• Fátima - Our Lady of Fatima is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary. She appeared to three shepherd children at Fátima on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917. Fatima receives about 4-5 million pilgrims a year.

Spain

Some European pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela in 2005.

• Santiago de Compostela - in Galicia on the Way of St James (Galician: O Camiño de Santiago). This famous medieval pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint James is still popular today.

Turkey

• Constantinople (today Istanbul). Former capital of the Byzantine Empire and the see of one of the five ancient Patriarchates and first among equals among the Patriarchs of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Hagia Sophia, former cathedral and burial place of many Ecumenical Patriarchs.

Other pilgrimage sites

Armenia

• Etchmiadzin (Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin). Etchmiadzin is the spiritual and administrative centre of the Armenian Apostolic Church

Austria

• Mariazell. Marian Shrine to Austria and Hungary

Canada

• Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Quebec, associated with miraculous healings.
• Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, in honour of Our Lady of the Cape.

Egypt

• Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai, traditional site of the Burning Bush and the reception of the Ten Commandments has been commemorated since the time of Constantine the Great

France

• Cathedral of Chartres.
• Conques.
• Issoudun. Notre-Dame du Sacré-Coeur
• La Salette, Our Lady of La Salette
• Saint Catherine Labouré of Paris
• Pellevoisin. Apparition of the Virgin Mary.
• Taizé Community, modern monastery that actively encourages pilgrimages to it.

Germany

• Basilica of the Vierzehnheiligen.
• Cologne Cathedral. Relics of the Three Magi.
• Kevelaer
• Wittenberg. Church of Martin Luther and centre of the Protestant Reformation.

Greece

• Mount Athos. Orthodox monastic centre.
• Tinos.

India

• Goa. St. Francis Xavier
• St. Thomas Mount. Place where St. Thomas was martyred.
• Vailankanni. 16th-century Marian apparition site.

Ireland

• Croagh Patrick. Saint Patrick.
• Knock
• St. Patrick's Purgatory, Donegal.

Italy

• Padua, St Anthony, relics
• Sacri Monti. The Sacred Mountains of Piedmont and Lombardy.
• Turin, the location for the Shroud of Turin.

Jordan

• Mount Nebo. Traditional site of the death of Moses.

Lithuania

• Hill of Crosses
• Žemaičių Kalvarija, Samogitia.

Netherlands

• Kapel in 't Zand, Roermond of Limburg

Norway

• Nidaros, Trondheim. Shrine of St. Olav. 4th most visited pilgrimage site in Middle Ages.

Poland

• Częstochowa. Black Madonna of Częstochowa is housed permanently in the Jasna Góra Monastery
• Kalwaria Zebrzydowska.
• Licheń Stary, Sanctuary of Our Lady of Licheń.
• Święta Lipka.

Romania

• Miercurea Ciuc, Transylvania. Whit Sunday gathering of (mostly ethnic Hungarian) Catholics.

Spain

• Ávila, St Theresa of Avila, relics
• Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza. It's reputed to be the first church dedicated to Mary in history.
• Caravaca de la Cruz, Region of Murcia
• Montserrat, Catalonia. The Virgin of Montserrat is housed permanently in the monastery of Santa María de Montserrat.
• Guadalupe.
• Santo Toribio de Liébana, Cantabria.

Switzerland

• Einsiedeln

Turkey

• House of the Virgin Mary. Pope John-Paul II declared the Shrine of Virgin Mary as a pilgrimage place for Christians.

Pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket, Canterbury Cathedral.

UK

• Canterbury Cathedral associated with Saint Thomas Becket.
• Glastonbury, England. St Joseph of Arimathea.
• St. Andrews, Scotland. It is said that Saint Andrew was given, by God, directions to the location of St. Andrews
• Walsingham, England. Virgin Mary apparition site.

USA

• Carey, Ohio to the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation. Catholic pilgrims from the Middle East journey here to mark the Feast of the Assumption.
• El Santuario de Chimayo, New Mexico

Record-breaking Pilgrimages

The second largest single pilgrimage in the history of Christendom was to the Funeral of Pope John Paul II after his death on April 2, 2005. An estimated four million people traveled to Vatican City, in addition to the almost three million people already living in Rome, to see the body of Pope John Paul II lie in state.

World Youth Day is a major Catholic Pilgrimage, specifically for people aged 16-35. It is held internationally every 2-3 years. In 2005, young Catholics visited Cologne, Germany. In 1995, the largest gathering of all time was to World Youth Day in Manila, Philippines, where four million people from all over the world attended.

In the media both manifestations are usually referred to as 'pilgrimages', but actually in the strict meaning of the word they are not pilgrimages as they are (each time) once-only religious gatherings for a specific purpose (funeral, religious renewal for the youth) and not focused at a shrine based cultus-object for veneration. However, since the funeral, the proper grave of John Paul II is actually indeed becoming a new site of pilgrimage in Rome.

See also

• Great German Pilgrimage of 1064–1065

External links

• "On Pilgrimages", Catholic Encyclopedia
• National Dutch Database on Pilgrimage, 650+ shrines