by Joannie Watson | July 25, 2025 1:00 am
Today we celebrate the feast of St. James the Apostle, the brother of John. He is often referred to as “the greater,” to distinguish him from the other apostle James, who may have been the cousin of Jesus and is venerated and buried with St. Philip in Rome.
This James is buried not in Rome, but at “the ends of the earth” in Spain. While how he came to buried there, far from the place of his martyrdom in Jerusalem, is a story shrouded in myth and tradition, his tomb is one of the greatest pilgrimage sites in all of Christendom.
In the early ninth century, a hermit named Pelayo had a vision of stars falling down on a field. Discovering a forgotten grave there, he relayed the information to his bishop, who fasted and prayed for three days in order to discern the meaning of this mysterious event. He then declared the tomb to belong to St James, whose body had been returned to the place he had evangelized. Another account connects the discovery to a dream of Charlemagne, wherein James revealed the route to his tomb to the warrior-emperor. He asked him to liberate the road and his tomb from the Muslims.
The small shrine built over the tomb soon became a pilgrimage destination that rivaled any other pilgrimage place in Europe. The Way of Saint James, which really is not one road but many, became the great highway of medieval Europe. Towns sprang up along the Way, or Camino, to both serve and make money off pilgrims. In a sense, the Camino built Spain; some would even say it created Europe. Even today, millions of people walk the roads of Spain, Portugal, and even France on pilgrimage towards Santiago.
What does this mean for us, today, on his feast – particularly if we cannot go on pilgrimage? When John Paul II visited Santiago for the fourth World Youth Day in 1989, he reminded us that this pilgrimage site (and indeed, all pilgrimage sites) is simply a reminder of our greater pilgrimage: the pilgrimage of life.
John Paul II quoted the 12th century guidebook to Santiago, “Countless people of all nations go there… There is no language nor dialect which is not heard there… The doors of the Basilica never close, neither by day nor by night… Everyone goes here exclaiming: ‘E-ultreia (Forward, yes!) E-suseia (Up, yes!)’.”
These phrases were the original greetings on the Camino (now often replaced with lovely but the less evocative “Buen camino!”). When pilgrims would greet each other on the way, they would encourage each other with “forward!” The other pilgrim would respond, “Up!” It was a reminder to them that they were not just walking towards a city in Spain. They were not just climbing up mountains towards the tomb of St. James. They were heading for heaven.
They needed the encouragement of fellow pilgrims; they needed the sustenance of prayer and the sacraments. This life was not their destination; it was merely a hostel.
Whether you walk the Camino across Spain, go to the healing baths of Lourdes, pray in front of the tilma in Mexico City, or visit Pope Leo in Rome, you find yourself on a journey with people from all vocations, social spheres, nationalities, and ages. Surrounded by this universal Church, you come to your destination – not simply a church or a miracle site or a tomb, but a reminder of the destination that we’re all together walking towards: heaven.
John Paul II continued, “For a moment Santiago de Compostela is today the meeting tent, the object of pilgrimage, the eloquent sign of the Church, pilgrim and missionary, penitent and wayfarer, praying and evangelizing, which travels all the paths of history ‘amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God, announcing the cross and death of the Lord until he comes’ (cfr. Lumen Gentium, 8).”
We are all pilgrims in this world; here we have no lasting city (Hebrews 13:14). The Church herself is a pilgrim. This should not discourage us; rather, it puts our entire life in perspective. This life is not bad or evil. The world is good, created by God and an instrument of God for grace. But it is passing away. We do not ultimately belong here– we belong in heaven.
Through persecutions and crosses, despite twist and turns, in the midst of joys and consolations, we keep walking.
On this feast of St. James, let us pick up our pilgrim staff. Let us arm ourselves with prayer and the sacraments to sustain us, and gather around ourselves fellow pilgrims who will encourage us and support us.
Forward! Up!
Joan’s next book, Making a Pilgrimage: A Companion of Catholics, is due out from Emmaus Road in October.
Image: Photo by Jorge Luis Ojeda Flota[1] on Unsplash[2]
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