The Reformation and Beyond
The Reformation had an immediate impact on pilgrimage, and although the Roman Catholics and Orthodox continued to the traditional shrines and holy places, in countries where the Reformers were in ascendency, pilgrimage became anathema and a principal target for the Reformers.
In 1520, Martin Luther declared:
'All pilgrimages should be stopped. There is no good in them: no commandment enjoins them, no obedience attaches to them. Rather these pilgrimages give countless occasions to commit sin and to despise God’s commandments. (To the Christian Nobility)'.[1]
Luther argued that people who went on pilgrimage were shying away from their routine Christian responsibilities, and were not supporting the local parish church; and travelling to holy sites diminished other places where believers should also expect to encounter God ‘who is the same everywhere’. He was particularly critical of the connection between pilgrimage and acquiring acceptance with God through good deeds, as he believed that people could not earn salvation but were required to rely on God’s grace.
The rationale for immediate condemnation and banning of pilgrimage was that both the sites and the pilgrims’ actions were linked invariably with the cult of a saint, particularly the Virgin Mary. The Reformers considered that the idolatrous veneration of saintly relics and statues had become the norm; indulgences were regularly purchased and granted for the remission of sins, and heavenly merit was gained by the degree of difficulty and length of pilgrimage. Within a relatively short period, the majority of pilgrimage shrines in Britain and Ireland were destroyed (though St. Winifred’s Well in Flintshire seems to have been indestructible), and as the new order became rooted in parish life, the monasteries that maintained and supported them through liturgy and hospitality were suppressed.
Meanwhile, pilgrimage in Ireland was generally restricted to the holy places and shrines that survived on the Irish islands and mainland, with Skellig Michael, Croagh Patrick, Lough Dergh, being the most frequently visited, and all retaining their popularity to date.
Although the Reformers rejected pilgrimage, the concept retained some of its appeal, particularly the element of curiositas, as people still longed to explore the world and discover the marvels that it offered to the inquisitive. It was common for the aristocracy (especially the Roman Catholics) to travel overseas to be educated and transformed, and to return with souvenirs. Dyas relates that some English ‘though scorning relics, inscribed their names on the walls of the great churches (as medieval pilgrims had done before them) and had the Jerusalem cross tattooed upon their arms’.[2] By the eighteenth century spiritual pilgrimage was replaced by the ‘Grand Tour’ which was much more a cultural-type journey from which travellers returned with new artistic and architectural perceptions, and objects that influenced and shaped their everyday environment.
The following century saw a revival of pilgrimage within Britain, especially to historical sites that could offer a mixture of experiences, including a spiritual dimension with British cathedrals and abbeys becoming focal points for local tours. This extended to excursions to the Holy Land, especially to Jerusalem, that were organised by Thomas Cook and were particularly popular with around twelve thousand visitors in a thirty-year period. [3] Pilgrimage was back… after a fashion!
The British Victorian era saw a growing romantic renaissance of interest in all things Celtic. Much academic research into Celtic literature, music, culture and religion sparked a proliferation of publications, however, sometimes the romantic was confused with the reality and some dubious claims were made on behalf of the Celtic culture. The popularity of Celtic material had subsided by the turn of the century.
The world wars of the twentieth century with its huge number of deaths, casualties, displaced persons and dispersed communities, together with the re-alignment of national borders, economic collapse and restoration, the introduction of new political ideologies, the rise and demise of modernity, may have been the catalyst for a spiritual, if not religious, revival throughout Britain and Europe. Interest in pilgrimage grew again as travel by land, sea, and air became much more available and affordable for the ‘ordinary’ person as the century progressed, and as cross-border travel became readily accessible for passport holders.
With the Roman Catholic pilgrimage sites and shrines on mainland Europe gaining more popularity, there was resurgence in pilgrimage not only to the medieval sites but also to the traditional British and Celtic holy places. There was a move towards ecumenical pilgrimage tours to the Holy Land, the shrine of St. James at Compostella in Spain, and the shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham in England, to name a few, with many ancient sites being restored and church leaders encouraging people to share the experience of modern pilgrimage
[1] D. Dyas, Pilgrims and Pilgrimage, The Reformation Onwards,
http://www.york.ac.uk/ projects/pilgrimage/content/reform.html, accessed 31/05/2011.
[2] Dyas, Pilgrims and Pilgrimage
[3] Dyas, Pilgrims and Pilgrimage
In 1520, Martin Luther declared:
'All pilgrimages should be stopped. There is no good in them: no commandment enjoins them, no obedience attaches to them. Rather these pilgrimages give countless occasions to commit sin and to despise God’s commandments. (To the Christian Nobility)'.[1]
Luther argued that people who went on pilgrimage were shying away from their routine Christian responsibilities, and were not supporting the local parish church; and travelling to holy sites diminished other places where believers should also expect to encounter God ‘who is the same everywhere’. He was particularly critical of the connection between pilgrimage and acquiring acceptance with God through good deeds, as he believed that people could not earn salvation but were required to rely on God’s grace.
The rationale for immediate condemnation and banning of pilgrimage was that both the sites and the pilgrims’ actions were linked invariably with the cult of a saint, particularly the Virgin Mary. The Reformers considered that the idolatrous veneration of saintly relics and statues had become the norm; indulgences were regularly purchased and granted for the remission of sins, and heavenly merit was gained by the degree of difficulty and length of pilgrimage. Within a relatively short period, the majority of pilgrimage shrines in Britain and Ireland were destroyed (though St. Winifred’s Well in Flintshire seems to have been indestructible), and as the new order became rooted in parish life, the monasteries that maintained and supported them through liturgy and hospitality were suppressed.
Meanwhile, pilgrimage in Ireland was generally restricted to the holy places and shrines that survived on the Irish islands and mainland, with Skellig Michael, Croagh Patrick, Lough Dergh, being the most frequently visited, and all retaining their popularity to date.
Although the Reformers rejected pilgrimage, the concept retained some of its appeal, particularly the element of curiositas, as people still longed to explore the world and discover the marvels that it offered to the inquisitive. It was common for the aristocracy (especially the Roman Catholics) to travel overseas to be educated and transformed, and to return with souvenirs. Dyas relates that some English ‘though scorning relics, inscribed their names on the walls of the great churches (as medieval pilgrims had done before them) and had the Jerusalem cross tattooed upon their arms’.[2] By the eighteenth century spiritual pilgrimage was replaced by the ‘Grand Tour’ which was much more a cultural-type journey from which travellers returned with new artistic and architectural perceptions, and objects that influenced and shaped their everyday environment.
The following century saw a revival of pilgrimage within Britain, especially to historical sites that could offer a mixture of experiences, including a spiritual dimension with British cathedrals and abbeys becoming focal points for local tours. This extended to excursions to the Holy Land, especially to Jerusalem, that were organised by Thomas Cook and were particularly popular with around twelve thousand visitors in a thirty-year period. [3] Pilgrimage was back… after a fashion!
The British Victorian era saw a growing romantic renaissance of interest in all things Celtic. Much academic research into Celtic literature, music, culture and religion sparked a proliferation of publications, however, sometimes the romantic was confused with the reality and some dubious claims were made on behalf of the Celtic culture. The popularity of Celtic material had subsided by the turn of the century.
The world wars of the twentieth century with its huge number of deaths, casualties, displaced persons and dispersed communities, together with the re-alignment of national borders, economic collapse and restoration, the introduction of new political ideologies, the rise and demise of modernity, may have been the catalyst for a spiritual, if not religious, revival throughout Britain and Europe. Interest in pilgrimage grew again as travel by land, sea, and air became much more available and affordable for the ‘ordinary’ person as the century progressed, and as cross-border travel became readily accessible for passport holders.
With the Roman Catholic pilgrimage sites and shrines on mainland Europe gaining more popularity, there was resurgence in pilgrimage not only to the medieval sites but also to the traditional British and Celtic holy places. There was a move towards ecumenical pilgrimage tours to the Holy Land, the shrine of St. James at Compostella in Spain, and the shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham in England, to name a few, with many ancient sites being restored and church leaders encouraging people to share the experience of modern pilgrimage
[1] D. Dyas, Pilgrims and Pilgrimage, The Reformation Onwards,
http://www.york.ac.uk/ projects/pilgrimage/content/reform.html, accessed 31/05/2011.
[2] Dyas, Pilgrims and Pilgrimage
[3] Dyas, Pilgrims and Pilgrimage