The ways of Saint James

The Ways of Saint James

The fairy tale

The medieval pilgrimages to "Santiago de Compostela", start from the work evangelizer of Santiago in the lands of Hispania Romana. After Christ died James was the only one who continued spreading the christian message at Jerusalem.
Later, the apostle embarked out of the region until he arrivied at some port of Andalusia, region that had a strong communication trade with Palestine.
Santiago’s evangelizing mission would begin in the south of Hispania and then moved to the north across the portuguese lands.
On his return to Jerusalem, James went to the east of the Iberian Peninsula then to set out again from the Spanish Mediterranean coast. When he arrived at Palestine and after disobeying the Roman ban for preaching Christianity in that region, James was beheaded.
According to tale the disciples of James, Athanasius and Theodore, collected his body and secretly took him on a boat to the places of their preaching in northern Spain. The two will have disembarked in the estuary of Arousa, Galicia, in the port of Iria Flavia and placed the boat in a rock (which will have given rise to the Villa de Padrón that today belongs to the Portuguese Way) and buried him in the confines of Galicia.

The tomb of the Saint James was discovered in the 9th century, during the reign of Alfonso II (759-842). However, there are some doubts about the date of the discovery of this tomb but most Catholic sources point to dates between 813 and 820.
According to the tale, Pelagius (or Pelaio) watched for a few nights in a row a "rain of stars" on the woods. Suprised by the lights, Theodomiro (bishop of Iria Flavia), ordered excavations and found "a box" with the bones of Saint James and his disciples. Because of that discovery the King of Asturias ordered the construction of three churches in that place and then the first pilgrimages started.
In 872 Alfonso III, faced with the increasing number of pilgrimes build a bigger church in place of the primitive.

The iconic Holy Queen and her preaching to the Compostela

In 1325, Isabel de Aragão, widow of D. Dinis and sixth queen of Portugal,also known as the holy queen,departed on her pilgrination to Santiago de Compostela. The visit to the tomb of the Apostle, recorded in the beautiful illumination of the Genealogy of the Kings of Portugal, was the memory of the magnificence of the gifts offered. From the Sanctuary, D. Isabel brought the pilgrim’s staff, a gift from the Archbishop, with which she wanted to be buried and which will remain as a precious relic, preserved until our days, but also as an iconographic emblem and as a motif of a rich legendary tradition, associated, above all, with places where the Queen lived or has passed. Some legends pointed to places where, according to tradition, he rested during his pilgrimage. Although they cannot be considered historical sources, they do not allow interesting documents for the history of Elizabethan worship and popular traditions in northern Portugal. In Galicia, Santiago de Compostela still preserves the amemory of the Pilgrim Queen, remembered in the toponymy and in a rare 600-year-old image, exhibited in the Museum of Pilgrimages, where it is represented with the hat and scallops characteristic of the pilgrims of Santiago.

The religion as the element key

In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church assumed a role of total control of daily life. At that time, religion was something that people would gave a lot of importance to, they would live their lives by the Catholic Church rules. This strong devotion led people to start doing pilgrimages so in the 9th century the “ The Ways of Santiago” began.
These Catholic pilgrimage was very imporant to Europe since it contributed to the union of Europe. Although these paths pass only by Portugal, Spain, Italy and France people from all over Europe, from all over around the world walk these paths since the 9th century until nowadays.

The portuguese way by the coast

When one approaches the Portuguese Way of Santiago one cannot speak, with rigour, of a single path. Being certain that the pilgrims used the available road network, over time the choices of the pilgrimage routes multiplied, accommodating the gradual increase of options that were being made available. In this context, the Portuguese Way of the Coast assumes itself as a derivation of the Central Portuguese Way, as an alternative connection to Galicia. Using this route and from Portuguese territory it was possible to reach Galicia by crossing the Minho River, whether it was made connecting Caminha to A Guarda, Vila Nova de Cerveira to Goián, or Valença to Tui.
This way of the waterfront, starting from Porto and passing by the current municipalities of Matosinhos, Maia, Vila do Conde, Póvoa de Varzim, Esposende, Viana do Castelo, Caminha, Vila Nova de Cerveira and Valença, gained relevance during the Modern Age and, especially from the 18th century onwards, being used by coastal populations and those who landed in seaports. In this period it was one of the most important axes to reach Santiago de Compostela.