Camino de Santiago de Compostela

[tohams]

I'm in SJPdP RIGHT NOW and I just saw Martin Sheen. I'm 100% sure...he waved at me when he saw me staring inquisitively! Why's he here??

I'm off tomorrow walking. Thanks to everyone on this board for all their help over the last few months!!

[WolverineDG]

He´s making a movie with his son Emilio Estevez. Other pilgrims have spotted them from time to time along the camino as well.

Kelly

[Senyor Pirotecnic]

[sagalouts]

I believe they are making a film called "The Way"
the son dies on the camino the father then carries his sons ashes to muxia
I also believe the family has a conection to Galicia.
Ian

[Anniesantiago]

Yup.. we ran into them and the film crew also.
The mochillas are all nice and clean... everybody´s shoes are new... the pilgrims look fresh, and their credentials have been stamped in places 100 K apart! Hahahaha!

Sheen wanted to talk to a ¨real¨pilgrim and I think Kanga, from this forum, spoke with him-them for a moment.

[Priscillian]

If anyone else sees Martin Sheen could you try to find out his agent's address for me? I have sent two copies of Pilgrimage to Heresy and Peregrinos de la Herejía and both have come back. He must have changed agents. Many thanks,
Tracy Saunders
http://www.pilgrimagetoheresy.com

[marktqm]

Wow, a mainstream film about the Camino. Millions of people will know more about the Camino, and guess what - we can expect a torrent of pilgrims in the next few years along the Road.

Good or bad?

[William Marques]

Que Sera, Sera.

[sillydoll]

Whether its a good or a bad thing el camino may eventually reach its former popularity.
When they have 11 albergues in Estella, 32 in Burgos, 4 at Villafranca de Montes de Oca (a register dating1594 at a hospice at Villafranca de Montes de Oca recorded 16,767 pilgrims that year, over 200 on some days) 21 in Astorga, 14 at Carrion de los Condes and 7 in Castrojeriz then we'll know it has almost returned to 'normal'.
Some things have changed though, Terradillos de los Templarios and neighbouring Moratinos were among the few pueblos that did not provide a hospice for pilgrims. Today there are 2 albergues in Terradillos and Rebekah's Peaceable Kingdon in Moratinos!
Back to the past!

[Rebekah Scott]

I think a lot of those numerous pilgrim hospitals were tiny, 2 or 6 or 10-bed affairs run by confraternities or some such. None of these great airplane hangars we have now.

Interestingly enough, a good number of the medieval establishments were specialized, and catered to only particular types of pilgrims. (I don´t remember where I read this but it was not long ago!) Members of particular crafts guilds or religious orders stayed at hostels run by their brethren, Aragonese or Parisians or Pisans stayed with their countrymen, poor pilgrims stayed with the Franciscans and rich people stayed with the Benedictines, for instance.

The 13-bed hospital at San Nicholas del Real Camino was open for 300 years, but only to travelers with leprosy!

As for Moratinos, it has never had any facility for pilgrims anytime in its history. Maybe because it was founded by Moors, who had their own Hajj to a place in the opposite direction. Or maybe the big hustle in Terradillos scooped up all the tired pilgrims, leaving only the lepers.

And Martin Sheen. He didn´t stop here, either.

[andy.d]

There are some two bed albergues on the Camino Levante, and last autumn plenty of spare capacity in them. There are some very solitary routes if people want to walk them - from Valencia to Toledo last September, no one had seen another peregrino for weeks.

Andy

[sillydoll]

Reb, you are quite right. Many of the shelters catered for 12 - the number of the apostles - and there were some hospices that catered for the poor and for the ill. These were often attached to the hospice for pilgrims. (You can read more about these in 'Body & Soul: Hospitality through the ages on the Roads to Compostela' available from the CSJ Bookshop).

The hospice at Roncesvalles (some ruins can be seen around the field opposite the Basicilia) catered for large numbers of pilgrims. As late as the 17th-c, well into the decline of the pilgrimage, the Roncesvalles hospice was hosting 25, 000 pilgrims per year. The hospice in Pamplona and Burgos were huge as was one in Astorga and, of course, the hospice in Santiago which is now a parador.

Royalty and wealthy families sponsored the building of many hospices, even in remote areas, and some were enlarged over the centuries as pilgrim numbers grew. Just as they are today, some hospices were provided by Confraternities, some by the church or monastic orders and some were privately run.
"The practice of hospitality led to the founding of welfare institutions that attended to the spiritual, material and health needs of the pilgrims. According to their ecclesiastical, civil or popular origins, the centres can be classified as episcopal or cathedral hospitals, hospitals run by the military, monastic or royal orders, noble foundations, parish hospitals, and in the cities along the Way, hospitals run by guilds and religious brotherhoods. Especially important in this respect were the monasteries of Cluny and the military orders, especially the Knights Hospitaller." (Xacobeo.es)

You have made history by providing shelter to pilgrims in Moratinos and, maybe in the future, a date will be chronicled when the first shelter appeared in Moratinos!

[JohnnieWalker]

Saints Rebekah and Paddy of Moratinos has quite a ring to it!

[falcon269]

Eduardo in Albergue En el Camino in Boadilla del Camino has purchased the old hospital across the field from the current albergue and intends to reopen it after quite a few centuries. Increased foot traffic has made it economically feasible, but it will be quite an expensive project.

[Rebekah Scott]

That will be quite enough of the sainthood business. You have to be dead before that kind of stuff starts up, (not to mention the virgin/martyr business) and I intend to stay around for a while!

Being hospitable on the Camino is its own reward, and it pays you back many-fold. Like the Bible says: "As you give, so shall you receive: pressed-down, shaken together, and running over." It´s not like it´s much of a sacrifice, at least most of the time. You would probably do the same, given the chance.

Reb.

[Ian Holdsworth]

Does any know a production title for this film or even a release date.

[falcon269]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441912/

[Anniesantiago]

I think I may have posted this somewhere else on the forum, but we ran into Martin Sheen and his crew in Santiago and were hired as extras for the movie. We were paid a whopping $2 per day, although we never saw the check. Maybe they figured it was covered by the lunch they served us?

Anyway, it was a lot of fun!

Here are a few pics. Martin Sheen was quite gracious and signed a lot of autographs, spoke to each person, and would chat until the producer forced him to work. His son was just as sweet.



Martin go to do head bumping! The rest of us were turned away by a stern guardian!



And he held my hand during the photo! ::laughing::
He was very approachable and kind.

[ksam]

I wonder if either Sheen will ever actually do a full Camino? W/o cameras?

[roofgiant]

great all we need now is Madonna or Bono to walk from Sarria no doubt with a lackey carrying the bags and that will be it, the worlds largest theme park - official!!! The crass comercialisation and branding of the Camino experience might be it's downfall for serious pilgrims of the future. We should avoid all these stupid badges, tacky souvenirs and shirts with arrows on etc etc, they trivialise and dilute a very special experience, or at least they give the true contemplatives more frustration than we need when undertaking our Pilgrimage.

[sillydoll]

great all we need now is Madonna or Bono to walk from Sarria no doubt with a lackey carrying the bags and that will be it, the worlds largest theme park - official!!! The crass comercialisation and branding of the Camino experience might be it's downfall for serious pilgrims of the future. We should avoid all these stupid badges, tacky souvenirs and shirts with arrows on etc etc, they trivialise and dilute a very special experience, or at least they give the true contemplatives more frustration than we need when undertaking our Pilgrimage.

Wow! You have just perfectly described a frustrated medieval pilgrim's view of the camino! Seems some things never change!
The museums are full of old Santiago souvenirs - valuable and tacky. Every Christian shrine (like Lourdes today) had its own souvenir or badge and it was essential to buy one to prove that you had actually been there. Some were made of silver, but most were just cheap metals. I saw a tray full of 13th - 15th C scallop shell souvenirs in the Museum of London in 2002 - many unearthed on the banks of the River Tames.
The Royalty, the wealthy, ecclesiastic and military people all trekked to Santiago with their horses, donkeys, mules and lackeys carrying their bags etc. Large numbers from the north sailed to A Coruna, Ferrol or Vigo and trekked the few miles overland to Santiago.
Scouts waited for pilgrims outside large large towns, advertising their wares and touts tried to persuade them to part with their money to stay in various inns or taverns.
There were robbers, highwaymen, bandits, thieves and murderers lying in wait for pilgrims at every turn!
El camino has never provided a solitary, silent, meditative experience. It has always welcomed the sick and well, Catholics and pagans, Jews, Heretics, beggars and the indigent, and embraced all like brothers.