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There are a number of certificates pilgrims can earn on the Camino Frances.
2. The TOURIST certificate is given to those who walk for cultural, sporting or any reason other than religious or spiritual. [IMHO it is just as attractive as the Compostela]
I thought you o get th compostela you were required to
have two collected two stamps a day.
Yes but only for the last 100 k.
I'm not at all sure about this, but I wonder if one of the Cathedral's motivations for coming up with that beautiful "non-Compostela-certificate" was so that people would feel less compelled to shade the truth in order to get the Compostela.
Do you think the compostela will always be the favorite, for religious and non-religious people alike, because it is considered the "real deal" while the certificate is just seen as a substitute?
That is the old Compostela. Is the welcome certificate still the same?The Compostela and 'Welcome' Certificate and
View attachment 33223
That is the old Compostela. Is the welcome certificate still the same?
1976 (Called a Diploma)
The sellos actually go back 100s and 100s of hears ago. At the time they were engraved or burned on the wooden staffs and there reason for being was to ensure people kept moving forward.
My source was Jaco, the owner of the Ave Fenix albergue. Nothing published alas.I would love to learn more about the staff 'sellos'. There are many references to pilgrims collecting badges, brooches, ampullae and pins whilst on pilgrimage (like Piers Plowman who never found a saint called Truth) but I have never heard of the 'sellos' engraved on wood to ensure they kept moving. Can you share some of the sources for this?
View attachment 33257
View attachment 33258
For me, the best keepsake is my stamped credential, because it contains many memories.
I walked in May in remembrance of a woman who passed away in 2002. They will put your name on the certificate and write "In memory of ....." on it as wellI'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but is it possible for me to do a Camino and have someone else's name put on the Compostelana? Hoping to walk later this year in honour of a deceased friend.
Really enjoyed the historical background above.
I walked in May in remembrance of a woman who passed away in 2002. They will put your name on the certificate and write "In memory of ....." on it as well
I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but is it possible for me to do a Camino and have someone else's name put on the Compostelana? Hoping to walk later this year in honour of a deceased friend.
Really enjoyed the historical background above.
Reviving this thread to continue the discussion of the history of credenciales, out of another thread on the history of yellow arrows.I'm not sure that there is a long history about the sellos. I think they were introduced in the 1950's and expanded on in the 1980's together with the introduction of the modern 'credenciales'
The ‘Credencial’ or pilgrim’s passport evolved from letters of safe passage granted by the church or state (and sometimes the King) to people going a journey through foreign lands. Prospective travellers, both clerics and laymen, combining business with pleasure and/or pilgrimage needed a ‘licencia’ to leave the country. If pilgrims needed royal protection for their retinue, their lands, possessions and so on, they would travel with the king’s leave, ‘peregre profeturus cum licencia regis.’ A pilgrim would need to visit their priest and make confession before being given a letter stating that he is a bona-fide pilgrim, requesting safe passage, exemption from the payment of taxes and tolls and hospitality in the monasteries or ‘hospices’ along the way.
Jump to 20th century - Spain:
You have read that Walter Starkie describes being awarded a scallop shell at the end of his 'Caminos' in the 1920's 1930's and 1953.
The five road routes developed in the late 1950's and early 1960's were promoted together with a map and a 'credential' in which travelers could obtain stamps at the places they stopped along the road.
The 'credenciales' used by foot pilgrims (like the one I used in 2002) were designed in 1963 by the Estella members of "Los Amigos de Camino de Santiago" when they made their pilgrimage to Santiago.
It the Holy Year of 1965 , the press picks up on the credenciales, and as if it were a prophecy, the words of then Secretary of the Central Board for the Holy Year, Don Jesus Precedo Lafuente. Referring to the pilgrims to Compostela on foot he says, " We will have to start thinking for future jubilees, to create a card certifying the pilgrimage and pilgrim in need, which should be endorsed in the first place by the pastor of the place where he has his home, and to establish some places where they can stay for free, or for a small fee, when they arrive here. Discrimination will be difficult, but there is no doubt that we are facing a real need . "
In 1985 the cornerstone for the resurrection of the current Jacobean pilgrimage was sponsored by Archbishop (of Santiago in 1984) Antonio Rouco Varella when Bishop Don Eugenio Romero Posé hosted the "Meeting of the Priests of the Road" to promote, among others, four key actions for the revival of pilgrimages, one of them being the creation of the "Pilgrim's Carné".
There is a website that displays 2672 sellos. http://www.lossellosdelcamino.com/
1) What kind of credencial was received by those who started in SJPP at the time?
I started my pilgrimage by attending church, but the old woman who ran the pilgrim office from her house, refused to give me a credential because I hadn't walked from home and no letter from my priest, and shooed me out telling me I couldn't walk HER route.
In 1989, I'm not sure how many national federations there were.Thank you for reviving this thread.
My speculated guess is that SJPP was not a major starting point in the year you mention (1989), so - due to relatively low numbers - maybe there was no credencial issued by the relevant 'authorities' in SJPP.
In 1989, 3367 out of 5802 pilgrims arriving in Santiago were Spanish (thus not likely to have started in SJPP anyway). The other were all European (967 of whom French). It seems likely that a lot of them started from home and took a credencial issued by their national federation.
Even if a credencial could (technically) be obtained in SJPP I have reason to assume it was not an easy procedure. Many great stories can be read (also on this forum) about Madame Debril of the Amis de Chemin in SJPP, who already in the 1980's did not seem to be too pleased about 'modern pilgrims' as they did not walk from home. I have read several accounts by Dutch pilgrims in the late 1980;s, similar to what Dromengro wrote about his 1984 experience:
In 1989, I'm not sure how many national federations there were.I know that the one in Canada didn't get its start until 1994.
Perhaps none, Madame Debril just sent pilgrims off to Roncesvalles to obtain a credential there? I mean who started in SJPP in the eightiesI wonder what credencial she was giving (to those who passed muster) - her own?
I think her name was Madame Debril. ;-)Did they even have a local Saint-Jacques association in SJPP in those days?
So it seems that the credenciales that Madame Debril was providing may have been Spanish, not French, and they were similar but different to the one from Los Amigos in Estella that I received some seven years later. Both were tan cardboard, folded in half. But mine was significantly larger than wallet sized when folded (unless one has a large wallet), coming in at 21.5x15.5 cm. Mine had very different (more religious) iconography on the front in brown rather than back ink. It had no Peregrino del Camino de Santago. Instead of 12 squares for stamps, mine had 20, none of which was for Samos. And instead of directing me to the Palacio de Rajoy, my credencial directed me to "la venerable y Apostólica Iglesia Metropolitana de Santiago" for my "Compostelana".She [presumably Madame Debril] had found two Spanish tarjetas del peregrino - pilgrimage cards - to give us. Folded in half, they were about wallet size. The front of each tan cardboard card was decorated with a black woodcut print of the sun, fields of grain, and the words Peregrino del Camino de Santiago. Inside , the card was divided into twelve squares, each with a name: St. Jean, Valcarlos, Pamplona, Estella, Logroño, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Burgos, Frómista, León, Astorga, Ponferrada, Monasterio de Samos. On the back was more instructions: "Present this card at the Palacio de Rajoy in Santiago in order to obtain the pilgrimage diploma."
She explained that we could get the cards stamped at tourist offices listed in the squares - or at town halls, police stations, or parish offices - to prove we had made the entire pilgrimage.
At first, when I read this, I thought I had made a typing error in my earlier comment. Then I understood: Local camino association in SJPP = Madame Debril.I think her name was Madame Debril. ;-)
I guess she had been joined by others by 1991. Before then it wasn't an association locally, it was just La Amie du Chemin de Saint-Jacques - Pyrénées Atlantiques.At first, when I read this, I thought I had made a typing error in my earlier comment. Then I understood: Local camino association in SJPP = Madame Debril.
BTW, found it: Les Amis du Chemin de Saint-Jacques - Pyrénées Atlantiques - association fondée le 29 janvier 1991.
That's something very special that you have there!Whereas this is what it looked like a few years later
I'm assuming that F. Lalanda's book is Historia de la Credencial, which I hadn't heard of until now. I'm just checking it out. Looks very interesting!That's something very special that you have there!
F. Lalanda has a very similar photo in his book and he describes this credencial as follows: fue realiza en 1986 (by the Estella association), en color crema y con los dibujos en ocre. He also states that they rushed to take (?) these credentials to the departure points of the Camino in the Pyrenees: Jaca and Roncesvalles. Based on what I read it seems to me that there was some kind of competition or slight disagreement between the various actors about how to take things forward at that time in the 80s.
So it seems that the credenciales that Madame Debril was providing may have been Spanish, not French, and they were similar but different to the one from Los Amigos in Estella that I received some seven years later.
In 1998, "l'Association des amis de Saint-Jacques et Comité d'études compostellanes des Pyrénées-Atlantiques" prend le nom "Les Amis du chemin de Saint-Jacques - Pyrénées-Atlantiques".Studying medieval sources and links to their medieval heritage have lost priority
I know that was certainly the case for me in 1989. I came to the Camino out of a deep interest in medieval studies. The spiritual element of the Camino was also very different for me in 1989 and 2016. In 1989 it was very much a sense of trying to recreate and experience a more medieval spiritual experience, as pilgrimage was really seen as a medieval phenomenon. Entering the Romanesque or Gothic churches, there was a sense of interaction with the medieval builders of the churches because I thought they were built for pilgrims and there I was, a pilgrim. Overall, I did the pilgrimage because I was interested in experiencing medieval culture.From a remark that a friend once made who went from Pamplona to Santiago in the 90s ... she said something in the sense of "in those days pilgrims were typically people with a strong interest in medieval history / literature / art / culture / past / related educational background".
I had been told that it was a must, that when I got to SJPdP to report to her and I would receive her blessing and help, neither of which I received of course. What kind of help I didn't know, although I vaguely remember it was about finding cheap accommodation. It wasn't until many years later that I learned of credentials or the pilgrims passport, and therefore presumed that they were part of the help she would have given me....the stories of Madame Debril are numerous. I wonder what credencial she was giving (to those who passed muster) - her own?
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