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Digital Compostela: Save Trees and Clutter

El Cascayal

Veteran Member
Time of past OR future Camino
23:Valença Var Espiritual Apr; Norte Cudillero Oct
Realizing that many do not wish to collect a Compostela upon arrival in Santiago… I personally love getting the Compostela.
In the spirit of (to paraphrase an ancient Roman saying), “I came, I walked, I got one”.

I am running out of wall space. Must confess once I retired, I removed all my professional degrees (which were required to be visible by the state) and substituted the Compostelas in their place.

The question/suggestion is: why not institute a digital Compostela to be issued by La Oficina de Peregrinos??? Save a lot of trees. And save a lot of clutter once home.

Anybody have any ideas???
Aymarah
 
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Eclipsigrina, talking about “from where the sun don’t shine”. 😂
 
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I like my paper Compostelas and wouldn’t bother to get a digital one myself. Once I am sick of collecting Compostelas - I just won’t keep going to the pilgrims office to get it. But for now - I will likely get one the first time O complete any new route.
 
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It sounds like it might be a nice option for some who don't have either room to hang it, can't because they rent, or don't have storage space. It is something I might consider if I have the opportunity to do another Camino.
 
Realizing that many do not wish to collect a Compostela upon arrival in Santiago… I personally love getting the Compostela.
In the spirit of (to paraphrase an ancient Roman saying), “I came, I walked, I got one”.

I am running out of wall space. Must confess once I retired, I removed all my professional degrees (which were required to be visible by the state) and substituted the Compostelas in their place.

The question/suggestion is: why not institute a digital Compostela to be issued by La Oficina de Peregrinos??? Save a lot of trees. And save a lot of clutter once home.

Anybody have any ideas???
Aymarah
If I recall correctly there is at least one app that does digital stamps and may offer a digital compostela at the end. When I saw it two years ago it was €1.50 per stamp, I’ve no idea on the cost of the compostela (if there was one). While I liked the idea of having a clear image of the stamps I did not like the idea of paying someone far removed from Camino for the privilege.
 
If I recall correctly there is at least one app that does digital stamps and may offer a digital compostela at the end. When I saw it two years ago it was €1.50 per stamp, I’ve no idea on the cost of the compostela (if there was one). While I liked the idea of having a clear image of the stamps I did not like the idea of paying someone far removed from Camino for the privilege.
When using the credencial app that the Cathedral of Santiago has developed, you pay €1.50 each time when you start a new Camino. It is not any different from when you get a new paper based credencial for a new camino and you pay €2.

The digital stamps don't cost anything. You scan the QR code at an albergue, at a Spanish post office or whoever has them and that's all and free of charge.

There is no digital Compostela. Anyone can of course scan their paper based Compostela and then has a digital version.

There used to be a digital Compostela in 2006 called e-Compostela - see this post. It still worked in 2019 but I think that the browser extention that is required is no longer updated or compatible with current browsers. It looked like this:

My Webcompostela.jpg
 
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When using the credencial app that the Cathedral of Santiago has developed, you pay €1.50 each time when you start a new Camino. It is not any different from when you get a new paper based credencial for a new camino and you pay €2.
I downloaded the Cathedral's credencial app when it was first announced in 2021 - see their announcement here - and it still works. However, I now see that it is no longer available in my AppStore. I get the message: This app is currently not available in your country or region. I don't know whether this is one of those aggravating geolocation issues and it is only available in the Spanish AppStore or whether they have abandoned it altogether.
 
I downloaded the Cathedral's credencial app when it was first announced in 2021 - see their announcement here - and it still works. However, I now see that it is no longer available in my AppStore. I get the message: This app is currently not available in your country or region. I don't know whether this is one of those aggravating geolocation issues and it is only available in the Spanish AppStore or whether they have abandoned it altogether.
I haven't seen evidence of any QR codes to scan to get digital stamps in any albergues either last year or this year.
 
I concur with trecile.
I only found 3 in 2021 from Valença to SdC. So don't count on it if you want a digital proof 😉
 

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When using the credencial app that the Cathedral of Santiago has developed, you pay €1.50 each time when you start a new Camino. It is not any different from when you get a new paper based credencial for a new camino and you pay €2.

The digital stamps don't cost anything. You scan the QR code at an albergue, at a Spanish post office or whoever has them and that's all and free of charge.

There is no digital Compostela. Anyone can of course scan their paper based Compostela and then has a digital version.

There used to be a digital Compostela in 2006 called e-Compostela - see this post. It still worked in 2019 but I think that the browser extention that is required is no longer updated or compatible with current browsers. It looked like this:

View attachment 148752
Amazing that you spell your name with a "1" even on official documents :rolleyes:😇😁
 
Realizing that many do not wish to collect a Compostela upon arrival in Santiago… I personally love getting the Compostela.
In the spirit of (to paraphrase an ancient Roman saying), “I came, I walked, I got one”.

I am running out of wall space. Must confess once I retired, I removed all my professional degrees (which were required to be visible by the state) and substituted the Compostelas in their place.

The question/suggestion is: why not institute a digital Compostela to be issued by La Oficina de Peregrinos??? Save a lot of trees. And save a lot of clutter once home.

Anybody have any ideas???
Aymarah
I may not have walked as many as you. I will do #8 this fall. The only Compostela I have kept and want is my first one. But I do like to get them because there is always someone in my life I dedicate my camino to. When I return home I give the Compostela to them. I think it is a nicer thing than sending an email copy :);):);). But for those who do not care it is a good idea.
 
Just thinking that I doubt that any Compostela is thrown away.
I used to think that but on the last few caminos I have seen people walk out of the office and fold up their Compostela like a piece of notebook paper or just stuff them in their backpacks. I don't think it is many people at all, but it was a little sad to see.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Amazing that you spell your name with a "1" even on official documents :rolleyes:😇😁
One must remain 1337 at all times. :p

I actually only want one compostella per major route. So in reality I will only ever achieve maybe five of them (Frances, Norte, VdlP, Porto, Francigena (or whatever the equivalent is on the Francigena)). Five places on the wall isn't massive, considering I don't have anything else on it besides my first Compostella (or on any wall). The first one I got counts, but doesn't since it was more of an exploratory type Camino and not a full one from official starting point to official finishing point (I essentially did a little more than a tourist Camino so it doesn't count).

Certificates of distance I will probably grab most times.

But I could see it being a problem for those that walk every year and have done since the routes became mainstream back in the 80's. If you grabbed a compostella for each year you walked, you would have a fair few compostellas on your wall. ;)
 
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One must remain 1337 at all times. :p

I actually only want one compostella per major route. So in reality I will only ever achieve maybe five of them (Frances, Norte, VdlP, Porto, Francigena (or whatever the equivalent is on the Francigena)). Five places on the wall isn't massive, considering I don't have anything else on it besides my first Compostella (or on any wall). The first one I got counts, but doesn't since it was more of an exploratory type Camino and not a full one from official starting point to official finishing point (I essentially did a little more than a tourist Camino so it doesn't count).

Certificates of distance I will probably grab most times.

But I could see it being a problem for those that walk every year and have done since the routes became mainstream back in the 80's. If you grabbed a compostella for each year you walked, you would have a fair few compostellas on your wall. ;)
I'm curious as to the reasoning behind this. I could see it if the Compostelas indicated anywhere which route was walked, so you could collect the "set", but as I recall they don't, so the only thing that will differ will be the date, which would differ equally if you you walked another Camino on the same route.

PS. The idea of "official starting points or ending points" (other than Santiago de Compostela) for Caminos is open to endless discussion and dispute.
 
Realizing that many do not wish to collect a Compostela upon arrival in Santiago… I personally love getting the Compostela.
In the spirit of (to paraphrase an ancient Roman saying), “I came, I walked, I got one”.

I am running out of wall space. Must confess once I retired, I removed all my professional degrees (which were required to be visible by the state) and substituted the Compostelas in their place.

The question/suggestion is: why not institute a digital Compostela to be issued by La Oficina de Peregrinos??? Save a lot of trees. And save a lot of clutter once home.

Anybody have any ideas???
Aymarah
There are always filing cabinets. If you don't want the paper at all, don't ask for one. There is no spiritual or religious benefit conferred with a Compostela (despite what is said by those who erroneously conflate the Compostela with the Indulgence). If you want the proof that you have completed the Camino, the completed credencial provides that.
 
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There is also the option of getting your Compostelas "vicarie pro" and giving them away to someone who can't do a Camino or their heirs. That will also save your wall space
 
I'm curious as to the reasoning behind this. I could see it if the Compostelas indicated anywhere which route was walked, so you could collect the "set", but as I recall they don't, so the only thing that will differ will be the date, which would differ equally if you you walked another Camino on the same route.

PS. The idea of "official starting points or ending points" (other than Santiago de Compostela) for Caminos is open to endless discussion and dispute.

It's more for me and I don't know, a record of achievement, although yes it doesn't state route taken, but the credencial kind of shows that. For me personally, I just kind of want a compostella for each major route I walk. I probably won't be getting one this year as it's a bit of a higgledy piggledy route across several routes. I might get the certificate of distance though as I'm aiming at over 1000km for this one.

And yes, I know the starting points, ending points, tourist caminos, proper caminos, are one massive debate and dispute that has no real ending. I always see a trail as having a defined start and finish, sometimes due to a geographic constraint. Like walking from East to West across a country might end when you hit the sea or the border of the country, as it does in Spain. The route as I see it has an official start point, in the case of the Frances, SJPdP and the official end point is SdC. So I just go by those definitions for the most part. If I was walking the Portuguese I would walk from Lisbon, the Norte, Irun, Francigena, Canterbury, etc.

But I freely admit to having an almost elitist attitude towards walking the Camino. I wouldn't have bothered with my first certificate, but my parents insisted I get it, since it showed some commitment, but I don't regard it as authentic, for the simple fact I did a pick and mix camino. Same for the second year, which is why i didn't bother getting another one.
 
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I always see a trail as having a defined start and finish, sometimes due to a geographic constraint. Like walking from East to West across a country might end when you hit the sea or the border of the country, as it does in Spain. The route as I see it has an official start point, in the case of the Frances, SJPdP and the official end point is SdC.
Indeed, a trail or route might have such defined places as a start and end, but the route is not one's pilgrimage. One might walk, or ride, along a particular route, when your pilgrimage starts at the point you join the route, and for a Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, end there.

As for the Camino Frances starting in SJPP and ending in SDC, one could debate that as well. When I first walked, it was considered to start in Puenta la Reina, and one could argue it ends where it joins the Primitivo in Melide. This latter point might be moot, as the Pilgrim Office considers both the Primitivo and Frances to end in Santiago de Compostela. These old distinctions are gradually being lost, unfortunately.
 
There used to be a digital Compostela in 2006 called e-Compostela - see this post. It still worked in 2019 but I think that the browser extention that is required is no longer updated or compatible with current browsers. It looked like this:

View attachment 148752
I find the design hilarious!
The document in Latin, historic-looking ornaments, and then this:

Screen Shot 2023-06-06 at 20.46.20.png
 
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Indeed, a trail or route might have such defined places as a start and end, but the route is not one's pilgrimage. One might walk, or ride, along a particular route, when your pilgrimage starts at the point you join the route, and for a Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, end there.

As for the Camino Frances starting in SJPP and ending in SDC, one could debate that as well. When I first walked, it was considered to start in Puenta la Reina, and one could argue it ends where it joins the Primitivo in Melide. This latter point might be moot, as the Pilgrim Office considers both the Primitivo and Frances to end in Santiago de Compostela. These old distinctions are gradually being lost, unfortunately.
I don't disagree with you. I guess I see it as commitment as well. To walk 100km is not really showing much commitment. Although i accept some people are physically incapable of walking more. But 100km is 3-4 days walking depending on how fit you are. But to walk close to 700km sets you massively apart from the tourist (I almost don't want to call them tourists, but after watching the coach hopper shenanigans on the last 100 from Sarria I suspect a lot are) camino lot.

Some people from my church that walked a few years back would annoyingly brag constantly that they had completed a Camino, well until i asked them exactly how far they walked. Then asked them if they thought that in the past all pilgrims magically teleported to Sarria and only had to walk 100km to get to Santiago. Two of them went out the year after and actually did the full CF. But i accept that the Camino is an individual thing.

In my case I don't really consider it authentic (to me) unless I walk the full length of the accepted route. But if others want to pick and mix and claim a certificate, I have no issue per se, with that. I begrudgingly did on my first year. ;)
 
. I guess I see it as commitment as well. To walk 100km is not really showing much commitment
It is a commitment to those who don't have the luxury and privilege of being able to be away from home for multiple weeks or months at a time.

Besides, I think that it's much more important to commit to doing good in one's community, to caring for one's family and a host of other things that people commit to other than a long walk in Spain, which really mostly benefits the walker.
 
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I don't disagree with you. I guess I see it as commitment as well. To walk 100km is not really showing much commitment. Although i accept some people are physically incapable of walking more. But 100km is 3-4 days walking depending on how fit you are. But to walk close to 700km sets you massively apart from the tourist (I almost don't want to call them tourists, but after watching the coach hopper shenanigans on the last 100 from Sarria I suspect a lot are) camino lot.

Some people from my church that walked a few years back would annoyingly brag constantly that they had completed a Camino, well until i asked them exactly how far they walked. Then asked them if they thought that in the past all pilgrims magically teleported to Sarria and only had to walk 100km to get to Santiago. Two of them went out the year after and actually did the full CF. But i accept that the Camino is an individual thing.

In my case I don't really consider it authentic (to me) unless I walk the full length of the accepted route. But if others want to pick and mix and claim a certificate, I have no issue per se, with that. I begrudgingly did on my first year. ;)
I was so distressed with your assessment that those who only do 100km lack commitment when I saw that statement earlier this morning that I had to do something else for a couple of hours before responding. Nearly 45% of the pilgrims who arrived in 2022 arrived from the top six ~100 km starting points, To label these pilgrims as lacking commitment speaks of a complete lack of understanding of the efforts that I suspect many of them have gone to undertake their pilgrimages.

As for your treatment of your fellow parishioners, I can only say I would have seen this as snobbish and arrogant behaviour. Whether you are either a snob or arrogant, I cannot tell, but that is how I think I would have seen this behaviour just because you had completed a longer distance pilgrimage.

It calls into question your statement that you accept that the Camino is an individual thing. If this is how you think about people and how you treat people, I cannot see how that statement is credible.

And BTW, if you think that 100 km represents 3-4 days walking, all I have to say is that it might for you, but not for a great many of us. I no longer do 25 km days, not that I was overly interested in doing too many back to back in any case. When my wife and I walked some years ago, we took nine days to walk from Sarria, albeit our plan had been to do it in eight. Walking by myself, my daily target is 20 km, so most of the 100 km starting points are a six day walk.
 
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I don't disagree with you. I guess I see it as commitment as well. To walk 100km is not really showing much commitment. Although i accept some people are physically incapable of walking more. But 100km is 3-4 days walking depending on how fit you are. But to walk close to 700km sets you massively apart from the tourist.
In my case I don't really consider it authentic (to me) unless I walk the full length of the accepted route. But if others want to pick and mix and claim a certificate, I have no issue per se, with that. I begrudgingly did on my first year. ;)

Should someone who walks from Le Puy, or Geneva or Poland look down on one who walks from St. Jean the same way you look down on those walking from Sarria? After all, according to your measure, they are showing much more commitment. If 100 km = 3 or 4 days, then 800 km = 24 to 32 days. Some who was been walking fir month after month might not see just one month (or less) as much commitment.

Is it really more authentic to walk from Ferrol than to walk from Leon? Why would that be? Surely, what is authentic is to walk from your front door. Or, walk to a port, catch a ship to somewhere in Europe, and walk from there. Anything else is just choosing an arbitrary modern starting point. Where is the authenticity in that? If one judges a Camino on "authenticity" and authenticity on starting point. Personally, I don't judge the authenticity of people's Caminos because I believe it is based on what is in their mind and heart when they undertake it, and I'm not in a position to know that.
 
Digital Compostela? How about no, just no! Bad enough they are no longer filled out by hand.
Some things need to stay the same, not everything needs to succumb to a digital revolution.
Next some will say we can sit on the couch and do our Camino via a virtual reality head set.
Rant over...
 
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Should someone who walks from Le Puy, or Geneva or Poland look down on one who walks from St. Jean the same way you look down on those walking from Sarria? After all, according to your measure, they are showing much more commitment. If 100 km = 3 or 4 days, then 800 km = 24 to 32 days. Some who was been walking fir month after month might not see just one month (or less) as much commitment.

Is it really more authentic to walk from Ferrol than to walk from Leon? Why would that be? Surely, what is authentic is to walk from your front door. Or, walk to a port, catch a ship to somewhere in Europe, and walk from there. Anything else is just choosing an arbitrary modern starting point. Where is the authenticity in that? If one judges a Camino on "authenticity" and authenticity on starting point. Personally, I don't judge the authenticity of people's Caminos because I believe it is based on what is in their mind and heart when they undertake it, and I'm not in a position to know that.
Authenticity is whatever the Compostela says, but 100km isn’t the same as 700+.

My brother’s doing it in two trips, I met some francaises doing it several weeks at a time, an española who’s doing it one week a year.

The Compostela says 100km minimum, there is a distinction for from St Jean, which is why they have the medal thing. Though at the end of the day, no-one from the outside world will know the difference anyways.
 
Authenticity is whatever the Compostela says, but 100km isn’t the same as 700+.

My brother’s doing it in two trips, I met some francaises doing it several weeks at a time, an española who’s doing it one week a year.

The Compostela says 100km minimum, there is a distinction for from St Jean, which is why they have the medal thing. Though at the end of the day, no-one from the outside world will know the difference anyways.
I don't believe the church offers a medal. Some private companies do (not that they do anything to check) but like the tee shirts you can buy in Santiago, the medals exist because some people want to buy them, so others are willing to sell them. If there was a market for medals from Leon or Le Puy, I'm sure someone would eventually step up and fill it.

From the statistics I've been seeing, St. Jean is becoming less and less the standard starting point. It wasn't originally, and it is less so now. Its identification as such may just be, in the overall history of the pilgrimage to Santiago, just a temporary blip or interlude.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Medal? Not sure what you're referring to. The Distance Certificate, perhaps?
No, in St Jean one of the papers that comes in the packet says if you walk the whole way all at once, if you send proof they’ll send you a certificate and a medal.
 

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From the statistics I've been seeing, St. Jean is becoming less and less the standard starting point.
The Camino Portugues is very quickly growing in popularity. So far this year more people who received Compostelas have started from Porto than have begun their journey in SJPDP. There is also a trend towards walking only the last 100km or so of a Camino route - just enough to qualify for the Compostela. The default assumption that "the Camino" starts in SJPDP is out of date.
stats1.jpg
 
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did I say who did it at all?
Sorry, @jrobasdan, I thought so. Apologies.
The Compostela says 100km minimum, there is a distinction for from St Jean, which is why they have the medal thing. Though at the end of the day, no-one from the outside world will know the difference anyways.
From what you wrote, I took 'they' to mean the same entity that issues the Compostella; ie., the Cathedral in Santiago; it's unclear.
 
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