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I've taken my backpack into the cathedral when I arrived in Santiago and nobody stopped me. I wouldn't like to have to check into a hotel etc before finishing my pilgrimage.I always walk into Santiago at 11am, plenty of time to get bed and shower, no queues at office and into cathedral for mass, in my time at cathedral security never allow back packs into cathedral...
...I'm sorry, what did you just call it?and as we tried to enter the temple,
It hasn't been lost at all. As you said, it was open in the Holy Year. A Holy Year (when the feast of St James falls on a Sunday) is the only time the Porta Santa (Holy door) is open.Two or three years ago, on a Holy Year, pilgrims were allowed free entrance through the doors in Plaza de Inmaculada, but that honorable tradition seems to have been lost.
A Catholic church is open to all, it isn't governed by the Pilgrim's Office like a tourist attraction, and this seems to be the crux of your problem, you aren't seeing it the right way. You weren't refused entry when you arrived, you were asked to join the queue. At 12.20 you had effectively missed Mass anyway (and, as pointed out by Falcon, the day for your Mass as a pilgrim is the following one when your arrival is announced). One does not go to Mass to see the theatrics of a giant thurible (incensor) but to give thanks and praise to God. One doesn't walk in pilgrimage to St James to fall at his knees in front of an 80kg piece of swinging metal either, one walks in pilgrimage to the tomb of the Apostle James, which is at the heart of the Cathedral.Not the fault of people in the Oficina del peregrino at all, but a more sympathetic approach to tired injured pilgrims would be most appreciated.
I have been putting it on the Camino de Santiago Calendar. It also can be found at the cathedral website.
...I'm sorry, what did you just call it?
It hasn't been lost at all. As you said, it was open in the Holy Year. A Holy Year (when the feast of St James falls on a Sunday) is the only time the Porta Santa (Holy door) is open.
A Catholic church is open to all, it isn't governed by the Pilgrim's Office like a tourist attraction, and this seems to be the crux of your problem, you aren't seeing it the right way. You weren't refused entry when you arrived, you were asked to join the queue. At 12.20 you had effectively missed Mass anyway (and, as pointed out by Falcon, the day for your Mass as a pilgrim is the following one when your arrival is announced). One does not go to Mass to see the theatrics of a giant thurible (incensor) but to give thanks and praise to God. One doesn't walk in pilgrimage to St James to fall at his knees in front of an 80kg piece of swinging metal either, one walks in pilgrimage to the tomb of the Apostle James, which is at the heart of the Cathedral.
Rest assured as a pilgrim you ARE special, but you this doesn't come with a demanded sense of entitlement but rather with humility.
We had a similar experience last Saturday (October 5th) which upset a couple of my friends, one of whom has completed the Camino in 5 stages over five years and for whom, in some physical pain, the longed-for arrival was much anticipated. His tears of joy were turned to tears of frustration as he and another friend who had walked from SJPP for his 60th birthday, were turned away by the people in hi-vis jackets at 11.50am. I was last in Santiago in 2006 and while I understand that the number of tourists and peregrinos have increased significantly over the years, I found the cathedral to be a much less welcoming place to pilgrims. I was saddened to not be able to enter by the main doors now and to have to pay to even look at the Portico da Gloria, let alone pray there.
I went on a 'tour' of the Portico de la Gloria last year. It was not an actual physical tour- it was a multimedia presentation. I am not sure I even had to pay for this- just had to book it at a time when English was shown.blocking the Portico de la Gloria for restoration is something I can understand, but make it available to see if you are willing to pay some money...
Unfortunately any kind of repairs whether on the cathedral or your own home can´t be carried out without money. This is a good way of financing it in part. If you want to see it ......... great , pay the price. If you just want to enter and worship, no need to pay just enter.
I recall this practice came as quite a shock to me, on my first trip to Europe - in the UK, in the mid-1970's. In North America, we aren't accustomed to paying to enter a church. But then, our churches aren't 600-years-old works of art and priceless historical monuments. Nor are they major tourism destinations with thousands of visitors a day. Even in those European countries where there is financial support to organized religion in the national budget, there are limits to the resources available, and many buildings in needs of maintenance and conservation. Remember that the attendance in European churches has drastically reduced in recent decades (in comparison to US figures), so the parish does not have the same revenue stream of private funds. So if the parishioners can't cover all the expense, and the government is only contributing a small bit, it makes perfect sense to me that the church needs to charge a fee to visitors - regardless of how they structure that.
(I'm stating the general case here for discussion purposes. I'm well aware that many small parishes in the US struggle with their finances, have difficulty maintaining their facilities, and scrimp to fund adequate staff. )
It is a curious thing that in the UK museums and art galleries are free to enter but cathedrals often make tourists pay. Though I know in Canterbury that pilgrims and worshippers entry freely and I expect this is true of the other cathedrals which charge.
.....
The cathedral in Leon charges for admission.
In the UK they ask for a "Donation" which turns out many a time to be forced.
Buen Camino!
We also have something called chancel repair liability. The church used to own massive amounts of land and if you buy a house that was built on that land then there is a possibility that you can become liable for the cost of repairs to the local church. There are people that have had £25000 bills dropped on them out of the blue.
How's that for a modern legal system!
I just came back from walking the Inglés, and it ended with a very sour aftertaste. My wife was not in great walking condition, and we only managed to make it to the pilgim's mass at 12:20 (we left Sigueiro at 7 and had to walk slowly because of her feet problems). We arrived in the cathedral and tried to go in for mass. there was a massive queue of tourists in Plaza de la Inmaculada, and as we tried to enter the temple, the security guard would not allow us to go in as pilgrims, and suggested we joined the queue as tourists. This is the first time I have been refused entry to the cathedral as church, every other time, if there were queues, pilgrims were allowed directly upon their arrival on foot, but he would not let us in, so we decided not to go in alltogether. Very disappointing, particulary because my wife had never seen the botafumeiro fly, and she missed it this time again.
All in all, Santiago is a nightmare with so many tourists, the queues in the Oficina del peregrino were quite discouraging too, so I eventually chose not to pick my Compostela, I really was not in the mood to do anything after being refused entrance to the Cathedral.
I understand there are massive crowds in Santiago these days, but security employees should also understand how a pilgrim feels upon arriving at the cathedral. A pity.
This year we saw it two times. And I spoke friends who never saw this. So I uploaded this for them. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=743053919044058
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