Letter of Recommendation

[mustbjones]

In the back of S. Yates book is a template for a Letter of Recommendation. This is the only time I have seen the subject mentioned. Is this a custom from the past that has gone by the wayside one what? Thanks.

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Re: Letter of Recommendation

In the back of S. Yates book is a template for a Letter of Recommendation. This is the only time I have seen the subject mentioned. Is this a custom from the past that has gone by the wayside one what? Thanks.

Yes, it is a practice of the past and is wholly unnecessary now. All you need is your pilgrim credencial.

 

[SabsP]

Re: Letter of Recommendation

It is indeed something from the past but the flemish confraternity of St-James still provides it ( written in lovely Latin )together with the regular Credencial. I like mine very much, I have it double framed with my Compostela.

 

[tyrrek]

Re: Letter of Recommendation

Out of interest, what was it? Was it some kind of permission from your local landowner/church etc to go away on pilgrimage or something like that? Buen Camino!

 

[SabsP]

Re: Letter of Recommendation

Out of interest, what was it? Was it some kind of permission from your local landowner/church etc to go away on pilgrimage or something like that? Buen Camino!

Now the local Confraternity asks in general to all countries,villages, towns that you get easy trespass as a pilgrim. Also stating you are a genuine pilgrim with good and honest intentions. My copy has a front in Latin and back has translations in flemish/ french and spanish.
I guess it was a must to have with you in medieval times.

 

[SabsP]

Re: Letter of Recommendation

http://sabscaminoingles2012-sabs.blogsp ... sport.html

Mine from last year. So we call the credencial the letter of recommendation and the pilgrim's passport is the little booklet for the stamps.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Re: Letter of Recommendation

In the back of S. Yates book is a template for a Letter of Recommendation. This is the only time I have seen the subject mentioned. Is this a custom from the past that has gone by the wayside one what? Thanks.

It's not gone completely by the wayside, and I personally seek to obtain a Letter of Recommendation if I ever depart on pilgrimage.

It's true that it's completely unnecessary most of the time, and certainly on ALL of the well-travelled routes to Santiago ; Francès, Le Puy, Vézelay, etc ... If you start from SJPP or Toulouse or anywhere else along these routes, you will NEVER need one.

It CAN be useful if you're walking outside the traditional routes, as in that case you are supposed to walk from parish to parish (not least, to get your credencial stamped), and a Letter of Recommendation can therefore be useful towards some priests living far from the "normal" Camino, and who may be surprised by the appearance of a pilgrim on their doorstep, whereby a Letter of Recommendation can sometimes be reassuring to them (particularly on the first few days if you start off the beaten path) -- I've found this to be the case myself, anyway ; just one story, in 2005 I developed a sunstroke, and sought for help (and a place to rest) from a quasi-monastic community in the South of France ; well, many of these had just returned from attending a Mass (a wedding) at our own parish (!), so the Recommendation from our parish priest who had celebrated that Mass, and who they liked very much, gave me a far warmer and trusting welcome from them than I'd have had otherwise.

In some places FAR from the beaten paths, it can also be pure and simple a means to show, after a hard day's slog, that you're a proper Smellegrino, NOT a vagrant nor a tramp !!! :mrgreen:

Also, I would personally consider a Letter of Recommendation as completely essential for whichever home-made credencial you might be using on any other foot pilgrimage than to Compostela, such as the walk to Rome, or Jerusalem for example.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Re: Letter of Recommendation

Out of interest, what was it? Was it some kind of permission from your local landowner/church etc to go away on pilgrimage or something like that? Buen Camino!

No, it's the same thing as the one that is included on the official credenciales -- its purpose is to identify the bearer as a pilgrim (which the credencial provides anyway), and to express a request for assistance to you from your signatory (which the credencial provides anyway), typically your parish priest, but also possibly your Bishop, your Rector, your Abbot or Abbess, the local Santiago Pilgrims Confraternity, etc. It *does* officially attach you as a pilgrim to the parish, diocese, Abbey, etc providing it, though this is only very rarely relevant even in those very rare cases where such a Letter may still be useful in the 21st century.

Of course, to obtain it, you did sometimes need to get permission from these (or they wouldn't provide it), but this has always been considered as an abuse of their ecclesial powers, and the Holy See has occasionally needed to remind Bishops that no undue impediment to the desire to go on holy pilgrimage is acceptable.

In fact, IIRC, the fact that today's credenciales are provided mainly by the Confraternities originally developed as a response to the overly great difficulties that some pilgrims had been encountering getting their Letters of Recommendation from their local churches, particularly over the course of the 17th to 19th centuries, during which period foot pilgrimages were being semi-officially discouraged by many priests and Bishops. The Confraternities started providing their own Letters of Recommendation in order to help aspiring pilgrims start on the Way, which is the direct origin of the current well-oiled credencial system.

erm, I'd guess that such a Letter of Recommendation would be more important if you were yourself a priest or religious, as you'd need to obtain permission from your Ordinary or your Superior before being able to go on a foot pilgrimage in the first place.

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Re: Letter of Recommendation

So to cut a long story short...if you have a pilgrim credencial with sellos you don't need a Letter of Recommendation ...which is exactly why they fell into disuse!

 

[tyrrek]

Re: Letter of Recommendation

Always interesting to know about the history though! Thanks for the responses. Buen Camino!