If existence is a voyage, then the Camino de Santiago serves as the perfect symbol.

“A friend shared with me that when you come to understand that all you require in life can fit in a backpack, your life becomes significantly simpler, aside from the awareness that much of what we possess can be a weight,” stated Matt Shepardson, who has trekked the Camino three times over the past seven years.

“The most significant experience I’ve encountered in my life is trekking the Camino,” Shepardson, 57, a retired airline pilot residing northwest of Philadelphia, shared with Our Sunday Visitor. Shepardson expressed his desire to embark on The Way of St. James for a fourth occasion.

“It has integrated itself so thoroughly into my life that there isn’t a single day where I overlook something connected to the Camino,” he stated.

For over a millennium, travelers have journeyed hundreds of miles across the rural landscapes of France, Western Europe, and the Iberian Peninsula to honor what tradition asserts are the remains of St. James the Great in the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral located in the Galicia area of Spain.

Soon after the artifacts were found in the ninth century, the Camino evolved into a significant pilgrimage route. During the medieval period in Europe, numerous pilgrims established Santiago as one of the prominent pilgrimage sites of Christendom, alongside Jerusalem and Rome. It is believed that St. Francis of Assisi traveled the Camino from Italy.

The Camino de Santiago draws over 200,000 pilgrims annually from across the globe. While many are Christians, a significant number come from various religious backgrounds or none whatsoever. What they frequently have in common is a quest for understanding and insight, which have become progressively harder to attain in secular contemporary society.

“Individuals on The Way are seeking ‘the more,’ not additional possessions, but something transcendent, as they realize they are destined for something larger,” stated Lisa Gulino, a staff member at a parish in Maine who journeyed the Camino in 2014.

Gulino, 57, who leads sessions for the University of Notre Dame’s STEP program, shared with Our Sunday Visitor that she embarked on the Camino to contemplate her life as she celebrated her 50th birthday and reached a significant milestone of three decades in parish and diocesan lay ministry. Additionally, she aimed to honor the Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI from 2012 to 2013, during which he urged the faithful to meditate on their lives as disciples.

“My friends would discuss it, but I didn’t truly sense a calling to undertake the Camino until the Year of Faith,” Gulino remarked. She transported six pounds of prayer requests in envelopes throughout her Camino, which she commenced at O Cebreiro, a small Spanish town where a Eucharistic miracle took place in 1300.

A lesson in humanity

The Camino de Santiago essentially denotes multiple paths in Spain, France, and Portugal that culminate at the cathedral in Santiago, Spain. The most frequented path is the French Way — the Camino Frances — which draws nearly two-thirds of the pilgrims annually.

The Camino Frances begins right across the border from Spain in St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port, situated in the southwestern part of France within the foothills of the Pyrenees. From this point, the 500-mile Camino meanders through four out of Spain’s 15 regions.

“It’s an extended pathway,” remarked Shepardson, who, similar to numerous individuals in the past ten years, was inspired to walk the Camino following the viewing of “The Way,” the 2011 film centered on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela featuring actor Martin Sheen and helmed by his son, Emilio Estevez.

“It was one of those moments of faith, the motivation, it simply wouldn’t leave me,” remarked Shepardson, who was still employed at that time and had two adolescent sons at home. Two years later, after taking a leave from work and purchasing hiking gear, Shepardson was heading to Europe.

“The Way serves as an excellent guide for the initial week of the Camino,” he remarked. “However, by the conclusion of the second week, the authentic experience takes you well beyond what the flatness of a film can convey.”

Nonetheless, the movie portrays various aspects of life along the Camino quite effectively, especially the bonds and friendships that form among pilgrims during the six to seven weeks of their trek through the Pyrenees and the plains of Spain.

“There were numerous characters,” stated Jason Steidl, 36, from Brooklyn, New York, who traversed the Camino during the summer of 2011.

“The companions I encountered on the journey hailed from Australia, Denmark, Germany and Italy. You truly form a global circle of friends. Those connections were exceptionally meaningful to me. I’m still communicating with many of those individuals,” said Steidl, a visiting assistant professor of religious studies at St. Joseph’s College in New York. Steidl informed Our Sunday Visitor that some of the individuals he bonded with the most during the Camino were atheists or had a secular perspective.

“Many individuals are undertaking the Camino for various reasons,” he remarked. “For me, the variety of viewpoints greatly enhanced the Camino experience. We could exchange thoughts and share our distinctly different backgrounds.”

Fran Szpylczyn, 63, who manages the office at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Glenville, New York, shared with Our Sunday Visitor that “all pretenses are removed” on the Camino as hikers journey together, sharing each other’s challenges, and frequently resting in the same “albergues,” or pilgrim accommodations.

“There’s no pretense. Individuals are dozing off, passing gas. … One individual snored in a way you wouldn’t believe. It was like snoring that could trigger seismic events,” stated Szpylczyn, who trekked the Camino in the autumn of 2016.

Steidl remarked that as one traverses the Camino, it becomes evident “how human we all are.”

“By staying in the albergues, you are in close proximity to others, often resting just a few feet away from fellow travelers,” Steidl noted. “You see, individuals produce noises. People have natural bodily functions. Some snore. Others have odors. It’s a deeply human physical experience, lovely in various aspects but occasionally quite difficult as well.”

Throughout the journey on the Camino, Steidl mentioned that he discovered the importance of not sharing a room with a Hungarian woman who snored excessively. Szpylczyn referred to a woman who gained notoriety among fellow pilgrims as “the bothersome, domineering Italian lady.”

“You observe all these diverse personalities; everyone is somewhat mixed together, akin to a current of individuals flowing forward,” Szpylczyn remarked. “However, it’s clear that everyone is searching for something while they’re on Camino.”

Chance for judgment

For Michael Rogers, 40, a legislative assistant at the Massachusetts State House in Boston, trekking the Camino in 2014 and 2017 provided him with the insight he required to understand his calling.

“There were matters I wished to contemplate and pray over,” stated Rogers, who was an ordained Jesuit priest during his visit to St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port in 2014.

Journeying along the Camino in two segments — he had to pause in 2014 due to severe blisters on his feet — provided him the strength to depart from the Jesuits and pursue laicization after recognizing that he had not been afforded the opportunity to discern his vocation independently, and that he had been essentially “nudged” into the priesthood and religious life. Nevertheless, in a discussion with Our Sunday Visitor, Rogers stressed that his exit from the order was not hostile and that he still cherishes and maintains a positive rapport with the Jesuits.

“Currently, the path is accessible,” Rogers stated. “I’m aware of what the following location is, but I can’t precisely envision what each halt on the journey entails. That’s a lesson you acquire on the Camino.”

The Camino also provided Greg Daly with the insight he required to realize that the vocation of a Dominican friar was not his true purpose in life.

“The Camino turned out to be a great chance for me to spend five or six weeks reflecting. However, ultimately, I ended up doing far less pondering than I anticipated and considerably more — I realize it’s a cliche — simply being,” stated Daly, 46, the editor of Leaven, a new digital publication for Irish Catholics.

Daly, residing north of Dublin, Ireland, shared with Our Sunday Visitor that he had been a Dominican novice in the period leading up to his journey on the Camino during May and June of 2014. He observed that numerous individuals along The Way were experiencing different transitional stages in their lives.

“Above all, there were individuals who found themselves in transitional phases, whether they were between employment, recently retired, or had just completed their studies. Numerous people were reflecting on their circumstances, and that’s where I found myself. I had been preparing for a life of faith for several years, and it hadn’t materialized,” Daly stated.

Strolling daily alongside a companion, Daly recited the Rosary while trekking through the rural areas of France and Spain. He was conscious of the innumerable individuals who had journeyed and prayed along those very routes throughout the past millennia.

“You continue to tread a path that has been sanctified by countless generations of individuals praying, suffering, and exchanging their material resources, their hopes, their narratives,” Daly remarked. “It’s akin to wearing down a sacred trail that has been polished by all that humanity in quest of the divine.”

POPULAR PILGRIM STOPS ALONG THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO

1. Pamplona The capital of Spain’s Navarra region, the city of Pamplona is well known for its famous San Fermín festival — the Running of the Bulls — each July 6-14. The festival celebrates the third-century bishop of Pamplona, who, tradition holds, was martyred by being dragged to death with angry bulls running after him. 2. The Sierra del Perdón Camino pilgrims often climb the Alto del Perdón near Pamplona. At the top, besides the spectacular views of rolling green mountains and valleys, is an iconic row of iron pilgrim statues, complete with children, dogs and donkeys. 3. Puente de la Reina The Camino passes through the main street of Puente la Reina, a small village in northern Spain. To resume their Camino, pilgrims walk across an old medieval bridge, known as the Puente Romanico. Queen Muniadona, the wife of King Sancho III, built the bridge in the 11th century for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. 4. Ayegui This town in the northern Spanish province of Navarre is perhaps best known for a fountain, located next to the Monastery of Iratxe, that dispenses real wine. Camino pilgrims as far back as the 12 century were known to stop in the village to refresh themselves with the monastery’s vino. 5. Burgos Cathedral The Cathedral de Santa María de Burgos is one of the most renowned cathedrals in Spain. Construction on the Gothic structure began in 1221. UNESCO declared the cathedral a World Heritage Site in 1984. 6. León The capital city of the Castilla y León region. Leon’s 13th-century Gothic cathedral — built on the site of second-century Roman baths — is renowned for its stained-glass windows that saturate the interior to such an extent that pilgrims have said it is as if the cathedral is constructed of light and color, not stone. The cathedral has perhaps the best preserved collection of medieval stained glass in Europe. 7. Ponferrada Ponferrada is the last major town on the Camino Frances before pilgrims reach Santiago de Compostela. In 1178, King Ferdinand II of León presented Ponferrada to the Knights Templar to thank them for protecting pilgrims traveling through the region on their way to Santiago de Compostela. The city’s Templar castle still rises above the River Sil, dominating the city’s historic quarter. 8. O Cebreiro The tiny Spanish village of O Cebreiro sits on the border between the regions of Castilla y León and Galicia. In 1300, a Eucharistic miracle reportedly occurred here while a Benedictine priest was celebrating Mass in a chapel in O’Cebreiro’s convent church. The Eucharistic host changed to flesh, and the wine, which turned into blood, was expelled from the chalice, staining the corporal. In the 15th century, Queen Isabella had a shrine made to hold the host, chalice and paten, which to this day is still venerated by pilgrims. 9. Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela The cathedral in Santiago, the traditional end of the Camino pilgrimage, is a Romanesque structure, with later Gothic and Baroque additions that reflect the historical epochs it has experienced. The cathedral’s renowned 12th century Pórtico da Gloria — “Portico of the Glory” in Galician — is designed as a porchway with three arches with carvings that portray the Final Judgement. The cathedral’s dome also features a pulley mechanism to swing the Botafumeiro, the famous 180-pound thurible that may be the largest censer in the world.

Physical challenges

The trails that have been treaded across the Spanish countryside were not established without effort. Covering 500 miles in six weeks, occasionally exceeding 20 miles daily, is a challenging physical endeavor, even for younger individuals who are fairly fit.

“The Camino can break down even those who are marathon athletes and in excellent shape,” remarked Steidl, who was a 26-year-old runner when he trekked the Camino in June and July of 2011. Being youthful and fit didn’t prevent him from developing painful blisters on his feet.

“Here I found myself, quite fit, a runner, yet my feet were suffering in my own footwear. That was the most disheartening aspect for me. The pain was absolutely unbearable,” remarked Steidl, who experienced knee and back issues as he modified his gait to steer clear of his blisters. Steidl’s youthful body recuperated and adjusted to the Camino’s physical challenges.

“It was an encounter that connected me with my physical boundaries,” Steidl stated. “I became aware of how much of a physical experience it truly is. I understood that I needed to nourish my body. I had to get plenty of rest each night; otherwise, my body would deteriorate. I had to look after myself at every stage to finish the journey.”

The bodily trials extend beyond mere discomfort and exhaustion. Travelers frequently find themselves trekking through chilly rain and piercing winds. There are sweltering days when the sun shines brightly and temperatures climb into the high 90s, compelling travelers to hydrate or face the dangers of heat exhaustion.

“It was challenging physically,” remarked Daly, who remembered a day spent trudging through icy rain. He sat trembling in a town square, having dinner outside an eatery. A waitress came out and draped a blanket over his shoulders.

“And then there were occasions when it seemed like a stroll in the park,” Daly remarked. “You’d be fatigued by the conclusion, but it’d be a joyful fatigue.”

In the meantime, Rogers’ blisters became so severe that he had to quit his 2014 Camino at Burgos, Spain. Reflecting on his experience, Rogers mentioned that he ought to have better prepared for the pilgrimage. Prior to going back to Spain in 2017, Rogers started working out at the gym.

“Each day was leg day,” remarked Rogers, who also took long walks while donning a weighted vest. He mentioned that the physical training for the Camino also involves understanding what items are unnecessary while traversing The Way.

“Some of it involves telling yourself, ‘Honestly, I really don’t need to lug around a 30-pound pack,’ and minimizing it to just the fundamentals,” Rogers stated. “Embracing only the fundamentals is a facet of grace, understanding that you require little beyond a change of clothing, a few toiletries, and water.”

Shepardson, the former airline pilot from Pennsylvania, stated that he discovered quite early during his initial Camino that he was transporting “far too much” in his backpack.

“The Camino is an excellent pilgrimage for understanding how minimal your needs can be,” Shepardson remarked, noting that it was fascinating to observe all the belongings that pilgrims discarded in the hostels during that initial week on the journey.

“The Camino serves as an excellent means to purify oneself spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally, allowing one to release all that unnecessary weight,” he stated.

Concluding with communion

In the concluding kilometers of the journey, the Camino approaches its spiritual peak as travelers reach the periphery of Santiago and start to spot the towers of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. At this stage, the paths are crowded with pilgrims, including those who trekked the minimum 100 kilometers to earn recognition for finishing the Camino.

“At that moment, you realize you’re getting nearer. You feel joy, yet a hint of sadness because it’s nearing its conclusion,” Szpylczyn remarked. “There’s such a powerful sensation. You turn a corner, and suddenly you find yourself in this square. It’s incredibly moving.”

Upon reaching Santiago, Daly mentioned that he and his companion completed their Rosary prayer just as they exited a tunnel and appeared in front of the cathedral.

“It may seem rehearsed, but it unfolded precisely like that,” he stated. “The entire experience was life-changing. It’s somewhat akin to the conclusion of the Chronicles of Narnia, where you’re recognizing individuals you’ve encountered on your journey, and now they’re positively glowing with happiness. The immense delight that was spilling over, I’ve never witnessed anything quite like it.”

A typical experience for travelers reaching Santiago and making their way to the cathedral for Mass is encountering all the individuals they had crossed paths with during the past six weeks. Often, pilgrims come together again after not having seen one another since the initial week or two on the Camino.

Gulino, a parish worker in Maine, mentioned that she encountered eight individuals in Santiago whom she had crossed paths with weeks prior on the Camino. Upon spotting them later at the pilgrim’s Mass in the cathedral, Gulino reflected on the Communion of Saints.

“To me, it represented how, when we arrive at the Lord’s house, we will encounter those we have cherished, those whom we have aided, and I believe we’ll gain an understanding of how we have supported others in developing their own spiritual journey,” Gulino stated.

Watching the renowned giant thurible swaying within the cathedral — featured in the film “The Way” — also prompted Rogers to reflect on all the souls who have offered their prayers in the cathedral throughout the ages.

“You sense the bond with individuals who have been a part of your journey over the years when you arrive at the cathedral,” Rogers stated. “You truly experience the weight of the history surrounding you, and in fact, it’s the Communion of Saints that envelops you as you enter.”

Shepardson, who journeyed the Camino with his spouse, Cindy, and their two children in 2016, and later with Cindy once more in 2019, expressed that it remains “highly emotional” to recall reaching Santiago, entering the cathedral, honoring the tomb of St. James, participating in the pilgrim Mass, and observing the large thurible, referred to as the “Botafumeiro,” or “smoke expeller” in Galician.

“Each time I’ve journeyed along the Camino, my emotional arrival has varied greatly,” remarked Shepardson, who mentioned that he has already crafted the rosaries he plans to pray with and distribute to fellow pilgrims the next time he walks The Way — “whenever that might be,” Shepardson stated.

Brian Fraga is a contributing editor for Our Sunday Visitor.