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16th NCSR Uppsala, Sweden
August 22-25, 2002
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Gustav
Erik Gullikstad Karlsaune
Associate professor Department of Religious
Studies Norwegian N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
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Email comments are most
welcome!
Gustav Erik Gullikstad Karlsaune
Secular
Protestants – and Pilgrims?
Preliminary results of an analysis of material gathered at
the end of the last millennium at the Nidaros Cathedral in
Summary:
From
the introduction about the anthropological phenomenon of pilgrimage, I move to
the extensive research on pilgrimage done by Professor Don Paolo Giuriati. The
first part of the main section is a glimpse at (1) the origins of pilgrimage
to
Introduction
Pilgrimage seems to be a universal human
phenomenon. It is not restricted to certain cultures or times, not either to
religiosity as an isolated area of certain people’s experience, and definitely
not to certain religions alone. Hence, we might add some fragments of valuable
knowledge about mankind by focusing on this widespread and highly alive human
experience being enacted in pilgrimage.
Enacted human experience is no phenomenon to be
conceived of as mere subjectivity. Community, society and culture are the
instances that structure enacted subjective human experience. Thus, documenting
the experience enacted by persons, means revealing the structures of the social
institutions of the culture where the subjects belong. Getting hold of
(subjective) experience, we can observe basic (objective) social institutions
like friendship or co-work, transitory or permanent, but as well far developed
(objective) institutions in complex structures like for instance the Lutheran
State Church of Norway. Investigating the experience of the visitors to the
Nidaros Cathedral in
Pilgrimage is genuinely an outcome of popular
religiosity. It is religion from below. Religious authorities or experts have
not created the human phenomenon of pilgrimage. But the elite group of a
religion can use it as a means for execution of power. They can make it
obligatory they can encourage it, they can criticize it, or they can as well
forbid it - all for the sake of a salvation ideology.
In Christianity, the religious authorities
criticized pilgrimage heavily already in the 4th century. Gregory of
Nyssa attacked even those traveling to the Holy Land: “If you are full of evil
thoughts, you will remain far from Christ, despite your pilgrimages to
Golgotha, the
The Protestant Lutheran authorities of the 16th
century went just a bit further on that line, abandoning pilgrimage, and
seemingly, they have succeeded remarkably well, making lay Lutherans forget
about pilgrimage. At least for 400 years, with the upsurge of the so-called
“new religiosity” from the late 1960ies on, we might be witnessing a change.
And the present empirical material collected at the Nidaros Cathedral during
the late 1990ies, might show it.
The
context of the research project – in the memory of Don Paolo Giuriati
The material I am using is derived from a
research project initiated and conducted by the late Don Paolo Giuriati in
Don Paolo was in the middle of a comprehensive
research activity he had been fully occupied with for more than 20 years, along
with coworkers and assistants. He had conducted a series of projects on pilgrim
sites during the 1980ies and 90ties from his center for research in the
sociology of religion. All the material he produced and collected is still in
the archives of “Centro Ricerche Socio Religiose”, located at the venerable
“Seminaro Vescovile” in
Don Paolo erected this center as an empirical
part of his scientific endeavor as a scholar in the sociology of religion. The
center became specialized in research on pilgrimage. Naturally, since
Due to the experience and reflection Don Paolo
did himself, but also through the contributions by co-working scholars, like
anthropologists, his horizon was extended to pay attention to pilgrimage as an
anthropological phenomenon. This brought him to visit
Being a researcher with a true empirical mind,
Don Paolo developed not only his theoretical perspective, but also methodology
and research techniques for pilgrimage research during the years. Maybe Don
Paolo’s most interesting scientific achievement is in the development and use
of a visual way of research method and of research “documentation” in his
investigations and presentations. Step by step he moved from readymade
questionnaires to interviews, then to slides, and then to video recordings. All
along, participant observation has played an important in the research, and of
course, and he also started collecting the objects the pilgrims brought home
from the sites, “pilgrim souvenirs”.
Another extension of his research horizon was
done also in the last years of the 90ies, when he started a research project on
a Protestant location, to wit, the activity around the Nidaros Cathedral in
King Olav Haraldson at the beginning of the 11th
century also had to defeat the chiefs in Troendelag to restore his kingdom. He
failed and fell in the battle of Stiklestad, a place in a valley by the fjord
Whatever happened historically, the fact is
that the sentiment of the people turned totally in favor of King Olav during
that late summer and the following winter. So far that only one year and a
handful of days later, on the 3rd of August 1031, the king was dug
out of the ground, declared a saint and laid into a shrine by the bishop that
had followed him throughout his career. At that time, there was no need for a
papal confirmation of a saint. In a few years, around 1070, the shrine with St.
Olav was located in a newly built church, which lies in the fundaments of the
Nidaros Cathedral today.
On the old foundations of the region as a
center for political power and cultural resources, the religious fame of St.
Olav as a man of miracles soon made Nidaros into one of the European centers
for pilgrimage. An archbishop see was erected in Trondheim 1152.The combination
of Trondheim being a center for the church power elite and a site for a
considerable amount of pilgrims, made up the foundation for the erection of a
church that today is one of the largest and lavishly ornamented in the Nordic
countries, but in the Middle Ages must have been an absolutely overwhelming
edifice.
This situation seems to have been consolidated
and continued until the Reformation in 1536. Then the archbishop see was ended,
and pilgrimage, after still some activity 20 years later, was finally banned in
1568. The king gave orders to cover St. Olav’s grave with a layer of earth and
hide it forever. After 500 years, the pilgrimage to Nidaros cathedral that
contained the relics of St. Olav ended, and so absolute, it is amazing.
Reformation times: Did the Lutherans really abandon pilgrimage?
Yes, they did. In the confessions of the 16th
Century, the rejection of pilgrimage, however, is no isolated issue, neither
for Luther nor his followers. It is a consequence of the ruling principle of
the Lutheran ideology, to wit, that a Christian is saved a he or she is justified by
grace through faith. Luther invoked this theme against the
Catholics (and later also the Reformed Christians), as he attacked their stress
of good works or moral earnestness as part of salvation. This
conceptual opposition ended up rather black and white. Faith was divine, given
by God; good works, like pilgrimage, were manmade, Devil’s dirty trick. More of
the different Lutheran Confessions, united in the Book of Concord of
1580, have remarks on pilgrimage, and the refutation clearly goes rougher
during time.
In the
Augsburg Confession of 1530 – article 20 about faith and good works – is
listed good works that are “childish and unnecessary”, like for instance pilgrimage
and the worship of saints. At the end of the same book indulgence
and pilgrimage are listed among the worst misuses of the church.
In the
Apology, from the same year – the article 12, about penance – is
pilgrimage mentioned an example of one of the most stupid practices in the
church to gain saving merits. Then later in the same book is claimed that
pilgrimages, of which there is an abundant variety, “one travels in armor,
another walks barefooted”, are considered useless worship by Christ himself.
In the
Schmalkaldic articles of 1536 – article 2 of part 2, about the Mass –
Luther puts pilgrimage and relics of saints among the lies, dirty
tricks, and devilish inventions of the papists.
In an informative booklet, the Norwegian
historian Grethe Authén Blom has used the few sources available to depict
Nidaros as a city of pilgrimage. She locates the activity in a pan-European
pilgrimage context. This perspective seems adequate. Also Don Paolo was
fascinated by the presence and settlement of the
The initial motive for conceiving King Olav as
a Saint seems to the ability connected to his dead body presence, to heal the
bodily sick or disabled. The Saga writer Snorre really wants to be an
historian, and this is what he tells. Naturally, this has by historian again
and again been doubted and refuted – a critic by the wise guys that of course
only confirms the miracle for the believers. Consequently, when the divine
power of God worked miracles through him, he had to be a holy man, and if he
was a holy man, he also got the glorious position of being a martyr. These were
the kernel reasons for the bishop to declare the defeated king a saint. And
this was enough to quickly trigger pilgrimage on a wider scale. Already
The Nidaros pilgrimage institutionalizes
We do not have eyewitness’ records on how the
pilgrimage to Nidaros was performed, neither at the aim, nor during the
journey. There is indirect information by notices and references, but this is
easily mingled with what went on elsewhere in Europe on pilgrimage. As is true
for the whole story of course. A social scientist will recognize the
institutionalizing process that inevitably follows socially on the initial
phenomenon of a local person connected to miracle and martyrdom.
Institutionalizing processes might be original and very slow, but as often they
run rather quickly, because they implement a social structure already at hand.
Pilgrimage was a firmly institutionalized
phenomenon in Europe, ready to be applied on the actual St. Olav and thus, the
city of Nidaros – and certainly on the
pilgrim performance, what human acts of the human action repertoire were
actualized and what vocabulary to use to interpret these acts. Hence, what
really would make a person perform a pilgrimage to Nidaros, subjectively and
spontaneously, what private motives he or she really felt, what their
experiences during the journey and at the aim were, and if the everyday life in
any way was changed, when they were back, we do not know. If we think we know,
we probably rely on the vivid imagination of great authors, like Sigrid Undset,
who has conveyed ample access to the inner life of a pilgrim person in her
books about Kristin Lavransdatter.
We do not know much about the pilgrim from the
subjective side. From the objective side, however, the pilgrimage institution,
we have excessive knowledge, physically, socially and theologically. The status
of St. Olav was reinforced with heavy plausibility structures. By the officials
of the Church, naturally, but also by the political authority, the King, they
both promoted the St. Olav pilgrimage. The archbishop erected a cathedral for
the shrine, so huge, generations had to build on it. Books were written, to
enrich the idea of the martyrdom and miracles. Like archbishop Eystein’s Passio
et miracula Beati Olavi – the “Sufferings and Miracles of St. Olav” – in
the 12th century, of which issues have been found both in England
and France.
The kings provided the paths with shelters and
marks, and called the locals to keep the roads in order, and also treat the
pilgrims well. Apparently, in the groups of pilgrim passing, there were enough
black sheep to make the locals dislike the traffic. Sets of laws concerning the
pilgrims and their protection were produced. Written recommendations became
usual, even passports for foreigners. Since Nidaros is a port city, one should
not forget that the pilgrims also came by sea. To confirm the main routes for
the pilgrimage to Nidaros on land, a series of churches dedicated to St. Olav
are still to be found in the Nordic countries.
The necessary outfit for a journey like a
pilgrimage became standardized. One reason might be to ease the identification
of a pilgrim from the rest of the social life. For a journey like this, one
should have only the basic necessities, but at the same time, what covered the
basic needs, had to be solid. A woolen overcoat would be obligatory, as cover
for the night as well. A hat would be needed to protect the head from the sun
and rain and snow. Good shoes would be a basic requisite for the wanderers, as
well as a solid stick to lean onto.
Finally, a suitable bag for the few things necessary for a pilgrim to carry
on, and the vestment is completed. Anyone having a conception of a pilgrim
should now be able to clearly imagine the stereotype figure often sculptured as
St. James.
Further, the pilgrimage, of course, had trade effects. Mercenary souls around would detect the potential market for the production and sales of outfits. In addition, the pilgrims would always like to take back objects from their journey, especially from the shrine. Primarily, objects of sacred nature had to be produced, but also others, more like souvenirs, objects that keep the memory fresh and remind you of the nature, the colors, the view and the smell of the place.
In Nidaros, St. Olav was associated especially
with the well on the riverbank were he was dug down just after the battle to be
hidden for the enemies. This appeared to be a well for cure, and during time,
there are several wells named after him along the pilgrim paths. For the
tradesmen, this was the opportunity to produce small bottles for the holy water
the pilgrims would carry back. In addition, amulets like ornaments for the
neck, or as a pin to attach to the coat would suit a pilgrim fine.
The motives for pilgrimage in the Middle Age
All what so far is mentioned, belongs to the
outer reality, and can be found in descriptions of the time or dug out of the ground
at the site – and along the routes – and scrutinized. When we address the issue
of the motives for pilgrimage, however, we will immediately be overrun by the
theology of the prevailing Middle Age Catholic salvation ideology. So was the
pilgrim of the Middle Age himself or herself too. If he or she would articulate
motives, what else could they do than rely on the church vocabulary attached to
pilgrimage? Would it be possible to say anything about the motivation for
pilgrimage without using the Church concepts like penance and penitence,
purgatory and indulgence? – Hardly, and definitely, their thoughts would not be
written down, since those who could write belonged to the social authorities.
The semantic field of concepts actualized is a
practical application of the general concepts of sin and salvation typical for
the Catholic theology and its juridical and thus sort of calculative mind. Sin
cannot only be diversified; it can be quantified and measured. Sin is a
“crime”, law is applied to calculate the guilt, and then the punishment – and
here is where pilgrimage fits in. Pilgrimage is a definitely an achievement and
easily produces suffering – suitable for punishment, or in the Church
vocabulary, penance, merits of good works neutralizing the effect of bad acts.
In addition, not only the sufferings of a fatiguing journey counted, at the
shrine at the aim, the veneration of the relics of the saint – so the
authorities – would produce a nice substitute for own good works from the
excess stock of the saint, in indulgence.
For the general conditions of being a human
creature stuck in a life of insecurity, dilemmas, and bad conscience from evil
acts, this religious ideological solution is most comforting, of course.
However, it does not cover all the aspects of pilgrimage, if we widen the
horizons and take in account the universal phenomenon of pilgrims and other
possible aspects of the anthropological conditions at work. Let us consider
bodily healing for example – where actually also the St. Olav cult seems to
have begun.
In one way or another, healing can of course be
located into this system, but not really as the basic physical fact of
existence, to be or not to be. Although this, naturally, has always been a
major concern for people, at least it becomes crucial in the biography when it
is no theoretical problem any more, but penetrates the actual bodily reality.
This everyday life concern has clung to human beings throughout times. But here
we are on the grounds of subjectivity again, a realm put into the shadows by
the overwhelming objective sin-and-salvation system in the perspective of
eternity and heaven of the church institution.
For the Lutheran Protestants the healing aspect
seems to be outside their horizon when they attack pilgrimage, which confirms
the impression of the whole dispute being rather mental, just an ideological
criticism of another religious ideology, coined by the actual times. The
physicality of existence, nature in all it aspects, seems to have been only the
stage features of this world for the real world of struggles for salvation
ideas. This assumption of one-sidedness might be confirmed by the fact that the
pendulum swung to the opposite side by the emergence of the natural science
mind that came to dominate the mind of Western Europe ever since.
Religious and political experts and authorities
discussing is just one realm of social and cultural life, if we observe it as
objective reality, but definitely if we see it in the perspective of subjective
reality. From the subjective side, it is impossible to jump the problems of
everyday life. On the contrary, the everyday life is the paramount reality.
Pilgrimages should be considered from a starting point located to everyday
life. If we do not, at least the present material from the Nidaros Cathedral,
to which we shall soon be turning would easily be misinterpreted or downright
incomprehensible. However, we would not really understand or interpret
adequately the contemporary material gathered by Don Paolo from the Catholic sites
of pilgrimage either, if we use the concepts of the Middle Age religious
ideology only.
The actual interest in pilgrimage in Norway
In the last decades of the last century, there
has been a process of increasing awareness in Norway of pilgrimage as an option
for traveling. It is still rather rising than declining. One indication would
be the visits to Santiago de Compostela. They are recorded as far as the
visitors get certificates. To obtain the "Compostela", the pilgrim must have
walked or come on horseback for at least the last
The contemporary common interest in pilgrimage
connected to the Nidaros Cathedral has – as in the Middle Age – corresponded
with initiatives by the authorities, in the church as well as politics and in
the public administration. There is a sort of mutual support and promotion from
the side of common interest and official contributions. A strong input was made
by the fact of the millennium jubilee of the city of Trondheim in 1997, an
occasion for restoring pilgrim paths for instance. There has even be produced a
public documentary film about parts of this path by one of the best producers,
shown on the main Norwegian TV channel, NRK 1.
The 1000 years anniversary of the foundation of
the city of Trondheim 1997
A fundamental question in drawing up the
projects for the great celebration was how the identity of Trondheim was to be
launched. There were obvious recent reasons, like the city of education and
research, and historically, like the trade and port city, or the Norwegian culture
and Church center. At the end, the pilgrim city became the logo. For good
reasons the first 500 years, since the European fame of the city would probably
not have existed at all without St. Olav, the pilgrimage, and the archbishop
see, construction the impressive edifice of the cathedral. And then the recent
revitalization of the idea of pilgrimage in the Norwegian mind was most welcome
as a contemporary reference too.
“European Pilgrimage
The common interest in pilgrimage, and the
Christian Church awareness of it in (the unified) Europe, had a most
interesting outcome in the establishment of the ecumenical project
"European Pilgrimage 2000". Protestants, Lutherans as well as
Anglicans, and Catholics and Orthodox representatives joined in this project.
In every Church region a pilgrim site was chosen and made an aim for pilgrimage
at different periods of time the millennium year 2000. The actual pilgrimage
was naturally connected to the yearly festivals that are normally held at every
site.
The "Pilgrim Office" – and the
"Confraternity of St. James, Norway"
Another interesting recent innovation on the
scene of pilgrimage in Norway was the establishment of a Pilgrim Office in
Oslo. This initiative came from Eivind Luthen. This instance might be seen
from the side of the common interest in pilgrimage, not from the side of the
authorities. At least in the beginning, the authorities, like historians,
Church officials, and the Directorate of Cultural Heritage, were critical to
his activity and publications.
However, this enterprise thrives, and the
magazine published by the office, "Pilegrimen", initiated 1996, has
developed into a thick, well illustrated, compilation of actual texts. An
indicator of what horizon is evolving on the pilgrimage scene might be the more
recent establishment of the "Confraternity of St. James, Norway",
relating, of course, to Santiago de Compostela. An earlier leaflet introducing
the society uses a logo that is a picture on a shrine for holy relics from a
stave church in Norway, depicting together St. Olav and St. James. The articles
of the magazine combines information about St. James and Santiago with St. Olav
and Nidaros, but has as well frequent references to other saints too, like
Birgitta of Vadstena, Sweden and local saints in Norway.
The Pilgrim Office also contains a shop,
selling items for pilgrims. There has even been cooperation between the office
and art designers in producing ornaments and objects for pilgrims. They are
sold at jewelers, but also from the Pilgrim Office, along with actual books and
other publications for anyone interested in pilgrimage. The business seems to
go well.
The documentary film on pilgrim path
A well known documentary film producer in
Norway, professor Sverre Krüger at NTNU, Trondheim, also produced a film
on the main pilgrim path from the southeast, shown on the main national TV
channel, NRK
Nature is present in medieval pilgrimage, but
solely as a threat, a risk, a source only for additional sufferings, it seems.
Exactly the nature makes the pilgrimage a challenge and an achievement. This
might be due to common experience. The medieval peasantry person lives from
nature. It is not anything enjoyable, it is where the fatiguing work of
everyday life is performed. Sometimes nature causes a great battle for basic
existence.
Professor Krüger focuses on the experience of
nature, in a way that awakens familiar, positive feeling for most modern
Norwegians. The experiences he recalls are not only the beautiful sights of
colors and shapes, and of smells and tastes, but as well of silence and peace,
and even of great and overwhelming dramas. Norwegians have an observable
attitude towards nature that apparently resembles religion, but unfortunately
has not been investigated systematically at all. Krüger intuitively uses it,
and it is a most interesting feature in the challenge of interpreting the
experience of Norwegian wanderers or visitors, or, why not straightaway –
actual pilgrims.
The course for further education at the
university in Trondheim 1996
Under the influence of the general occupation
with pilgrimage, the Department of Religious Studies at NTNU, Trondheim,
arranged its annual up-grading course under the theme "The Pilgrim".
I was responsible for the course and invited Don Paolo and his assistants to
contribute with lectures on doing slides and videos, as well as developing the
theoretical framework to interpret the phenomenon. Most interesting to all was
the attempt to broaden the perspective, including young travelers today making
efforts to visit for instance the grave of their idols. We had a most adequate
and delightful example in a fresh documentary, a film shot at the grave of Jim
Morrison in Paris. Why do young people force police barriers to get there? Why
do they leave items there, like leather jackets, bottles of wine etc.? There
might be a difference to traditional religious sites, but what is then the
difference in experience, and in motives? There is certainly a striking
similarity. It was actually a youngster who gave me the concrete idea when he
enthusiastically told me the police had chased him on a graveyard in Paris,
because he wanted to see Jim Morrison’s grave. “You know, it is really a
pilgrimage going on down there”, he said.
Liturgical Center in Trondheim
The last reference shedding light on the common
occupation with ritualistic behavior like pilgrimage is the institution
"Liturgical Center". It was set up by the Ministry of Church Affairs
in 1996 and officially opened in 1997. It is located to the restored part of
the old archbishop palace in Trondheim, situated beside the cathedral. The
center also has affiliation to “Center for Middle Age Studies” at the
university in Trondheim, NTNU.
There has definitely been an emerging interest for rituals among Norwegian during the last few decades. The establishment of a liturgical center by the authorities corresponds to another phenomenon easily observed among common performers of religiosity. Two decades ago, for instance, lightening candles in a Norwegian church would be totally out of place. Today it is widespread, and in the Cathedral of Nidaros, it is a most natural thing to do. There is of course an easy detectable relation between the acceptance, and even appreciation, of ritual behavior and the readiness to join in on a pilgrimage.
The Church
Interestingly enough, it has not been the
highest administrative level of the Norwegian Church, the bishops that has
promoted the interest in pilgrimage. The initiatives have come from civic
authorities, enthusiastic pastors or lay volunteers. However, as far as the
activity has included ecumenical events, the local Nidaros bishop has been
always representing. A contribution directly to the activity is a pilgrim
certificate, like the "Compostela", carrying the signature of the
bishop at Nidaros. So far, there are no qualifications attached to acquire this
certificate with a beautiful picture of the St. Olav antemensale, only a price
to bed paid. Supporting, but not
promoting pilgrimage, has also the official institution "Nidaros Cathedral
Restoration Works", for instance, publishing books concerning pilgrimage.
Features of Catholic Pilgrimage today
We might use fragments of Don Paolo’s own text
written in Trondheim August 2000 (not yet published) to illustrate the Catholic
part of contemporary pilgrimage.
Before drawing conclusions, it is useful to integrate the
above information with the flow of visitors to the different shrines, according
to the estimates by the shrine authorities at the beginning of each research
project.
These are the approximate annual figures:
·
St.
Anthony: 4 million visitors per year for 1975-81, 70% were
pilgrims; 5-6
million visitors per year for 1991-96, 70% were
pilgrims;
·
Lourdes: 4 million visitors per year for 1982-84, 75% were
pilgrims; 5
million visitors for 1994-95;
·
Fatima: 2 million visitors in 1986; 3
million visitors in 1995;
·
Czestochowa: 4-5
million visitors per year since 1992;
·
Loreto:
3.5 million visitors for 1987-88; at least 2,500,000 were pilgrims;
·
Belleville: 1
million visitors; only 65% of them were catholic;
·
Guadalupe: 12, perhaps 15-20 million visitors for 1990-92, almost all of them were pilgrims; there was no
official record but Guadalupe is, without comparison, the most attended of
catholic shrines;
·
San
Leopold Mandic: 1-2
million visitors;
·
Oratoire
St. Joseph: 2 million visitors;
·
Santiago: in 1999 157,000 pilgrims arrived on foot, 25,000 on
bicycle, approximately 6 million visited the cathedral and 7 million visited the city;
·
Turin: (exposition of the Holy Shroud in 1998): more than 2
million people.
·
As to
Medjugorje, there is no statistical
information about the year when the research was done (1985). The phenomenon
was at its beginning. According to reliable suppositions between 1981 and 1985
at least 2 million people
visited.
·
In Denver, in 1993 there were approximately 500.000
people.
·
In Paris, one and a half
million people attended.
At all the places studied, the number of visitors and
pilgrims has been growing. That also happened at the two World Youth Meetings of Manila and Paris held after the Denver meeting.
Temporary generalizations [By Don Paolo as
well]
The […] data showed that in the
places studied, the phenomenon of pilgrimage is quite consistent. It follows
that even more relevant is the question of how each shrine welcomes the people
coming to it. Given the different “age”, morphological structure and sacred
environment of each holy place the answer is not simple. However some analogies
are evident:
·
The convergence point of the attention and flow of visitors is a sacred
building or a complex of sacred buildings belonging to the “shrine type,” with
one or two bell towers (or something of high size similar to a tower) and/or a
dome, visible from far away.
·
The visitors, mainly the devout, when at the shrine, set out on a walk
during which they visit the places where the message is proposed.
·
The message is proposed through a set of symbols or relics or places
concerning a “sacred event” (miracles, apparitions, facts) that embody a
message or during which a message was transmitted through one or more
intermediates (the seer or the seers).
·
The message constitutes the reason and goal of the visit, and the shrine
structure is its eloquent proposal and justification.
·
Visiting the places and through a set of rites correlated with the sacred event or the sacred memory (the sacred relic) the devout wishes to participate
in some way in this event or memory and assimilate its message.
The
analysis (made through participant observation and recorded on slides and
videotape) of behavior of people attending the sacred places pointed out some
recurrent characteristics.
·
Together the pilgrims experience a deep but
personalized communication with a sacred interlocutor and in some way this also
touches mere visitors.
·
That communication has the authority of the
Church’s institution as its frame of reference and the Church’s prayers and
sacraments as its ritual code.
·
The folkloric dimension of the feast is something not directly related
to the pilgrimage as such, or like at Loreto, Guadalupe and Czestochowa is its
frame or support in occasion of the shrine festival.
All
together, the data from various pilgrimages analyzed to date, indicate:
·
Pilgrimage constitutes a religious and human
experience founded in the entirety of the pilgrim’s life.
·
Through this experience the visitor
reinforces, or rediscovers, or for the first time finds, access to a communion
with the “radically other”.
·
As a consequence, the pilgrim feels
recharged.
·
Daily routine takes on meaning and substance
for the pilgrim and becomes an occasion for meeting, reconciling and sharing
with others and with himself.
The data
collected and analyzed about the pilgrimages considered in this paper,
confirmed the starting hypothesis. They suggested that even contemporary
people, because of the cost involved in living in today’s society, need to
participate in a sacred moment that gives them the chance to communicate with a
reality which may be not as contingent and precarious as is the daily, historical
and profane part of their lives. In other words, humans, as such, have an
innate religious component.
Because
of this, the prospect of modifying the profane
by introducing a sacred moment
may be seen as normal. Pilgrimage should be considered a privileged means and
time, at the social and cultural level, to experiment with that possibility in
a real and concrete way.
One of the most successful means of verifying
the above data seem to have been the special multimedia approach to the complex
phenomenon of contemporary pilgrimages within the Catholic Church. It might be interesting to
test how this approach could be used to understand the same phenomenon in other
religions and, at the same time, to see how other approaches from other
religious contexts may be useful to better understand Catholic pilgrimages and
pilgrimages in general.
Paolo Giuriati: Shrines
and Peregrinations in the Catholic Church today. August 2000
Abstracting the content, we find the following
fundamental features in the quoted text:
A. Observable features – suitable for records
in slides and video shots
These features explicated
Don Paolo depicts a shrine of pilgrimage as a
place for communication or dialogue. The place has a message. It is not
a message of words only, not even primarily.
The message starts formulating itself already when the pilgrim sees the
location of his goal, how the shrine is a paramount structure in the
surroundings of “normal” nature and an everyday social life. This perceived
reality resembles the reality of the inner landscape, how the pilgrim
experience is paramount in the abundance of all other experiences in a person’s
world.
For the Catholic pilgrim, however, as Don Paolo
depicts it, the hearth of the message is found in the saint, and the
communicative communion with the saint the shrine is erected for. Thus the
saint is the other person in an intimate dialogue with the pilgrim person. The
saint is a person you talk with. The saint is an interlocutor, as Don
Paolo describes it, using another of the key concepts he coined. The most
conspicuous manifestation of this in the Catholic world is of course the
“intenzioni di preghiera”, which we usually find at a Catholic pilgrim shrine,
all the small pieces of paper where prayers are written down. In the material
archives of the CRSR, there are almost 9.000 “intentions”, in an amazing
variety of languages, gathered during research at the different shrines (by the
approval of the shrine authorities, of course).
The intimate “conversation” with the saint at
the shrine is, a Don Paolo states it, the aim for the visit. This is why the
person breaks out of the everyday routines to do a pilgrimage, to find “the
other” to talk with, as he puts it. And this interlocution is no isolated
religious event, It is what is felt recharging the spirit of the person, giving
force to manage the course of everyday life, coping with its inherent
occurring, recurring, and permanent problems. Apparently, as Don Paolo sees it,
primarily, the everyday life scene is social; life is about communication.
Sociology at work: Research from Below
The first group of features extracted from Don
Paolo’s article, also reveals the general sociological perspective at work.
Pilgrimage is put into the framework of the human experience of life as a
coherent world, made up by physical and social environment. This world
experienced by the human being has lots of places of different importance and
even several realities. But still, it is a unified world in the person’s
experience of this as his or her life – not as his or her personal and private
life.
A person can be studied as part in a specific
province of meaning of his or her world. For instance, a soccer player or a
professor can be described, restricted to the area where they perform their
occupational roles. It happens all the time, not least in the media. There we
get only suggestions about “another life”, as “he or she is married, with
children”, but everyone knows that this is the “real life”, the reality the
person departs from and returns to.
Pilgrims cannot adequately be studied as if
they were performing an occupation or a role, definitely not a solitary
religious role. If anything, they are performing themselves. We might recall
what we just heard Kristin say, in the newspaper interview, “this is a place to
meet yourself”. This should be an apt illustration; the more as she also says
“I am no [practicing] Christian”. She is not there to perform a religious duty.
She is there to be really herself. Apparently, Kristin integrates the event of
the vigilance in her everyday life, not into a specific religious life of hers.
This observation of a Protestant might clarify the concern of Don Paolo’s analysis of pilgrimage. On the Catholic scene, as well as in much what is written by historian and theologians, all too often, a pilgrim appears as a role performer on a scene staged by the Church authorities. The pilgrim is expected to think what the authorities normatively state is the meaning of the role. And then, the actual pilgrim, in his or hers appearance, might be considered more or less deviant from the real performer, the figure with the hat, coat, stick and bag. Hence, a visitor who cannot be distinguished from tourists cannot be a pilgrim. And definitely he or she is not, if they cannot give the expected account of being a pilgrim.
Pilgrimage is genuinely a part of popular
religiosity. And actually, we do not know too much about popular religiosity,
not today and not in the Middle Age – in its own right, that is. What we know
enough of, today as then, is how deviant popular religiosity is from what is
the correct and rationally acceptable religiosity of the elite. This is a bias
easily distorting the conception of the performed human reality, and an
obstacle for pursuing a serious interest in an important aspect of cultural
life like pilgrimage.
This biased attitude is true also in the
Catholic Church. Don Paolo was very aware of that. Thus he also organized
questionnaires for those working at the shrines as well, asking their opinion
about the pilgrim, how reflected they thought pilgrims to be, and so on.
Surprising, to me at least, even these persons who worked in service of them,
were inclined to turn their nose up at the pilgrims. As a Norwegian nun also,
probably unintended, confirmed in a conversation; she and her friends had a
competition going, who had the best collection of the most ugly pilgrim
“souvenirs”.
The consequent search for the pilgrim
perspective from below is the great merit of Don Paolo’s approach. This also
explains the absence of all notions associated with the concept “penance” – not
to talk about “indulgence” – in his questionnaires, records and analyses. A
most surprising feature, I should say, on the background of how pilgrimage in
the Catholic Church of the Middle Age has been depicted, by themselves, and by
their opponents.
The approach from below also sheds light on the
theologically incorrect popular religiosity of a “Protestant pilgrim”. A young guy
today, barefoot and with a stick, dressed in a gray coat is maybe not such a
pathetic figure. He might be performing an act giving himself an experience
very similar to many pilgrims in the Middle Age, to wit, as a reflected young
man being closer to capturing the basic necessities of the human existence and
recapitulating the fundamentals of a performed biography with a beginning and
an end, just as the young guy also said in the video interview.
The approach from below also sheds light on the
fact that pilgrims today, as they probably did in the Middle Age too, use the
most suitable selection of the clothes they usually use for a journey. There
are very few “St. James figures” among the millions of today’s severe Catholic
pilgrims. This is above all true for visitors to Santiago (= SantIakob) of
Compostela – as Don Juan José Cebrián Franco also has pointed out.
Don Paolo ends the article quoted with a
paragraph dealing with Trondheim and the Nidaros Cathedral. A new open
frontier is the subtitle for his reflections on this research and the
material collected. It is written in the context of his own comprehensive
knowledge, but also as an outcome of our long-lasting conversations and
discussions on this part of contemporary social and religious reality.
Also for this site and collection of material,
we should remember that we are orienting ourselves from below. In this
perspective, we focus on the phenomenon in the context of popular religiosity
as part of postmodern everyday life. Thus, we leave aside and shall watch out
for a normative approach often in use by theologians or historians.
Discerning
observable human acts from the meaning construction attached
In the
Middle Ages in Europe, pilgrimage was, of course, interpreted by the frame of
the ruling Catholic religious ideology. Thus pilgrimage got its meaning from a
theological system where some of the basic concepts were those listed by the
Lutherans – rather one-sided we might state – in the earlier cited confessions:
merits or good works, relics and worship of saints, indulgence – and, we can
straight-away add, purgatory. All of this, for the expert of the opposite
religious ideology, the Protestant Lutherans, was a consequence of the stress
on good works for salvation, instead of relying on faith alone in the grace of
God. Thus, pilgrimage was thrown out with merits, relics, saints, purgatory and
what else connected with good works as means for salvation.
In the
Catholic-Lutheran controversy, the respective experts on religious ideology,
the theologians, stand against each other. Expert knowledge, however, is a
special case of knowledge, and a fragment only of the total stock of knowledge
of a society or culture which people use to interpret their experience. Only in
a religious ideology, pilgrimage can be turned into a mere concept and
identified as “Catholic” (representing a deviant set of religious ideas) and
therefore non-Lutheran (holding the right set of religious ideas). There is a
certain rationalistic way of perceiving reality built into this approach that a
sociologist should be aware of, describe, and himself or herself avoid. The
obligation for a sociologist is to observe the phenomenon, and keep the
interpretations aside in their own realm.
It is
a matter of course that the exactly same human action can be understood in very
different ways. Not only in different ways or opposition, ideologically, we
might for instance use parts of the common stock of knowledge that we use for
interpreting actions in everyday life, our own as well as the others. What do
we see then, when we see a pilgrim? A person wandering, that is it. We might
also observe that the person actually leaves his everyday life routines, in
habits and clothing, even eating. We go on to realize that there is an aim,
goal for the move, not just walking idle or restless around. Then the person
returns to the starting point, and he or she reenters his or hers former
everyday life routines, often without much change in action.
Now we
should be approaching the point when anyone, not only the sociologist, might
start asking for all the reasons for the set of actions making up a pilgrimage.
And of course, we would firstly use our own stock of knowledge to interpret, as
we do when we gossip around persons and their deeds. If we are a bit more
serious, we will consult the experts, like journalists usually do, when they
have to describe and comment upon a phenomenon. And here, we – as also the
journalists – so easily run into the ideological experts of different kinds, be
it theologians or convinced atheists, by whom, all too often, the causes for
the action are made deceivingly clear.
To
approach human and social reality, however, we must try to make people
themselves articulate the experiences they are enacting. This is the great challenge
of empirical research. We do not know much about the experience of the common
pilgrim in the Middle Ages. At that time, certainly, we are stuck almost
without exception with the records elite persons have articulated in their
writings. We do not know too much about the experience of the common pilgrims
or church visitors today either. But at least today, we can try to approach the
persons and let them express themselves and record what their articulations
are.
To express meaning requires conceptual tools at
hand for those articulating. This is a challenge for anyone trying to convey an
experience. We all know we might lack words to express clearly what we mean.
Not always because we have a poor ability to formulate ourselves or a limited
vocabulary, but all the words we have at hand might seem to be misfits for the
idea we want to express.
It was a most interesting experience to do
field work the time when the so-called new religiosity emerged. I ran into a
series of situations both in Scandinavia and in the US where members labeled
“Jesus People” started asking me about what they were doing. They cherished a
series of activities, also ritual in form, which they were not really sure what
to call or adequately interpret. But, apparently, some persons in the same
movements were resources exactly for these need, articulating ideas everyone
seemed to share but did not really have a clear conception of. For myself, I
invented the concept “articulator” for these persons. Watching social life in
general, as a social scientist, I find the concept very useful.
In contrast to these, youngsters mostly, who
were doing without really knowing, the established religious experts of the
churches, the theologians, were puzzled by the lack of a clear ideology, and
ended up watching the scene with a hawk's eye waiting for a concept to pop up
they could use to categorize the group by theology, and then possibly attack it
as religiously deviant. They might instead have helped the articulation – and
even got recruits.
Of course, we can use the concepts theologians
have developed without their normative perspective, as far as these concepts
can be used for aptly describing contemporary human religious experience. The
visitors to the cathedral share that vocabulary to, since a religious
vocabulary is a shrinking source in the common secular world vocabulary at
hand. It might be an interesting observation in itself to hear how they use
these concepts, and understand the ideas and the physical objects they refer
to.
Facing the visitors at the Nidaros Cathedral,
we shall try to strip the acts we observe and the interpretations we hear from
any normative ideological interpretations.
Samples
of the Trondheim material
The Trondheim material contains impressions and voices
recorded in different media, like written texts in newspaper interviews and
responses to questionnaires, as well as visual “documentation” in slides and
video shots. The video recordings are used for two purposes. They show the
natural, cultural, and social surroundings, but they also reproduce interviews
with visitors to the Nidaros Cathedral.
A RECENT
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE WITH INTERVIEW
THE BEST PLACE TO STAY OVERNIGHT[1]
– I cannot
understand why people go to Royal Garden Hotel when they have the opportunity
to have a night under Gothic arches and God in the house", whispers Karin
(58), and rests her eyes on a flickering candle. It is late night the 29th
of July. We are attending "Olavsvaka", a sleepless night of vigil for
those participating. All is quiet, only every hour there is a common prayer and
a choir singing. Some hours ago, the nave was filled with people in worship
service. Some of them had walked for days, having the church as the end and aim
of the journey. Now, the mighty cathedral includes a whispering community that
shrinks by the hour during the night. Most of them are gone at 2 o'clock. When
the brightness of a new day emerges towards 3, there are only 20-30 persons
left.
– This is not the place for meeting new people; this
is the place where you can get to know yourself, who you are", whispers
Karin again. Every year since 1996, she has traveled the
– When you are in the mountains, it is also vast and
still. I get the same feeling here. When the morning light penetrates the Rose
Window, lightening up all the colors that were hidden in the darkness of the
night, it is marvelous and so wonderful to be living human being, says Karin,
her eyes thoughtfully staring beyond space and time.
– This place never stops fascinating me. I am not a
practicing Christian, but I find great joy in staying a night in God's house,
she says.
– But, don't you get tired?
– The first time I was here, yes, but not any more; it
is strange.
My suggestion for components to pay attention to:
·
The
church architecture experienced from the inside
·
The
silence in the situation
·
The
statement: “Not practicing Christian” (could as well has been: “not religious”)
·
Individual
existential dimension: “get to know yourself”
·
Music
– the St. Olav Festival is very much a series of concerts
·
The
community (the journalist observation)
·
The
rituals (the journalist observation)
·
The
distinctive experience of nature as a parallel
The questionnaires are traditional ones
standardized for any (Christian) pilgrim site. However, they are carefully
refined during the more than 20 years of experience at different sites and
slightly different phenomena.
There are 25 main questions, on background
variables, records, opinions, motives, and accounts of experience connected to
the visit. Questions (16) through (22) were concerning personal backgrounds.
The 3 last questions were open ones.
The 15 first questions have fixed alternatives
for answers. Questions about motives, opinions and experiences might have up to
15 different alternatives. In those cases, the respondents could mark mostly
two different answers, sometimes only one, and then again, in a few cases,
three answers. The questionnaires were gathered during the St. Olav Festival in
1997 and 1998.All together there are 320, filled in by respondents and
collected in the yards around the cathedral or in the main street leading up to
it from the city center.
Is
this your first visit to the Nidaros Cathedral?
·
Almost 60 % respond they
come here from time to time. About 25 % are here for the first time.
Where
did you first hear about the Nidaros Cathedral?
·
Almost 60 % have heard
about the cathedral from parents or relatives.
In
your opinion, what are the two most important functions attributed to this
place?
·
47 % say this is a symbol
of our national culture and identity
·
42 % say prayer and
closeness to God
What
is the most important reason for your visit here?
·
40 % say the reason for
the visit is to see an important place culturally and historically.
·
30 % say it is to
participate in the St. Olav Festival
What
do you think is most important in the life of St. Olav?
·
40 % do not know or
prefer not to answer the question.
·
18 % of the rest: St.
Olav means supporting the Christian values of today’s society; eternal King of
Norway
What do you expect to
obtain by coming here today?
·
40 % say visiting the
Nidaros Cathedral.
·
20 % say to spend a nice
day with friends and other people.
7. Har du gjort noe av det følgende mens du var
her i Nidarosdomen?
Nevn de tre tingene som for deg var
viktigst.
Have you done anything of the following
while being her at the Nidaros Cathedral?
Mention
three things most important to you.
·
50 % say to see the
place.
·
50 % say to participate
in the church services.
·
30 % say to wander
peacefully around.
8. Hva
gjorde sterkest inntrykk på deg og vil bli bevart som minne etter dette
besøket?
What
struck you the most and what will be preserved in your memory after this visit?
·
65 % say the cathedral
itself.
·
22 % says the peace and
silence at the site.
·
22 % says the different
church services in the cathedral.
9. Etter
din mening, hvilken betydning har et sted som Nidarosdomen [Ett eller to svar]
In your opinion, what significance has a
place like the Nidaros Cathedral?
·
30 % say to understand
our cultural roots.
·
25 % say to search God,
pray, change our lives. To revive traditions has almost the same score.
10. Svarte
det som du fant her til det som var forventet? [Bare ett svar]
Did
what you experienced here be as expected?
·
70 % say yes. (11 % say
it was better than expected.)
What
is the reason why you are here today?
·
40 % say they came to see
the cathedral. (In 1998 30 % say they are there incidentally, tourists).
Who
organized this visit?
·
55 % says to come along
with friends and family, 30 % on their own.
Do
you think you will come back in the future?
·
Almost 90 % say yes.
In
your opinion, what do people today lack the most?
·
30 % say the sense of
solidarity and love. (In 1997 50 % say belief in Christ as savior, in 1998 18
%.)
What
would you say is the most important about your belief?
·
55 % say I believe in
God. 32 % say I believe in friendship, love, and faithfulness.
A SAMPLE OF
VIDEO INTERVIEWS
In addition to the subjective motivation to
responses by the questions of the interviewer, the video interviews utilize two
objective sources stimulating the account of the visitors’ experience at the
site. One is a visual questionnaire; the other is a collection of items.
The visual questionnaire is a pasteboard, app.
size A3, with prevailing post cards pictures of the shrine and surroundings,
attached on both sides. The cards are carefully chosen by the principle of
narrowing the focus; that is, arriving at the site, watching the place, and
finally focusing on different main features inside the church.
The items are concrete objects, which can be
bought at the site. Beside the interviewer is a table with figures, ornaments,
and pilgrim requisites, made of different types of material, of a more or less
sacred character, and of a more or less sophisticated design.
My suggestion for components to pay attention to:
·
Imitators
of St. James
·
The
Experience of nature
·
Recapitulating
a biography
·
Challenge
and achievement
·
The
transcendence – by the experience at the cathedral
·
Basic
existential conditions?
My suggestion for components to pay attention to:
Video 3: “The Swede”
Your suggestions…?
The Trondheim visitor’s “pilgrim” experience
Confronted with the challenge of describing the
experience of the visitor to the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim today, we might
use the features extracted from Don Paolo’s analysis as a means for
orientation. We recall:
A. Observable features – suitable for records
in slides and video shots
The first three features are fully at work in
Trondheim and plentiful documented in the archives of CRSR. There are 1080
slides and 8 hours of video covering the place and all the different
activities. The research assistant doing the video shots, an anthropologist,
has also edited a 30 minutes video presentation of Trondheim as a site of
contemporary pilgrimage. It is a work done, parallel to similar video editions
of other sites.
From the point of view of the three first
features, the recorded observations are astonishingly alike. As to the natural
and physical surroundings and arrangement, there seems to be no difference at
all. As to the activity, looking at some of the processions, one cannot tell if
this is another Catholic pilgrim site. Comparing other documentations of
activity, one would miss some in Trondheim. It would be as expected, when there
are no busy confessors to observe, or long lines in front of confessionals,
since the Lutheran Church do not have that institution (despite the fact that
confession should play a central role according to the theology). A void more
conspicuous, compared to the Catholic sites, is the absence of a figure of the
saint in the processions. However, this is an absence at hand throughout the
“pilgrim” experience at the Nidaros Cathedral.
The cathedral as the heart of the site
Practically, not a single visitor indicates
that St. Olav is a motive for visiting the cathedral. The genuine idea of a
saint we can find both in the Catholic Church – and the Orthodox as well – does
not exist. We had a lively discussion on this theme on beforehand producing the
questionnaires. The form was developed on Catholic pilgrimage where a saint of
course is a significant figure not only in theology, but popular religiosity,
as well. And, as we have seen, the saint seems to be the very heart of a
shrine.
In the interviews and response to the questionnaires, St. Olav is often referred to as important for the Norwegian history, for the initiation of the Norwegian Christianity, for the national identity, and so on, but he is remains a historical figure. St. Olav is no person to relate to today. “Saint” seems to be just a part of St. Olav’s name, no qualification.
So, doesn’t the absence of the saint disqualify
the whole activity at the Nidaros Cathedral as a pseudo-pilgrimage? Not right
away. Lutheranism lacking the idea of saints cannot be considered
pseudo-religion for that reason. As we should not identify pilgrimage with the
Catholic Church alone, we should not identify the core of a site for pilgrimage
with a saint. Like we should not either identify the idea of pilgrimage in the
opposing ideologies in the late Middle Age with pilgrimage as an
anthropological phenomenon.
Alternatively, it seems that the church itself
constitutes the heart of the “pilgrim” experience of the visitors to the
cathedral in Trondheim. The first pilgrim pastor in Trondheim, Arne Bakken,
may have articulated most appropriately the contemporary experience of the
church when he says the cathedral is a universe – the experience of a universe,
that is.
The cathedral evokes in its construction the experience in a person that human life is being in a universe. This means living in and being a part of something greater. Confronted with a greater world, the individual senses itself as a world of its own. Confronted with a greater time, the person becomes a biography, a life having a starting point but as well an end. As the experience of the universe gives a person a distinct profile, it also is a reminder of something that goes beyond space and time of the individual world. The cathedral evokes the universal human experience of transcendence.
The experience of transcendence
The experiences at the pilgrim site seem to be
not opposite, but rather different, for a Catholic and for a Protestant,
although the surroundings and the acts might have astonishing similarities. I
shall suggest that what nevertheless unifies them as the one and same human
experience, is the more or less pure experience of transcendence that
pilgrimage evokes. It is not about a transcendent reality, as in theology,
where there also are normative statements of what can be there and not. It is
the common human experience of transcendence that gives profile to the singular
personal life.
There is no need to go on a pilgrimage to
experience transcendence as such. Experiences of transcendence belong as well
to moments of daily life. Some are minor; others are greater. The greater occur
when something happens that causes the everyday life routines to really break
down, for instance, positively, ecstasies of happiness, beauty, and joy, or
negatively, accidents, falling ill, waking up from a nightmare, the death of
close friends and so on. Typical for these experiences of transcendence is that
they provoke ideas about what life really is about, in contrast to the routine
activities that sometimes threaten to drown life in a swamp of gray mud of no
aim and purpose and meaning.
Thus, we all know we also can produce
situations that evoke the experience of transcendence. A person in Norway would
typically look up an area of wilderness in the nearby nature, for instance, do
a mountain tour, like apparently our lady Kristin in the newspaper interview
does, to regain a perspective on life that gives trivialities quality and
purpose. A pilgrimage is much of the same character. The difference would be in
intensity. Suitable to recharge a state of being deeper down into the gray
swamp of no meaning to the course of everyday of life, a pilgrimage is a
greater achievement. The aim is further. The travel is longer. It might be a
hard walk. The climate might be rough and the nature inhospitable. Thee land
might be unfamiliar, the edibles disgusting and the habits strange. There might
even be shortage of water and food. But there are strengthening components
also, like the fact that the far aim is a definite place, of great objective
value. And the common insecurity brings the wanderers together into a close
community of mutual solidarity.
Comparison
Using the abstracted features of Don Paolo analysis, we can see that in 5 out of 7 components the similarity is so great, the activity around the Nidaros cathedral could be congruent with any Catholic site, for instance, the activity around the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua. Only numbers and the variety of details would differ. These similar components would be of two types. On the one hand, we have the components of drama. The location is a suitable “stage” for pilgrimage activity “scenes”. On the other, the point of departure and of return for the pilgrim, everyday life, is structurally the same. Thus, also the experienced subjective spiritual recharge and social reconciliation caused by transcendence, is the same. Even sensing there is a message at the site, would be the same. But as we arrive to the content of the message, who or what is at the border of the other reality, the differences are immense. We have two different ways of orientation in reality
The Catholic experience is “a deep but
personalized communication with a sacred interlocutor”, Don Paolo writes. The
Catholic sacredness is located to a personal universe, be it this world or the
other. The visitor has come primarily to communicate sorrows, problems,
anxiety, wishes, and thanks. He or she formulates it with the mouth or in the
heart, or writing on a piece of paper, leaving a drawing of an accident, or
pinning small legs and arms, made or wood or silver, to the wall. The sacred
interlocutor listens, sees it, and understands you. Wherever you are, it is the
sacred interlocutor who is there to rejoice with you or to comfort you, be it
the flame of a candle, the confessor behind the wall or the worshipping
community of a church service. You are there as a person, coming from an
everyday life turning around persons, to meet a sacred world in a sacred
person.
The Protestant experience seems, compared to
this universe, to be an individualized subject looking out into a surrounding
world. The Protestant sacredness is located to an objective universe.
Transcending is sensing space, which expands into endlessness, and time, which
exceeds into infinity. The Protestant subject watches the objective world, and
experiences the expansion of the subjective consciousness. Wherever you are at
the pilgrim site, the Protestant subject will look for the trigger that opens
the view into the eternity and mystic of its own consciousness. All that
impresses you at the site, reminds you of this, the magnificent edifice from
the outside, the gothic arches of the inside, the lavishness of the stained
glass windows, the light and the shadows, and the silence despite all the
people visiting. And the subjective consciousness, being expanded will look
back with a new perspective at the everyday life.
Conclusion
Norwegians traditionally love to
hike in their mountains. However, they also seem to have a particular attitude
towards their nature surroundings, an attitude I think any observer would say
resembles religiousness. This attitude is the effect of the experience, which
they appear to have there. Descriptions indicate the experience transfers the
person beyond the borders of the immediate, objective perceptions. It confronts
the experiencing consciousness with endlessness and infinitude. The apt
analytical categorization of that experience is transcendence. Since experience
of transcendence might be conceived of as the fundamental anthropological
condition for religion, we are indeed at the basics of religiosity.
Thus, there is nothing mysterious
about a pilgrim who is Norwegian, Protestant, and secular. There is a factual
continuity between the traditional Norwegian culture and the retrieved interest
in pilgrimage on the Norwegian scene. The activity and experience is there
already, actually as a basic form for religiosity. It is the arrangements of
celebrating events in the Norwegian history that has channeled the activity
into forms like pilgrimage in general. We can observe the coincidence in the
descriptive approach of a recently produced documentary film, as we can in all
the information produced promoting a “pilgrim” tour, as, on the other side, we
always hear it in when the “Protestant pilgrims” themselves give an account of
their motives and experience.
However, it would be wrong to
solely refer to the circumstances shaping a diffuse religiosity into
pilgrimage. There is a general interest in ritual behavior on the Norwegian
Protestant scene that has emerged during the last decade. We have long had the
so-called retreat centers. They offer a ritualized life for a weekend or longer
to individuals, not far from what can be found traditionally in cloisters. One
of the first and main promoters of this offers is even a Protestant outside the
Lutheran church and more in the direction of the Reformed Protestants. We even
have Protestant cloister formations, like branches of the “Sisters of Mary”,
decades ago founded by Mother Basilea Schlink in Darmstadt, Germany. The
conspicuous interest in Santiago de Compostela by (young) Norwegians is another
indicator of the contemporary mood of Norwegians.
In addition we have the minor
ritual behavior we find in the Norwegian Protestant churches, like lightening
candles, meditative prayer, choirs of Gregorian song, processions, etc. Here
the Nidaros Cathedral, with its atmosphere, might have been a primary source
for the acceptance and proliferation of such behavior. However, as with
pilgrimage, we would be totally handicapped if we restrict such type of
behavior to Catholic religiosity alone, and simply categorize it as Catholic
influence – or Orthodox, since an interest for Orthodox religiosity, most
striking in the affection for icon, is as well part of the scene. It is might
well be an inner development in the popular religiosity of Protestantism,
having been confined to a rationalistic orientation in life, promoting
ideology, reading, talking and listening, neglecting the dramatic (the action
aspect) of human life, conspicuous in other branches of Christianity and of
religion in general.
This does not mean the world has
turned backwards, so for instance the Norwegian Church patrons should lean back
contently watching people turning active members of the traditional Protestant
churches again. We are observing a religiosity, or postmodern aspects of
religiosity, inherent in the secular and taking shape again in the
post-secular. For the Protestant churches it is a challenge tougher than ever.
For researchers in the sociology of religion it is a challenge most
interesting, to learn about contemporary religiosity, but as well to enrich the
knowledge about the general anthropological conditions of religion.
Bakken, Arne: Nidarosdomen – en pilegrimsvandring. Oslo: Aschehoug, 1997
Bakken, Arne: Pilegrimsvandring – før og nå. Trondheim: Nidaros Domkirkes Restaureringsarbeiders forlag, 1994.
Blom, Grethe Authén: Nidaros som Pilegrimsby – et utslag av den alleuropeiske pilegrimskulturen. Trondheim: Nidaros Domkirkes Restaureringsarbeiders Forlag, 1992
Clift, Jean Dalby & Clift
Wallace B.: The Archetype of Pilgrimage. Outer Action With Inner Meaning.
New York: Paulist Press, 1996
Coupland, Simon: A Saint for All Nations: The cult of Saint Olaf outside Norway. Trondheim: Nidaros Domkirkes Restaureringsarbeiders Forlag, 1998
Danbolt, Gunnar: Nidarosdomen: fra Kristkirke til
nasjonalmonument. Oslo : Andresen & Butenschøn, 1997.
Father Olav Müller, SSSC: Saint Olav. King of Norway. Oslo: UNKF Distrikt øst, 1993
Giuriati,
Paolo & Kan, Elio Maferrer (ed.): No temas…yo soy tu madre. Estudios Sociolantropolégicos de los
Peregrinos a
Giuriati, Paolo & Lanzi, Fernando: ”L’immagine, l’occhio e la memoria”, i : Questioni e metodi in sociologia della religione, (a cura di) Ampola, Massimo e Martelli, Stefano. Pisa: Tacchi Editore, 1991
Giuriati, Paolo: Shrines and
Peregrinations in the Catholic Church today. Comparative Analysis and
Methodological Considerations. August 2000 (not published yet)
Hardeberg, Brita og Bjørdal, Øystein (red.): Kilden og veiene. En praktisk pilegrimsteologi. Trondheim: Tapir, 1999
Karlsaune, G. Erik G. (red.): Pilegrimen. Valfartsmotiv og valfartsmål. Trondheim: Tapir forlag 1996 (Relieff nr. 38).
McGuire, Meredith B.: ”Towards a Sociology of Spirituality”, i Tidsskrift for kirke, religion, samfunn, 2000/2:99-111
Nidaros Domkirke og Erkebispegården. Trondheim: Nidaros Domkirkes Restaureringsarbeiders forlag, 1995
Pellegrinaggio e religiosità popolare. Credere oggi, 3/1995. Padova: Messagero di S. Antonio (Temautgave i tidsskriftsserien)
Pilegrimen. Medlemsblad for Pilegrimsfellesskapet St. Jakob, Norge. Redaktør: Eivind Luthen. Oslo: Pilegrimskontoret.
Pilegrimsleden inn mot Trondheim. Trondheim: Tapir forlag 1997. [Boken er utgitt i samarbeid mellom Trondheim kommune, Direktoratet for naturforvaltning og Riksantikvaren]
Pilegrimsleden. Godkjenning, merking og skilting. Trondheim og Oslo: Direktoratet for naturforvaltning og Riksantikvaren, 1995
Rumar, Lars (red.) Helgonet
i Nidaros : Olavskult och kristnande i Norden. Stockholm: Riksarkivet, 1997.
Turner, Victor & Turner, Edith
L. B.: Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture. New York: Colombia
University Press, 1995
“Pilgrim
Path” across Dovre, by, shown in TV Channel NRK1 1997
Professor Sverre Krüger
Institutt for kunst og medievitenskap
NTNU
N-7491 Trondheim
Norway
Confraternity
of St. James, Norway
Pilgrim’s
office (Eivind Luthen)
Kirkegt.
N-0153 Oslo
Norway
Norway – Trondheim
http://www.nidarosdomen.no/english/
http://www.nidarosdomen.no/psmaler/generellside.asp?thisId=974198290
http://www.trondheim.com/psmaler/side_med_2bilder_h_v.asp?thisId=1013099636
http://www.trondheim.com/arkiv/2002/06/1024242065/ETAPPEPLAN.doc
Norway –
Dovre
http://www.pilegrimsdager-dovre.no/index.html
Norway –
Confraternity St. James (Eivind Luthen)
http://www.pilegrim.no/index_e.html
Norway –
Retreat Centers
http://www.sandomstiftelsen.no
Norway –
The sites of the State Ministries
http://odin.dep.no/ufd/norsk/publ/stprp/006005-992030/index-hov010-b-n-a.html
Sweden –
Pilegrimsföreningen
Sweden –
Vadstena
http://home.swipnet.se/~w-78711/frameset1.html
Sweden –
Svenska Kyrkan
http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/harnosandsstift/pilgrim/
Santiago de
Compostela
http://www3.planalfa.es/arzsantiago/Peregrinos/Peregrinos_a_Santiago.htm
Romania
(St. Parascheva)
http://www.saintparascheva.org/index.html
GB –
Pilgrimage, Encyclopaedia Britannica
http://search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=61535&tocid=0&query=pilgrimage
USA –
Pilgrimage, Catholic Encyclopedia
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12085a.htm
[1] My translation and excerpt of an
interview by journalist Anne Sliper Midling, Adresseavisen, Tuesday, July 30,
2002