Angelus News | July 29, 2022 | Vol. 7 No. 15
On the cover: A pilgrim walks on his knees outside the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2019. For our special pilgrimage issue, on Page 10 Mike Aquilina writes on how the urge to leave everything and travel afar is as old as Christianity itself. On Page 14, Elise Ureneck recounts the unexpected graces of her last pilgrimage with her late mother, and on Page 16, California historian Stephen Binz points the way to the pilgrim path in our own backyard. On Page 20, Pasadena native Jenny Gorman Patton tells of finding the healing she needed, rather than the one she wanted, at the Marian shrine of Lourdes, France.
On the cover: A pilgrim walks on his knees outside the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2019. For our special pilgrimage issue, on Page 10 Mike Aquilina writes on how the urge to leave everything and travel afar is as old as Christianity itself. On Page 14, Elise Ureneck recounts the unexpected graces of her last pilgrimage with her late mother, and on Page 16, California historian Stephen Binz points the way to the pilgrim path in our own backyard. On Page 20, Pasadena native Jenny Gorman Patton tells of finding the healing she needed, rather than the one she wanted, at the Marian shrine of Lourdes, France.
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Women pray at the Stone of Unction, or Stone of Anointing, representing where the body of Jesus was prepared for burial after the crucifixion in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre<br />
in the Old City of Jerusalem. | CNS/DEBBIE HILL<br />
“She … started to go round visiting all the places with such<br />
burning enthusiasm that there was no taking her away from<br />
one unless she was hurrying on to another. She fell down<br />
and worshipped before the Cross as if she could see the Lord<br />
hanging on it. On entering the Tomb of the Resurrection<br />
she kissed the stone which the angel removed from the<br />
sepulcher door; then like a thirsty man who has waited long,<br />
and at last comes to water, she faithfully kissed the very shelf<br />
on which the Lord’s body had lain. Her tears … they were<br />
known to all Jerusalem — or rather to the Lord himself to<br />
whom she was praying.”<br />
• • •<br />
Shortly after the Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity<br />
in A.D. 313, his mother, St. Helena, went abroad to<br />
see the holy places described in the Scriptures. In Jerusalem<br />
and Bethlehem she commissioned the construction of great<br />
basilicas in honor of the Savior. Christians from everywhere<br />
would throng these places, and they continue to do so today.<br />
Believers also made pilgrimage to living saints and sages.<br />
St. Anthony of Egypt strove to live in the desert in poverty<br />
and solitude, but he was visited daily by the devout, the<br />
inquisitive, and the curious, who sought his advice or just his<br />
blessing. So diverse were the pilgrims — coming from every<br />
direction — that St. Anthony had to keep translators at hand,<br />
drawn from the monasteries nearby.<br />
Why did the early Christians go on pilgrimage? They did<br />
it because Jesus did, and they wanted to follow his example.<br />
They did it because St. Paul had done it — the same St.<br />
Paul who said, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1<br />
Corinthians 11:1).<br />
And so, down to our own day, Christians continue the<br />
pilgrim way.<br />
Mike Aquilina is a contributing editor to <strong>Angelus</strong> and author<br />
of many books, most recently “Friendship and the Fathers:<br />
How the Early Church Evangelized” (Emmaus Road Publishing,<br />
$22.95).<br />
A SHORTER TRIP<br />
A pilgrimage doesn’t have to be a voyage overseas.<br />
Catholics in California can trek to sites where canonized<br />
saints have trod — mission churches as old as<br />
our country. Check out these resources for stateside<br />
destinations.<br />
— The American Catholic History Podcast (and<br />
Tours), hosted by Tom and <strong>No</strong>elle Crowe at americancatholichistory.org.<br />
— “A Catholic Pilgrimage through American History,”<br />
a new book by Kevin Schmiesing (Ave Maria<br />
Press, $19.95).<br />
12 • ANGELUS • <strong>July</strong> <strong>29</strong>, <strong>2022</strong>
Change language