Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture #1: CH3

Chapter 3: St. Patrick's Purgatory: Religion and Nationalism in an Archaic Pilgrimage 

"The Pilgrimage Ritual"

St. Patrick's Purgatory in Lough Derg is attributed as being a archaic and prototypical pilgrimage site. This meaning that this specific pilgrimage site is focused upon the teachings and faith of St. Patrick. Loch Derg or the Red Lake is where pilgrims will often conduct their ritual journey. Alice Curtayne's account of Loch Derg describes the ritualistic journey of the pilgrims. Usually the pilgrimage will take 3 days to complete. This is symbolic because the number three represents both St. Patrick's devotion to studying the Trinity and Christ's crucifixion, death and resurrection. This three day journey also symbolizes Christ's crucifixion of the worldly things and descending into limbo "where he undergoes penance in order that he may rise up again renewed in spirit on the third day." This is symbolic of St. Patrick's Purgatory and its emphasis on the idea of purgatory. Often times many pilgrims believe that the greater their suffering during their pilgrimage the more ease their friends and relatives will be in their time in purgatory. On the first day the pilgrim must remove his or her shoes in order to symbolize the journey St. Patrick made barefoot. This is to be done until the pilgrimage is complete. Fasting is also a part of the rite before making it to the first station. These stations are in reference to prayer. After completing a station the pilgrim may break his or her fast with a humble meal of biscuits and water taken from the Lough Derg. After completing 9 stations within three days being on the island the pilgrim is able to complete the journey. This entire journey is symbolic of experiencing suffering as one who is living on behalf of loved ones who are suffering during their time in purgatory.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Outside Reading #3

Themes of wilderness and the presence of God are especially evident throughout the psalms. Some examples include: Ps. 63:1-2 "You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and glory." Ps. 78:14-16 "He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night. He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them water as abundant as the seas; He brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers. Ps. 136:16 "to Him who led his people through the wilderness; His love endures forever." Ps. 107:4-6 "some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress." Woven into these examples, is the idea that wilderness puts us ...
Read more

Landscapes of the Sacred #2

In Landscapes of the Sacred, Ch. 10 discusses the tension between place and placelessness is Christian Spirituality. It discusses the two approaches to sacred place: kataphatic and apophatic.  Kataphatic rejoices in discerning the presence of God in the “thisness” of various places [place] while a pophatic: skeptical of an image’s ability to contain the mystery of the Holy [placelessness]. In one specific section, The Christian Imagination and a Theology of Place, Lane discusses how God is here, but not only here. He writes, “A theology of transcendance will never be comfortable with place.” He goes on to describe 5 “motifs by which the religious imagination is able to ‘create’ places or landscapes that become embodied means of experiencing the divine presence.” The first comes from John Calvin, he “spoke of the natural world as a theater full of wonders in which God’s glory becomes apparent..” The second is n ature as a ‘second book’ alongside scripture as a way to read the presen...
Read more

Reading - see my journey on facebook

Kendall Bredehorst 12/16/17 "See my journey on facebook" briefly discussed the effects of technology on pilgrimage. As each year goes by, an increasing amount of people are using technology in their day to day lives. Technology is turning into an necessity rather than a non-necessity. This trend is overflowing into how people experience pilgrimages and thru-hikes. To fully experience the trail people need to completely immerse themselves in the expedition, which means ditching the phone. Due to the additive characteristic of technology, people can hinder their pilgrimage or hike through the use of technology.
Read more