DISCOVERING THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO
By Father Greg Markey
Roman Catholic Books, 2011
74 pages, $9.95
To order: BooksforCatholics.com
(970) 490-2735
T he Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain is one of the top pilgrimage destinations in the world. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is the burial place of St. James the Greater.
In Discovering the Camino de Santiago, Father Greg Markey takes the reader on this 500-mile pilgrimage route, which has been well worn since the ninth century. This Connecticut pastor hiked the route over 34 days in 2009.
What an enjoyable, insightful, enriching journey it turns out to be. In prose that flows like a conversation with friends, Father Markey recounts his experiences through villages, hostels and churches, arriving for the feast of St. James on
July 25.
We’re at his side through the beauty, the pain, the humor, the spiritual insights and lessons along the Camino, often in encounters with people he meets — many with little faith, no faith or faith misunderstood. He reaches out with a simple word of truth and often ends a conversation by giving a blessed Miraculous Medal, trusting Our Lady to take over.
“When there was a pause in our conversation, I reached into my pocket and handed her a medal,” he writes of a non-practicing Catholic. “‘Es la Virgen,’ I gently said. She kissed it, and tears welled up in her eyes. She was so overwhelmed she had to walk away to control herself. Only the Lord knows what was going on in her life.”
Father Markey goes to primary Spanish sources and Leo XIII’s papal bull Deus Omnipotens to explain the historical accuracy of what he encounters, such as the relics of St. James, who, according to tradition, brought the Good News to the Iberian Peninsula.
Certainly Blessed John Paul II brought the Good News when he visited Compostela in 1982. So did Pope Benedict XVI
in 2010.
In fact, Father Markey brought along a copy of Benedict’s book Introduction to Christianity for the long walk and skillfully applies some quotes from it to the pilgrimage. Father Markey comes to see the Camino as a metaphor for life.
“An important lesson on this Camino is learning to live simply and to rely on the Lord again and again on the journey,” he writes. “On the Camino there is a rhythm, and we carry everything we need on our backs. The day is spent walking through fields, forests and farms; and one really learns to appreciate the simple things in life.
“After weeks of living like this, one starts to count on the goodness of God. He always provides the little things in life just when you need them. He is there at one’s side whispering, ‘You see. I am right here, closer to you than you are to yourself.’”
With a new discovery or lesson on every page, only one thing is missing: a few photographs from places or churches along the way.
All the same, the beautiful universal insights and lessons in this gem help us all realize how to live a blessed pilgrimage in life’s journey too.
Register staff writer Joseph Pronechen is based in Trumbull, Connecticut.
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I have found the NCR to be more informative and more “Catholic” since EWTN has taken ownership. I like everything you are doing. Keep up the good work!
I recently read an autographed copy of this book, which was sent to me by one of Fr. Markey’s parishioners because she thought I might be interested after she had read a review I had written about The Way, the recent movie by Emilio Estevez about the Camino de Santiago. I liked Fr. Markey’s book, and I am very happy that it describes a devout Catholic pilgrimage instead of a excursion that enables a person to check yet another item off his or her personal bucket list. I have a great deal of admiration for Fr. Markey, who I met at a Sacred Music colloquium in 2007. He is a jealous young priest who wears a cassock and a biretta and who also offers Mass in the Extraordinary form and supports a high-quality music program at his parish in Norwalk, Conneticut. Fr. Markey’s account of his pilgrimage is a perfect book for a Catholic to read, whether or not you are planning to try to walk the same route he took. He provides essential background information about the history of the Apostle St. James the Greater, how St. James evangelized Spain, how he returned to Jerusalem to then die as the first martyr among the Apostles, and how his body was brought back to Spain for burial. And Fr. Markey’s own journey to the shrine of St. James is humbly told, reverent, and inspiring.
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