The Road to Santiago: Pilgrims of St. James

Apostles’ bodies or bones to be congregated and brought together into one place in St. Severin’s Church of Toulouse, a city in Languedoc.” Andrew Boorde then went to Toulouse to ascertain the truth, and there he was convinced by authentic writings and seals—the premises of truth; ‘but’, he adds, ‘these words cannot be beheved of incipient persons especially of some Englishmen and Scottish men’.
    In the same century the celebrated historian Juan de Maríana adopted a very cautious standpoint, saying that he was not sure either of the visit of the Saint to Spain or of the genuineness of the body said to be his. Padre Maríana, however, did not want to make trouble, and he added that it was not expedient to disturb with such disputes the devotion of the people so firmly settled. Nevertheless, we should remember that when at the end of the sixteenth century there arose in Spain a craze for the relics of Saints, as a result of the discovery of the heads in the Sacro Monte in Granada, it was Maríana who appealed to the King and the Pope to curb the excesses of this cult which had been fostered by the ecclesiastical authorities. *
    Up to the fifteenth century St. James monopolized the devotion of the Spaniards, but then other competitors appeared, such as the Virgin of Guadalupe, for instance, and in the sixteenth century St. Joseph’s help was invoked in affairs of state, according to a decree of 1555 in Mexico. His assistance was particularly called for against storms, thunder and lightning.
    As Americo Castro points out, the courage and energy of particular individuals of striking personality was singled out, and profound faith was placed in royalty, as a result of the Messianic prestige possessed by the Catholic monarchs in the eyes of Spaniards all over the world. It was a period when such personalities as Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, the Conquistador, the Grand Captain, or Don John of Austria were made objects of a special leadership cult. For this reason, the faith in Spain’s invincible Patron Saint declined, and we find Don Quixote speaking ironically of San Diego the Moor-slayer, whereas when he sees the image of St. Paul he addresses him in awe-struck tones as the greatest defender of the Church.
    The decline in prestige of St. James in the sixteenth century led to a series of polemics mostly originated by sectarian prejudice. In one case the Archbishop of Toledo, García de Loaysa, in order to exalt the primacy of his Archdiocese, published a document of the Lateran Council convoked by Innocent III in which it was denied that the Apostle ever came to Spain, for he had been beheaded before starting on the journey. As a result of this attack, Cardinal Baronio ordered the passage referring to the preaching of the Apostle in Spain to be omitted from the new edition of the Breviary of St. Pius V. Such indignation, however, was caused in Spain that Philip II had to intervene through his ambassador to get the omission rectified. Then in 1617 the reformed or Discalced Carmelites started a nation-wide movement to have St. Theresa of Jesus declared the Co-Patron of Spain with St. James. This proposal was accepted by the Cortes and in 1620 Philip III and the Council of Castile ordained that a fast should be held in celebration of the Saint of Avila as Patron of Spain. A fierce struggle then took place all over the country: fiery sermons were preached from pulpits and tracts pullulated in defence of the Apostle from the printing houses, with the result that in 1630 Pope Urban VII ordained that Santiago should be considered the one and only Patron Saint of Spain. *

QUEVEDO BREAKS A LANCE FOR SANTIAGO

    All those tracts have disappeared into oblivion with the exception of the pamphlet Su espadapor Santiago (His sword for St. James), which Quevedo addressed to His Majesty King Philip IV in 1628. Quevedo, like the Prophet Jeremiah, had for many years been clamouring against the destiny of Spain. ‘All our poor opened their mouths against us’, he cries. ‘The Spaniards are victims of a stubborn persecution and all the world is for them a prison and a punishment. Nevertheless, solitude is steadfastly to be desired, for Spain receives all evil through her communications with foreign peoples.’ But as the years roll on this sense of solitude in the people becomes embittered, for the disillusion of the extremist Spain of Philip II still lay over the country like a pall of lead. Quevedo, the echo of