The Road to Santiago: Pilgrims of St. James

their small community. But then began a long campaign in the Press as to whether the life of a priest and the life of a worker were compatible. Many Catholics were scandalized at the idea of priests working in factories, saying that it was not normal, and that a priest must stay in his church, but they forgot that the first priest-worker was Christ Himself, and that St. Paul, too, worked with his hands.
    The nation-wide campaign on the priest-workers brought undeniable benefits to French religious life, for it showed the necessity in our modern mechanistic world of spreading the net of the Fisherman more widely, in order to gather in the great masses, who fight shy of a clergy that does not understand their spiritual needs and welcome them into the Church with love and understanding. My two young companions, particularly Pierre, had gone into the priest-workers’ movement with all the passionate idealism of youth. They were now disillusioned, because of the campaign organized in the Press against the movement by fellow Catholics, who were in rebellion even against their bishops and against the Holy See itself.
    “Fortunately,” said the precise Jean as he put on his spectacles to continue reading his breviary, “the Church authorities have given us the workers’ Mission instead of the priest-workers’. Let us hope it will be allowed to develop more peacefully than the other and that it will not fail through lack of understanding.”
    “The failure of the priest-workers’ movement,” said Pierre, “was not the failure of Christianity, but of a number of Christians. We ourselves were not a la hauteur. But, in spite of all our mistakes, we roused the people to think of their faith and we jostled them out of their routine conception of their clerical duties.”
    We had now arrived at Carcassonne, and it was time for me to take leave of my two companions. They were going on to Lourdes, whereas I was staying in Carcassonne, in order to visit the Basilica of St. Nazaire and the ramparts of the ancient walled city.

CARCASSONNE AND UNCLE TOBY

    Carcassonne consists of two cities, the old and the new, on the banks of the river Aude and linked by bridges dating from 1184 and 1846 respectively.
    The ancient city surrounded by its double line of walls rises fifty metres above the River Aude. Even in the fifth century B.C. that hill was inhabited by the same race as had built Ensérune and Meilhac in Lower Languedoc. Important mosaics and pottery of the Gallo-Roman epoch have been found, and coins of the third century a.d., but the chief relics of the early days belong to the Visigoths, who invaded southern Gaul and Spain in the fifth century. They were the builders of the first line of encircling walls, of which a great part still remain. So strong was the fortified city even in those days that Clovis, who defeated the Visigoths in Gaul, was unable to capture Carcassonne in 509. In 725, however, after a fierce siege, traces of which may still be seen in the walls, the Arabs captured the stronghold and remained in occupation for twenty-five years; they were driven out by Pépin le Bref, after he had conquered Septimania.
    It was in the feudal period that Carcassonne came into the possession of the Trencavel dynasty, who assumed the title of Viscounts of Carcassonne and Beziers, and rendered homage to the Counts of Toulouse. During their rule the city reached its highest peak of prosperity, and in 1089 they began to construct the cathedral, which was not finished until 1150. It was, alas, the evil destiny of Carcassonne to become embroiled in the Albigensian War in common with Beziers, Toulouse and the cities of Provence. Before the massacre of Beziers the young Viscount Raymond Roger Trencavel hastened to Carcassonne to put its defences in order, for he was resolved to defend his stronghold unto death. We can easily visualize that siege in 1209 by the crusaders, for, with the exception of the outer town wall, the gates in the main wall, and a few of the larger towers, Carcassonne is today as it was in 1209. Trencavel’s determination to resist was upheld by his overlord, King Pedro II of Aragon, though the latter on his side tried to make peace on behalf of his vassals with Simon de Montfort, the leader of the crusaders.
    Pedro’s efforts as a peacemaker, however, on this occasion were of no avail and the siege continued. That summer there was a drought of water inside the city and disease was rife in the ranks of the