Pilgrimage in Catholic Christianity (AQA GCSE Religious Studies B): Revision Note

What is pilgrimage?

• A pilgrimage is a journey with a spiritual purpose, in which the destination is a spiritual place

• Pilgrimages may contain special prayers, actions and symbols

• Popular places of pilgrimage for ​​Catholics include Jerusalem, Rome, Lourdes and Walsingham

Jerusalem

• Jerusalem is a holy city for all Christians because it is where Jesus was crucified

• Catholics may travel to Jerusalem on pilgrimage to visit the places where Jesus walked and to retrace his footsteps

• Many Christians visit the tomb where Jesus was buried

  • This journey allows pilgrims to share in Jesus’s life and suffering

• From Jerusalem, it is also possible to visit other locations in the Holy Land where Jesus lived and taught

• Going on pilgrimage to Jerusalem can be a powerful experience for many Catholics and can make them more committed to their faith when they return to their day-to-day lives

Rome

• Rome, in Italy, is the centre of the Catholic Church 

• Vatican City, within Rome, is the home of the Pope and the headquarters of the Catholic Church

• Rome also contains many relics, holy buildings and sites connected with the history of the faith

• Among the sites of historical importance in Rome is the burial place of St Peter, Jesus’s apostle who was given authority to become the first leader of the Church — all popes are direct successors to St Peter

• Therefore, Rome is a place of great historical importance for Catholics worldwide

• Catholics visit Rome on pilgrimage to pray at the holy sites and to show their unity with believers worldwide

St Peter's Square, Vatican City, Rome

_{Rome, Vatican, Italy, St Peter’s Square by Vyacheslav Argenberg is licensed under CC BY 4.0}

Lourdes

• Lourdes, in France, is one of the most popular sites of Catholic pilgrimage

• In 1858, a 14-year-old girl called Bernadette Soubirous saw 18 visions of the Virgin Mary, who identified herself as the Immaculate Conception

• In the visions, Mary told Bernadette to dig in the ground

  • When she did, a spring appeared

  • Bernadette’s friend is believed to have been healed in the waters of the spring

• Many unexpected healings and cures have taken place since that time, and several have been called miracles

• Today, large numbers of pilgrims visit Lourdes each year, including many who are ill and in hope of healing

• Although they may not be healed physically, many people say that they feel strengthened and have a deeper faith in God after their pilgrimage

• Pope Pius XI declared Bernadette a saint in 1933

Walsingham

• Walsingham, in Norfolk, is a popular site of pilgrimage for Catholics in England

• In 1061, a woman called Richeldis de Faverches had a vision of the Virgin Mary and saw the house in Nazareth where Mary had lived

• Because Faverches was a rich noblewoman, she could afford to have a copy of Mary’s house that she saw in her vision built in Walsingham

• This is now known as the Holy House and is a place of pilgrimage

• Pilgrims often walk the last mile to the Holy House to represent journeying towards God’s presence

• The Holy House allows Catholics who cannot go to Jerusalem or Lourdes to take part in a pilgrimage and to pray and take part in Mass with other believers

The meaning and significance of pilgrimage

• Reasons Catholics might go on pilgrimage include:

  • To renew their commitment to their faith

  • To express thanks to God

  • To ask forgiveness for sins

  • To be healed, physically or spiritually

  • To meet other Catholics

  • To feel inspired when they return to their daily lives

• Pilgrimage is significant because the Catholic Church teaches that all of life is a pilgrimage towards heaven

• Catholics see their whole lives as a journey towards God, with meeting God in heaven after death as their destination

  • Therefore, Catholics view themselves as a pilgrim people

  • Going on a pilgrimage to one of the holy sites allows a Catholic to physically express the idea of themselves as pilgrim people

Catholic understanding of mission and evangelism in drama

• Catholics believe they have a duty to spread the gospel of Jesus through their words and actions

  • They are part of the Church’s mission 

  • They have a duty to carry out evangelism

• Many dramas show mission and evangelism in action, depicting the message of Christianity being spread via various means

  • Two films that are good examples of this are The Mission and Les Misérables

The Mission

• The Mission is a 1986 film that is based on a true story

  • It depicts the slave trade in South America in the 18th century and shows the work of Jesuit missionaries during this time

• The film tells of former slave owner Rodrigo Mendoza, who killed his own stepbrother

  • He feels terrible and believes he cannot be forgiven

• Mendoza’s mind is changed when he meets Father Gabriel of the Jesuit Order

  • He completes a penance, which involves carrying all of his weapons in a bundle up a great mountain, representing the terrible deeds of his past

• When one of the ex-slaves releases him from his load, he realises and accepts that he is forgiven

  • This shows the power of Christian forgiveness in action

• Mendoza joins the Jesuit order and dedicates his life to serving the people he once hunted

• The Church becomes entangled in the politics of the situation, and when the priests are ordered to abandon the indigenous people and leave them to the slavers for political reasons, the Jesuits have to make a choice

  • They reject the authority of the Church and instead follow their consciences and stand with the tribal people

• In the end, the priests are killed along with the people they were trying to serve

• The Mission is a film that shows:

  • The importance of conscience

  • Christian love in action

  • The power of forgiveness

  • Mission and evangelism, highlighting the hardships involved in total commitment to God

Les Misérables

• Les Misérables is a novel by French writer Victor Hugo 

  • It was made into a movie in 2012 after the musical adaptation made the story famous around the world

• Thief and ex-convict Jean Valjean attacks and tries to steal money from the Bishop of Digne

• When the police arrest Valjean, the bishop pretends that the money was a gift

  • He shows Valjean the love of God in this act of total forgiveness

• Valjean promises to become a new man

  • He set up a factory to help create jobs and help other people benefit from the wealth the bishop gave him

• Throughout the story, Valjean’s former jailer Javert continues to hunt for him because he has broken parole, believing that he will never change

• But when Valjean has the chance to kill Javert, he refuses to do so

• After this, Javert realises that he can no longer arrest Valjean

• Ultimately, Valjean’s kindness towards Javert saves him from being imprisoned himself

• Les Misérables is a film that shows:

  • Love and kindness

  • Mercy and forgiveness in action, even to enemies

  • How mission and evangelism involve great self-sacrifice

• One of the lines from a song in Les Misérables shows the key message of the film: “To love another person is to see the face of God”

Drama and Catholicism

• Both The Mission and Les Misérables are movies about the conflict between law and God’s grace

  • In both movies, the law’s demands do not match what goodness requires

  • The central characters have to ignore the law in favour of doing the right thing 

• The Catholic Church encourages the making and showing of films that show Christian values in action:

• They encourage such forms of drama because:

  • They show the power of living by Christian values

  • They help to inspire and encourage people to follow these values in their own lives

  • They can inspire and encourage people to take part in mission and evangelism