Historical Perspectives of Shifting Motives for Faith-Based Travel

Throughout pre-history and history, millions of people of many religions and faiths have undertaken pilgrimages. Although ‘the quintessential form of religiously motivated travel is pilgrimage’, the meaning of the practice of pilgrimage has changed over the centuries (Dietz, 2005:27). There are also some consistent Leitmotifs and principles in religious travel. Participants of the New Religious Movements (NRM) travel to Neolithic and other prehistoric sites (such as Malta) for a spiritual experience at such sites, seeking to fulfil needs which the historic churches cannot or no longer can fulfil. (Rountree, 2002:475-496). Many NRMs are based on historical values, past religions or on symbolical or perceived values of the Neolithic past (Hutton, 1990:351-8). Others come to Malta for a traditional pilgrimage or a trip with religious aspects which fit with the traditional aspects of religious Malta, related to the Pauline or Marian cults. The present writer prefers to use the term ‘faith-based tourism’ when it comes to Malta, because everyone arriving to Malta has to use part of the tourism infrastructure. Besides, faith-based tourism is an umbrella term, encompassing pilgrimage, religious travel, tourism with a religious theme and secular pilgrimage, because even in the latter form there are spiritual aspects and elements of faith present

Pilgrim Coaches: a New Phenomenon

This article introduces the relatively new phenomenon of the pilgrim coach, i.e. a recently developed profession whose practitioners help people along the mental trajectory of pilgrimhood. Historically, the pilgrim was subject to ‘codified forms which governed conduct, termination, and purpose’ (Gros, 2015:107). Pilgrims were instructed by their local church how they best could fulfil their vows along the way and at the shrines. In the post-pilgrimage era (Munro, 2017), where tourism is integrated with pilgrimage, new pilgrim routes are being created for both the religious and non-religious for the purpose of connecting people to a goal or philosophy through pilgrimage. In Belgium and the Netherlands, the profession of walking coach or nature coach has become popular in the last ten to fifteen years, and accredited courses have emerged. The aim is to re-acquaint people with nature’s stress-relieving and health-bringing effects. Pilgrimage coaching is then a natural specialisation in this profession, offering nature coaching knowledge, supplemented with other academic disciplines added to the package to pilgrims, people who walk through nature with an added purpose. This article discusses new, circular pilgrim routes, and concentrates mainly on the Walk of Wisdom in the Netherlands. This route was initiated as a non-religious but spiritually-rich circular pilgrim route, driven by environmental sustainability, while simultaneously providing the services of professional pilgrim coaches. Besides confirming the benefits of pilgrimage as we know it, the pilgrim coach also offers new insights in the psychology and therapeutic values of pilgrimage

A Semi-autoethnographical Account of the Order of Malta’s Annual Pilgrimage to Lourdes

Lourdes, in the French Pyrenees, has been a pilgrimage site since 1858. At present, about six million Roman Catholic pilgrims and others visit Lourdes every year. During the annual weeklong pilgrimage of the Order of St John, an average of about 7,500 participants from 45 countries, including 380 doctors, nurses and pharmacists, 250 priests and other volunteers, are nursing and caring for 1,500 malades (the sick and suffering). This semi-autoethnographical account is based on many years of visitation as a member of the Order of St John and describes the various changes of a political and societal nature, while the core values of healing and the emphasis on reverence have remained unchanged

Malta: a differentiated approach to the pilgrim-tourist dichotomy

Tourism is today considered to be a main player in most countries of the world. A particular sector of tourism, pilgrimage and faith-based tourism, has proven to be crises-resistant. The synergy of this sector is a mixture of religious sentiments, demands and motivations and on the other hand there is the rationality of the tourism infrastructure. This paper argues that the islands of the present republic of Malta have been a pilgrims’ destination from Neolithic times to the present. The islands’ rich cultural, religious and historic fabric offers Roman Catholics, Protestants and participants of the New Religious Movements an opportunity to experience religious or spiritual fulfilment within the spaces and sites. The discussion about the tourist-pilgrim dichotomy in the context of Malta provides room for extended value and range of this dichotomy in view of the register and diversity of the participants and the intensity and range of their experiences and fulfilment

Peregrinatio Interrupta: An Eclectic Success of a Failed Pilgrimage

This study explores the case study of two Quaker nuns, Ms Catherine Evans and Ms Sarah Cheevers. Their coincidental connection with the Mediterranean island of Malta caught the attention of several researchers, primarily interested in the micro history of the Quakers movement. Originally, Evans and Cheevers were entrusted to travel to Jerusalem, expecting to convert Christians at the epicentre of Christianity to Quakerism. After their ship called into the port of Malta en route to the Holy Land, their mission was interrupted due to their polarising and confrontational behaviour towards the Holy Office of the Roman Inquisition. Their intended short stay was turned into an incarcerated pilgrimage for about three and a half years. Based on the Quaker nuns’ criminal proceedings of the Inquisition Tribunal located in the Mdina Cathedral Archives of Malta and other published literature, various interpretations are explored regarding their missionary-pilgrimage experience in seventeenth-century Malta. The challenging situation experienced by these Quaker nuns during their detainment, their confined pilgrimage presents an intriguing opportunity to explore their experience as a spiritual and physical phenomenon, turning their mission into a missionary-pilgrimage experience. Considering the context within which this experience unfolds, and the complicated circumstances that dominated this situation, this study throws light on the historical context of how believers used temporal experiences, in this case the human body, as an attempt to navigate and communicate the spiritual world. Although the original missionary objectives could be easily regarded as an outright failure, it is here argued that the Quaker nuns continued their missionary purpose of preaching Quakerism. Conversely, their incarceration-turned-pilgrimage could be viewed as a resounding success, whereby the two nuns were able to reinforce their own understanding and beliefs in Quaker ideology while perpetuating their experiences among other Quaker communities

Post-Pilgrimage: Beyond secularisation

This paper proposes to introduce the term ‘post-pilgrimage’ as a key concept to the theory of pilgrimage applied to the Western Christian point of view. Tourism and pilgrimage have been joined to the hip since Palaeolithic times and have since then dynamically developed. And since we apparently live in a post-modern world, in which ‘post-tourism’ and ‘post-secularism’ are well-known models in the theoretical field of tourism research, the idea of ‘post-pilgrimage’ is perhaps overdue

In Defense of the Pure Pilgrim: De Re Defensionibus Peregrini Castiori

Does the pure pilgrim exist? Probably not as a person, but the idea of a pure pilgrim is very much alive, although under threat. John Muir (2002), environmentalist and mountaineer, argued that there is a proper way to climb a mountain. By analogy, there is a virtuous way, allowing for meaningful, spiritual experiences which can be applied to proper peregrination. The early medieval ascetic understanding of pilgrims (St Jerome c. 347-420), was that of wandering monks, forsaking the bustling cities as to immerse themselves in the mercy of Christ in the solitude of the country (Webb, 2002). In modern times, pilgrimage has become rather a process of self-exile, of social and physical isolation, time used to try to come closer either to God or to one’s self. However, the concepts of authentic pilgrimage and pure pilgrim seem to be anachronistic, waning in popular pilgrimage culture. The Camino, traditionally the apex of the idea of pure pilgrimage, has now been ‘app’efied’ and commoditised, so that being a pure pilgrim is near-impossible from the perspective of the comfort needs of the modern post-pilgrim. The model of personal transformation, through suffering, avoidance of comfort and overcoming obstacles, seems to many to be unnecessary, even laughable. Yet, for an activity to have any meaning, one must not skirt the perceived rules that make that activity possible (Suits, 2005). The goal of a pilgrimage is not to arrive at the destination, but to arrive by means of being a pilgrim. The medieval pilgrims wanted to show God their willingness to make sacrifices in hope of salvation, which idea C.S Lewis (2012 [1952]:145), contends, saying that as long as pilgrims are thinking of a reciprocal relationship with God, this relationship remains skewed. The pure pilgrim must then be simply pure rather than presumptuous