Pilgrimage To Heresy: Don't Believe Everything They Tell You

[Priscillian]

Dear Fellow Pilgrims:
Please permit me to introduce you to a Lost Pilgrim. Someone you may never heard of, but someone you very well may have walked a long way to pay your respects to!
I walked my own Camino in 1999 from the Pyrenees. There is still no doubt in my mind that it was perhaps the most important thing I have ever done, and, as it does with all pilgrims remains a constant influence in my everyday life.
Along the way, somewhere between Ponferrada and Cacabelos, my fellow pilgrim, and a Gnostic priest, told me that there was increasing conjecture that it was not S. James buried in Compostela at all, but a "heretic" named Priscillian. I countered that I had never heard of Priscillian, but the idea wouldn't go away. So when I got back, I began to do a bit of research and what I found was fascinating indeed. Priscillian's story had all the elements of a best seller: persecution and injustice, alternative faiths, a scandal or two, but no such book existed. So I decided the only thing to do was write my own!
Pilgrimage to Heresy has been recently published in the US. It is "novel" in so much as the story and dialogue are my own, but, the historical detail, such as we know it, is accurate, and it presents Priscillian's philosophy dovetailed with the thoughts of Miranda, a modern day Canadian pilgrim, who is looking for the basis for her own beliefs and insights into her own spirituality. If you have walked the Camino, or plan to, I would be very surprised if you do not find something of yourselves within its pages.
For more information, see http://www.pilgrimagetoheresy.com where you can read about Priscillian, my own Camino, and some links to Gnosticism. You can also read some pages from the book.
If you wish to read the Prologue and the first chapter, see also http://www.iuniverse.com/lookinside/Loo ... 124&page=3
Ultreia y Buen Camino
Tracy Saunders
Spain

[lughcamino]

This is a very interesting subject. Lots of pieces of myth, wrapped in a layer of facts, toasted over thousands of years, and still as appealing as ever! I spoke to a man in a bar in Rabanal del camino who told me a fascinating "history" of the camino. It did involve Priscilian, of course, the actual "Moor-slayer." He (the man in the bar) was a disciple of Tomas, the Templar from Manharin, about whom there are so many stories. Interestingly, he has knowledge of the "real" camino from manharin that apparently passes through points of power that were sacred to the druids when the camino was their preserve.
There are others i met along the way over many years of walking that have interest and knowledge of these matters. They always advise to make the detours to Eunate and later on to Samos. I have to agree. People always ask why I return to walk the camino so many times: Every time you walk you are a different person walking for the first time a new journey. And the beauty is that it always surprises and it always rewards....

[Priscillian]

Lots of things have happened since the last time I had to post. Exciting things.
For one thing, your members might be interested in the radio interview about Priscillian and the book:
see
http://www.rem.fm/clients/tracysaunders.mp3
Also there is the Amapedia article, and the Wikipedia mentions:

Amapedia:Pilgrimage to Heresy: Don't Believe Everything They Tell You

Pilgrimage to Heresy by Tracy Saunders asks the question: "Who is really buried in Compostela?" Of course, every pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago knows the answer: St. James the Greater, of course, the Patron Saint of Spain.
Yet, there is not a shred of evidence to substantiate this claim! In fact, it would appear that the myth of Santiago is just that: founded on a politically expedient falsehood designed to unite Spain under one holy name: Santiago, y cierre España! The battle cry: "St. James, and close Spain!" St. James the Moorslayer who killed 60,000 in one battle alone.
What an abhorent thing for a saint to do!!!
All well and good, but not only has a country grown up with this story, but a whole economy and mythology has been created around it in Santiago de Compostela...the end of the Pilgrim Road.
Sacrilege!
And there’s worse to come...
If St. James’ remains are not to be found in Compostela, well, just whose bones are they? Although some exploration was done in the 40’s and 50’s the results were highly inconclusive. Carbon dating has been suggested since, but has been refused by the Vatican. In fact, the truth is we don´t know who is entombed in that silver sepulchre the object of the Santiago pilgrimage for well over 1000 years.
The most likely candidate is one Priscillian, at one time Bishop of Avila, a wealthy Roman probably of Senatorial rank who in the late 4th century received two guests bringing news from Marcus of Egypt and who thereafter became passionate about his faith, so passionate that he drew thousands to him, men and women alike, including some of the bishops themselves. Others, however, filled with a desire for power in their own sees, turned against Priscillian and launched a "witchhunt" which ultimately had the most dire consequences.
Priscillian was executed for "heresy and witchcraft" in 385 with not only the knowledge but the condonement of the newly formed Roman Church. Thus, Priscillian was to be the first Christian to actually be executed by Christians. Tortured into "confession" he and eight of his followers - including one, a woman, Eucrotia - Priscillian whose gentle message included vegetarianism and celibacy, was decapitated: the first victim of an inquisition, long before the name "Spanish" was attached to it.
Pilgrimage to Heresy, in part, tells his story. But there is more...
This "Time Shift" novel also dovetails the story of Miranda, an untenured professor of philosophy from the University of Toronto who has chosen to make the pilgramage, but (and like many, many modern day pilgrims) doesn´t really know why. Along the way she meets Kieran, a lapsed candidate for the priesthood who is carrying and translating a book, a secret book, and one he should not have! As the two walk together, Kieran tells Miranda that the stories she has been told about Compostela are false. The next day, Kieran disappears....and so does his book!
Who was Priscillian?
Who is the mysterious "Blackbeard"?
And most of all...where is Kieran?
Pilgrimage to Heresy is two love stories, one of which is doomed from the start. It is also a mystery...perhaps.
Who is really buried in Compostela? The Catholic Church would rather you didn´t ask the question let alone learn the answer.
http://pilgrimagetoheresy.com
Upcoming is a posting of last weeks´TV interview, and (ojala!) a Spanish translated version as 5 publishers in Madrid and Barcelona are interested. Book two is percolating and as the summer progresses I hope to be able to gather more research about the very interesting history of the actual building of the cathedral.
Watch the web site for more, and......
as always,
Ultreiea y Buen Camino Todos!
Tracy Saunders

[Priscillian]

Por fin!
Pilgrimage to Heresy has been published in Spanish by Bóveda books which is an imprint of Algaida (Anaya). The title is Peregrinos de la Herejía. If you would like more information, do please visit the website at www.pilgrimagetoheresy.com and/or my blog at www.pilgrimagetoheresy.blogspot.com

Information about the Spanish version can be found at www.editorialboveda.com

Walking again this summer from Oporto. Can't wait to get the boots on!

[Priscillian]

If anyone is interested in a day to day "live from the Camino Portuguese" you might like to check out my blog at www.pilgrimagetoheresy.blogspot.com
I am also now returning to an online discussion of the roots of the Cult of St. James. You might be surprised to find that there is very little evidence for Santiago being buried in Compostela!