As the Harry Potter-esque black-caped students that the Portuguese city of Coimbra is famous for were heading to classes early in the morning, in the opposite direction trooped a gaggle of Catholic Herald pilgrims heading for 8 a.m. Mass in the city’s Carmelo de Santa Teresa.
It’s the Carmelite convent where Sister Lucia, one of the three shepherd children whose 1917 apparitions of the Virgin Mary brought Fátima to global fame, lived much of her life. It also marks the starting point for the 111-kilometre Rota Carmalita Camino that is steeped in the life and work of Lúcia, who was ten years old when Mary appeared to her and her two cousins.
Jacinta and Francisco died in the influenza pandemic—making them the youngest Catholic saints—that scourged the world after World War I. Only Lucia survived as a living reminder of the astonishing events that occurred in Fatima. Her aged, bespectacled visage is carved on a statue outside the convent and appears in pictures hanging inside one of the convent’s rooms where the group of Catholic Herald pilgrims had their pilgrim passports stamped to mark the beginning of the pilgrimage, and which would end on Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in the season of Lent, viewed as a day of celebration within the austere period of Lent.
Following a prayer and blessing offered by the Rev. Philip Ogilvie, permanent deacon from the Diocese of Cadiz accompanying the pilgrimage as its spiritual leader, the group crossed the Ponte de Santa Clarabridging the expanse of the Rio Mondego flowing beside Coimbra.
The struggle to overcome the body’s initial inertia that inevitably attends the first day of any camino wasn’t helped by people needing to keep stopping to peel off another layer. Weeks of being steeped in the cold weather gripping the UK had caused a level of undue caution that was quickly undone by the warmth of the March sun in central Portugal, especially when hiking and ascending another winding climb out of the city.
The group was rewarded with commanding views of Coimbra’s hilltop presence back over the river, and a chance to visit the Monasterio de Santa Clara-a-Nova that dominates the ridgeline when seen from the other side of the river. Inside the church in a great silver casket above the altar rests the incorrupt body of Saint Isabel, Queen of Portugal, the patron saint of Coimbra and wife of King Denis, the founder of the city’s university. Afterward the group explored the adjoining cloister, the largest in Portugal.
Flora and fauna took on ever greater relevance as the pilgrimage progressed due to the group containing an enthusiastic botanical academic (one of the rewards of pilgrimage is the surprising talents that typically emerge from the members of the group). Flowers and flora of note that were spotted included the Star of Bethlehem, Petticoat Narcissus, the Giant Orchid and even Strawberry trees, while binoculars helped to confirm the likes of Crag Martins, Black Redstarts, Booted Eagles and Black Kites, some of which are not found in the UK.
Walking and talking are intertwined on pilgrimage. As ever, the range of pilgrimage-fuelled discussions proved particularly varied, ranging from the problems with Oxford city council enforcing 15-minute city traffic restrictions, to Vatican reforms and intrigue to myopic media narratives. The Chaucerian camaraderie was bolstered by the fact that the group included a number of returnee pilgrims who participated in the previous Catholic Herald Camino from Vigo to Santiago de Compostela. “Has it really been nine months since Vigo? How time flies when you are not on pilgrimage.”
As ever, the day’s hike finished with an impassioned discussion about how the route seemed a couple of kilometres longer than the estimate predicted by the Catholic Herald’s camino guide. Fortunately, he was redeemed by the elegant grounds and comfortable rooms of the Conimbriga Hotel de Paco that greeted weary limbs at the end of the day.
The second day of the pilgrimage began with the group gathered by a rushing river to say the Rosary. The deacon noted how in addition to the psychological balm provided by the sound of flowing water—hence the Moors when they occupied most of the Iberian Peninsula set great stock in making fountains and water ways—flowing water provides a link with the Virgin Mary and the emergence of springs following her appearances in both Lourdes and Fátima.
Shortly afterward the group had to break track again to explore the ruins of old Conímbriga, one of thelargest Roman settlements excavated in Portugal. In the small town of Rabaçal, the group made a lunch stop to make the most of the artisanal goat cheese the small town is renowned for.
With the sun remaining high in the sky and the temperature hovering at 23 degrees Centigrade, a sense of deep appreciation told hold, especially when thinking of temperatures around 2 degrees on the same day for those back in the UK. The warmer temperatures also meant that signs of Spring were more abundant as wildflowers garlanded the trails followed. Old windmills dotted the rolling countryside as the group strode along limestone pavements, passing groves of wild olive and olive trees, some a thousand years old, Portuguese oak trees and fields of grass peas, with the constant presence of little shrines beside the trail, “reminding us of the convergence of life and souls.”
The day finished in Alvorge, leaving 73 kilometres to the Sanctuary of Fátima. As ever, the primary question on people’s minds was when and where is dinner (alongside when is Vespers, obviously). Fortunately, the owner of the accommodation where the bulk of the group stayed also ran a small rustic restaurant 300 metres down the road. Problem solved. Until the next day of pilgrim adventure and dealing with both the unexpected and the enchanting.
James Jeffrey is the Herald’s official pilgrim guide and organizes bespoke pilgrimage trips through www.santiagotrails.co.uk.
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