WHAT IS THE CAMINO
DE SANTIAGO? For those who have no idea what this is, it is the oldest known
pilgrimage route in Europe. Its most popular route is the one called Camino
Frances. It starts from St. Jacques Pied-de-Port, France and rolls out west on
the plains and hills for 790 kilometers until you reach Compostela, Spain,
where the remains of St. James the Greater is buried in a crypt underneath the
Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. The pilgrimage changed many people’s lives
or started a new one, in case you do not know that.
St. James
evangelized the Iberian Peninsula, west of the Ebro River, right after the
Resurrection of Jesus Christ and was ordered beheaded by King Herodias when he
went back to Jerusalem, thereby, giving him the distinction of the first among
the Apostles to shed his life, or martyred, for the Christian faith. His
disciples brought him back to Spain and buried him in a cave and forgotten
until a monk dreamt of St. James under a “field of stars” which led to the
discovery of his grave and given a proper burial on the present site.
When the faithfuls
heard of this, pilgrims begun to set out on a holy journey from as far as
Dublin, Oslo, Morroco, Istanbul, Malta and Moscow, to atone for their sins and
to gain for themselves spiritual indulgences. For more than a thousand years,
the Camino de Santiago provided more than a million pilgrims hopes of prayers fulfilled,
of new beginnings, of stepping out of their traumatic pasts and of redeeming
themselves before their families, their communities and their Creator.
Walking the Camino
de Santiago is not an obligation nor it is the sole domain of Christianity. It
welcomes everyone regardless of faith, color, gender preference, economic
standing and creed. However, it really is not possible for a poor Roman
Catholic from the Philippines taking a shot at redemption in his own terms on
the Iberian Peninsula. It can never be unless he wins a million in a lotto
draw, talented enough to play for Atletico Bilbao or be in a state of an
out-of-body experience. Economic considerations dictate that.
But it does not
have to be that way forever. In order for the Camino de Santiago to be
accessible for everyone, it has to morph itself and be replicated everywhere so
that the poorest of the poor could have access to the spiritual rewards that
everybody has been talking about for a millennia. Every Filipino pilgrim
returning or of those who have read about it yearned to have one or something
like this in the Philippines and those prayers were indeed heard upstairs.
Shall I talk about
the Camino de Santiago in Cebu? Well it took a Cebuano priest, Fr. Scipio
Deligero, to have this realized. He had not been to Spain but he knew the
significance of a Camino in Cebu since he was, at that time, the parish priest
of the Archdiocesan Shrine of Santiago de Compostela, located, of all places,
in Compostela, Cebu. The namesakes of both the cathedral and the town in Spain
is right there on that sweet spot of Cebu; the same Cebu which figured
prominently in Antonio Pigafetta’s diary of 1521.
I have read also
about the Spanish Camino and had been planning in 2012 (which I never did) to
establish a pilgrimage route that would start from Cebu City and ending at the
Municipality of Badian, because St. James the Apostle is the patron saint of
the latter. I did not know then that the Municipality of Compostela also has
St. James the Apostle as their patron. It was my meeting with Fr. Deligero in
March 2017 that changed all that and then we had our first-ever Camino de
Santiago in Cebu a few months later.
We started from
Badian on July 6, 2017 and reached Compostela ten days later. The first pilgrims
were myself, as guide; Fr. Deligero; the mayor of Compostela – Hon. Joel Quiño;
the couple Roderick and Jem Montesclaros; Mizar Bacalla, lay minister; Roger
Montecino; Alvie Rey Ramirez, the assigned photographer; and Jonathaniel
Apurado, the non-Catholic among us as our sweeper and medic. We succeeded and
reached Compostela in ten days despite the difficulties encountered on the
first few days.
The 10-day Camino
de Santiago or, to its more appropriate designation, Camino Cebu, traverses
over the mountains of Cebu Province from south to north. It is about 175
kilometers long and the pilgrims are assured of proper rests among the convents
of the mountain parishes located along it. The last day is the highlight of
this local Camino as it passes by a giant cross on the hill. Following
tradition of the older Camino, pebbles are placed on the bottom of the cross.
On July 14-15,
2018, the Archdiocesan Shrine of Santiago de Compostela introduced a very short
Camino of two days and 28 kilometers. It starts from the parish, cross a river on a footbridge into Liloan town and back to Compostela through a hanging
bridge. The second day passes the giant cross and go down and back to the
parish. Fr. Gonzalo Candado, the parochial vicar of the parish, and then deacon,
Fr. Vhen Fernandez, pioneered this route along with 65 other pilgrims which
included me. This 2-day Camino can be done anytime and many such sequels
followed.
On January 27,
2019, I led again another party of pilgrims on the Camino Cebu. The arrival of
these pilgrims of this Camino on the tenth day will coincide with the start of
the 2nd National Congress of St. James the Great Parishes and Devotees on
February 5, which both the municipality and the parish of Compostela are jointly
hosting. Meanwhile, another 2-day Camino Cebu was held simultaneously
on February 4. There were 78 pilgrims for the latter and there were eleven for
the longer and harder Camino.
The pilgrims that
were with me then were Fr. Wilfredo Genelazo of the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady
of Fatima of Basak, Mandaue City; Randy Salazar, adventure entrepreneur who
would walk the rear; ship electrician Rafael Gica; journalists Erl Durano and
Grace Lina; Big C survivor Renita Reynes; Jocelyn Baran; travel tour operator
Jean Antipuesto; Sheen Mark Deligero; and Razsil Zuasola. I led them on a
much-better route than the last one and at a much better pace which ended each
day ahead of schedule.
The 2nd National
Congress was an occasion where the Camino Cebu was officially recognized by the
Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela, Spain as an equal to their
own Camino de Santiago. Msgr. Eduardo Villaverde Temperan, chancellor of the
Galician cathedral brought very special gifts to Cebu: relics of St. James and
a document called the “spiritual bond of affinity”, signed by the Archbishop of
Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The document states that what spiritual
indulgences you received by walking and completing the Camino de Santiago in Spain
is the same as walking it here and vice versa.
The congress was a
success and it gave the Archdiocesan Shrine of Santiago de Compostela a sense
of urgency to put itself on the map of pilgrimage routes and religious tourism,
most notably, for the occasion of the 500th year celebration of the Christianization
of the Philippines come 2021. A huge structure, designed to hold an 11.5 foot
botafumeiro was constructed for this purpose. It is now almost finished and
soon the giant censer would be hanged and swung from the rafters, following the
tradition in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
The Camino Cebu
made it synonymous with me. Individuals and organizations sought me out to
guide them personally, whether it be 2 days or 10 days. A mother and daughter
from Los Baños, Laguna walked the 10-day Camino on July 8-17,
2019. Dr. Marianne Leila Flores, a professor in veterinary medicine of the
University of the Philippines, decided to treat her daughter, Frances Marie, to
a journey of meditative walking after graduating fine arts from the University
of Santo Tomas. Both were a revelation when the Camino went on its final days
despite receiving a sad news from home.
Notable pilgrims
that I have guided on the 2-day Camino Cebu were five original members of the
Cebu Mountaineering Society who laid aside their adventures for a
while and walked the Camino in the middle of Lent of April 2019. Fr. Jose
Quilongquilong SJ, spiritual director of the Ateneo University System, walked at the
spearhead of 35 businessmen and veterans of the Spanish Camino, known as the “El
Caminoans”, in August 2019. Last November 2019, Fr. Gerry Quejada, chaplain of
PAREF Springdale School of Cebu, walked and finished the Camino, even with the pains of an
old injury, and brought six of his wards through to the welcoming peals of
church bells.
Could a Camino de
Santiago in Cebu be possible? Quite positive. Just this January 12, 2020, three
pilgrims reached Compostela after starting in Badian ten days ago. These were
Rafael Gica, a repeat pilgrim; Vladimer Acain, a master of an ocean-going
vessel; and Markus Immer, a 68-year old Swiss national who dreamt of walking
the Camino del Norte and the Camino Primitivo in 2021. The routes of the Camino
Cebu are now established, although not as perfect as in Spain which has signages and albergues along the way. Ours is still primitive and it may well
be a Camino at its still unadulterated form prevalent during the medieval
years.
But last June
18-22, 2019, through the request of Fr. Deligero before he would finish his
term in the Archdiocesan Shrine of Santiago de Compostela, I established the
third and last route of the Camino Cebu – the one coming in from the St. James the Great
Parish in Sogod town; which can be walked in five days over the mountains of
Carmen, Danao City and Compostela at about 65 kilometers in length. St. James would play an
important role come 2021 during the quintecentenial commemoration. It was he who
introduced the Christian faith in Spain and from them we got ours in 1521. Buen Camino!
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