The Walking Out of the World pilgrimage passed through Ligugé Abbey some time ago, but I have returned to the place in an article for WherePeteris.com – published as Postcard #4: Ligugé Abbey – Obedience or fragmentation? – and re-interpreting that same episode in the light of a concept flagged up by Pope Francis: “the isolated conscience.”
In a conversation with Austen Ivereigh, the Pope’s biographer, he drew my attention to a passage in Let Us Dream which gave me an idea for explaining the concept in a ‘parable’ involving Saint Martin of Tours, the TGV high-speed train and the poor ‘welcome’ at the reception to Ligugé Abbey.
Once again, for Equusasinus.net readers who have dropped in, and maybe wonder where the Walking Out of the World pilgrimage has got to, I will return to the next stages of that in good time, but I am at present putting all of my efforts into articles for WherePeteris.com since it is clearer to discern who the audience is, plus I get superb feedback from the Managing Editor, rather than seemingly writing in a vacuum with no feedback here! Maybe one day this blog’s audience might come out from lurking and tell me who they actually are!
Rubí may write again on Tuesday: I’ll ask her what she thinks. I don’t think she was greatly impressed by the response to her last piece, A Coach and Donkeys, so she might just like to concentrate on improving her Life Coach skills for the moment.
The weather here in the Costa Blanca is appalling, and that’s another reason why British tourists (and in fact any tourists) should stay away. Please DO stay away! We are trying to recover from the very sad death toll and continuing fragility of this community in the wake of Covid-19, and anyone who is an antivaxxer loony, please do not bother reading or commenting on my blog again. (Yes, you know who you are…)
The Camino de Santiago at present is very precarious, with the economy of many small villages severely affected and only about a dozen pilgrims a day arriving in Compostela. The regional boundaries between autonomous Spanish regions are closed, so there is no way to legally undertake a long-distance pilgrimage to Compostela. Any pilgrims who are thinking of coming to Spain in future, you will need to be vaccinated in order to even enter the country legally. So any foolhardy conspiracy theorists who are boldly telling the world (on blogposts fostering culture wars) that they are “never getting this evil vaccine” are (a) unwelcome in Spain; (b) totally irresponsible; and (c) unlikely to be admitted to the country anyway! So there’s an end of it.
My appointment for the first anti-Covid-jab is on Wednesday in Benidorm and I am very relieved. (It’s the Pfizer vaccine.) I will be writing my next Postcard from the Camino for WherePeteris.com on the subject of España vacia – depopulated rural Spain – and talking about Foncedabón on the Camino, with a very strong reference to the menace of anti-vaxxers and conspiracists with no medical knowledge (or common sense) who are completely undermining the health policies of western countries through hysterical fantasies on social media.
Personally, I think Russian interference and digital manipulation is also involved in this, as it fits all the patterns of interference we have seen in the well-documented Eurasianist/nationalist strategic assault on democracy in the USA and in Europe, but I have not managed to find sufficient links. I tend to base my thinking on facts, which is a bit old fashioned in the age of Catholic ‘traditionalist’ blogs who fake everything! I don’t have any definite reference yet for the Russian interference in anti-vaccination propaganda, so I cannot yet spell out the connections, but I am looking and various people have made credible allegations. If you have seen anything on this, please give me a tip-off. It would be appreciated. (Not just airy-fairy gossip: but credible evidence please.)
Meanwhile, please don’t give Boris Johnson’s phone number to Year 9. That would be very irresponsible. Here it is…
Equus Asinus 
Three holy men who were employed as porters during their lives on earth were Solanus Casey, Juan Macias and Martin de Porres. The public can be the hardest task masters yet by such means can rough diamonds be polished x
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That’s very interesting Annie. Do you have a special corner in your prayer room devoted to Catholic porters? Any secondary relics, e.g. a luggage trolley? 🙂
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☺️
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Being a proud, selfish and mean individual, I am attracted by those who are my opposite, including these saints. I read a book on the life of Charles de Foucauld when I was a teenager and shortly afterwards, Therese of Liseaux’s “Story of a Soul”. When Benedict 16th became Pope I checked his date of birth to see if it influenced his choice of saint’s name and discovered that along with St Bernadette, that day’s saints included St Benedict Labré. He was another one who put all his trust in God.
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That’s interesting, Annie. A short distance away from the place in Rome where Saint Paul was executed there is a little museum containing various artifacts of Charles de Foucauld. If I remember correctly, the buildings were all made of timber and very simple. Later I also met the chaplain of the community inspired by Foucauld in the village of Spello just south of Assisi. He was Professor Mario Sensi (now sadly no longer with us) an expert on Umbrian eremitism who helped me with my research. I have an invite to return to the Beda College in Rome as soon as it is open to visitors and I am intending to do some writing there and in Assisi for the WherePeteris.com blog, on which I am now a regular contributor and sub-editor helping with preparation of others’ articles.
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Charles de Foucauld was a man of astonishing faith who made a 360 degree from his former life as a bon vivant to follow Christ.
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