Category: Cult

The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem, Israel

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The Wailing Wall, or Western Wall or HaKotel and El-Burak, is a retaining wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem located in the Jewish quarter of the old city dating from I century BC and since the seventh century, it incorporates the walls of the Temple Mount, very close to the Holy of Holies (located on the Temple Mount) so that the Jews consider the holiest place for prayer. The pan (57 m long) is just a part of the western wall (497 m long). The rest of the wall is used as a fourth wall by the adjoining houses in the Arab neighborhood; the rest is underground. The Wailing Wall is an Israeli national symbol as well as a Muslim one because it supports the esplanade where are built the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque (the third holiest place in Islam). You enter the square in front of the wall with a door wall, the door Mughrabi or Garbage, where police has strict controls. The esplanade has 3 parts; one that is open to the public, the other two, separated by a partition, are for people who want to approach the wall, one for men and one for women. There are holy arches in underground rooms that line the men’s section where we find the Torah scrolls that are used during prayer services that take place throughout the day.

Tips

If you want to approach the wall, or put small pieces of paper with wishes or prayers in the cracks and crevices, either to pray or put your hand on the wall, you must enter the section that suits you by walking on your front to the wall and to leave the place, walking slowly backwards because you can not give your back to the wall.

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The St. Antthony Hermitage, Bouchette Lake, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec, Canada

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The St. Anthony hermitage of  Bouchette Lake was founded by Father Elzéar Delamarre in 1907 with the construction of a second home and a chapel dedicated to St Anthony of Padua. The place became a pilgrimage site and the abbot was building a larger chapel to accommodate the visitors. In 1925 the site was taken in care by the Capuchin Minor Brothers who built a monastery and a church dedicated to the Virgin. Today the place has also a hotel with a large dining-room with terrace overlooking the lake and an excellent gastronomic choice with local products and typical menu of the Lac St-Jean region as the famous pie called ‘tourtière’. There is also a wooden observation tower, a pedestrian path, a souvenir shop, a bakery, a camping area with parking for trailers and the warm welcome of the Brothers and staff who make of this place a beautiful option for a relaxing holiday, solo, with family, friends or couples. To see: the St. Anthony of Padua chapel (neo-Gothic country), the frescoes of the Quebec painter Charles Huot, the monastery (neo-Romanesque), the Marian Chapel, among others and of course the natural environment that is really beautiful!

Tips

You can book your accommodation with or without breakfast but it is good to take it even as the supper cause the site is in nature and there are no restaurants very near.

You have a small beach nearby, on the way to the village, and there are some games for children on the site next to the lake.

Taste the bread and buns baked at the bakery on site, it’s worth it.

There are many activities around Lac St-Jean; so staying at the monastery would be economical and comfortable to come and visit the area.

Cathedral of St. James of Compostela, Spain

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The cathedral of St. James of Compostela, dedicated to the Apostle James of Zebedee (saint patron and protector of Spain) is a cathedral located in the historical center of the city of St. James of Compostela, purpose of one of the great pilgrimages of medieval Europe; initiatory way in which people followed the wake of the Milky Way. At the beginning of the ninth century, Alfonso II had built the first church; in 899, Alfonso III replaced it for a greater pre-Romanesque church. The present cathedral is a Romanesque building built in granite, which work began in 1075 and was finished in 1211. It is dedicated to the relics and pilgrimages. The two towers of the western façade (Baroque churrigueresque) are from the Middle Ages and its monumental staircase of 1606. Its chapels form a museum of paintings, sculptures, reliquaries and altar pieces accumulated over the centuries. The cathedral has a plan of three naves, a large transept with aisles and stands and a sanctuary with ambulatory surrounded by a ring of chapels. The original plan had additions of the Renaissance and Baroque. A sumptuous statue of St. James is in the main altar; the crypt is below with the remains of St. James and his disciples, St. Theodore and St. Athanasius. The ambulatory, the beautiful gates, the vault of the Chapel of Mondragón, the Renaissance door of the sacristy and the cloister are the most outstanding items. Above the transept of the cathedral stands a lantern tower from whose summit is hung by steel cables a brass censer of 54 kilos which is used in special ceremonies as in Compostelan years. The treasure is housed in a Gothic chapel in the south transept of the cathedral; it has a tympanum representing the equestrian figure of the Apostle (XIII century). The King of France, Charles V had made a very important gift for it to be celebrated daily a mass for the prosperity of France, so the San Salvador chapel is also known as the Chapel of the King of France; this is where the pilgrims after confessed, received the Compostela; certificate of pilgrimage.

 
Tips

Pilgrims can go to kiss the holy mantle by a staircase behind the altar.
You can also visit the library which displays the censers and tapestries (it’s part of the cathedral museum), even as the pieces found in the excavations .
The archives of the cathedral has a copy of the Codex Calixtinus (set of texts dated around 1140); in the texts you can find practical advice for pilgrims.