History Lesson!!!

Back facade of the cathedral

The area of Santiago de Compostela was occupied by the Suebi (group of Germanic people) in the early 400s, during the initial collapse of the Roman Empire, and attributed to the bishopric of Ira Flavia (Celtiberia port) in the 6th century partition usually know as Parochiale Suevorum. In 585 the whole settlement together with the rest of Suebi Kingsom was annexed by Leovigild into the Visgothic kingdom of Spain. as the sixth province of the realm. Raided from 711 to 739 by the Arabs, the bishopric of Ira was incorporated into the Kingdom of Austruias, some 50 years later before the discovery of some remains attributed to Saint James the Greater, and their acceptance as such by Pop and Charlemagne during the reign of Alfonoso II of Asturisas. Around the place of the discovery emerged a new settlement and center of pilgrimage, called "Compstella" from 10th century on. This settlement, notably under the impulse of bishop Diego Gelmirez, would become one of the main centers of Christian pilgrimage, second only to Rome and Jerusalem.

Santiago de Compstela was captured and sacked by the French during the Napoleonic Wars; as a result, the remains attributed to the apostle were lost for near century, hidden inside a cist in the basements of the cathedral of the city!

As suggested already, it is probably impossibly to know whose bones were actually found and precisely when and how. Perhaps it does not matter. What the history of the pilgrimage requires, but  what the meagre sources fail to reveal, is how the local galicial cult associated with the saint was transformed into an international cult drawing pilgrms from distant parts of the world.

The 1000+ year old pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compstela is know in English as the " Way of St. James" and in Spanish as the "Camino de Santiago". Over 100,000 pilgrims travel to the city each year from points all over Europe and other parts of the world. The pilgrimage has been the subject of many and television programs, notably Brian Sewell's The Naked Pilgrim produced for UK's Five. The pilgrimage has also been the subject of several paintings by artist Brian Whelan.

The Scallop Shell, emblem of St. James worn by pilgrims.