Editor’s note: Gazette reporter Debbie Kelley traveled this month to Spain with some of her family members as part of a local group that undertook a pilgrimage known as Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James. This is her account of the adventure.

Making it to the finish line looks more like a crawl than a sprint. A lurching, not a pounding of feet.

Bodies of all ages showing signs of protesting blisters, sore tendons and quivering muscles are saved by kinesiology tape, salve, walking sticks and ibuprofen.

It’s a Quasimodo style of victory rather than that of an Olympian. But it concludes with the same gasps, sobs and overwhelming sense of gratitude and relief.

As they complete a journey that takes anywhere from about a week to more than a month on foot, depending on the path selected, Camino de Santiago pilgrims congregate in a large sacred square outside the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

Some raise their arms, others distribute high-fives or release whoops of satisfaction in realizing a goal that seemed impossible when climbing the 22nd hill of the day and gloriously within sight when walking a near marathon the next day.

Such is the experience of the Way of St. James, a network of routes with trailheads originating in several European cities that lead travelers to one holy destination: the shrine of the Christian apostle James at the cathedral in Galicia in northwestern Spain.

Believers hold that the site venerates the remains of James the Great, the first of 12 men to join Jesus as an apostle. According to the Bible, James was the son of Zebedee and Salome and the brother of John, another disciple of Jesus.’

Sojourners come from all continents and corners of the globe to embark on a quest that taxes the body, mind and soul.

Yet at the end, spiritual fullness supersedes the physical and mental drain, as pilgrims come to see God, humanity and themselves with the eyes of the heart, not the impurities of the world.

But no churchy identification or ecclesiastic passport are necessary for Camino pilgrims, as the centuries-old trek has become a powerful magnet for not only religious people of all faith traditions but also secular people of no faith tradition.

The Camino, meaning path, trail or “the way” in Spanish, ranks as one of the top pilgrimages in the world and is more popular than ever.

According to data from the official Pilgrim Office in Santiago de Compostela, 2023 was a record-breaking year with 442,073 pilgrims — the most in its history.

Since the ninth century, trekkers have trudged the same ancient and modern-day reconfigured paths seeking spiritual sustenance and a closer relationship with God. They also might encounter revelations of self-discovery, personal growth and divine guidance in their lives.

People are challenged to contemplate why they want to do the pilgrimage, who they will pray for, what they want to accomplish.

However, the expedition is not just about what wayfarers want to take away but also what they will leave behind.

Anger, impatience, doubt, fear, worry, wicked worldly ways and other transgressions commonly are shed. Pilgrims also are known to rid themselves of possessions, for example by donating clothes or books they had brought in their suitcases but found they didn’t need.

Forebears from the Early Middle Ages originally undertook the Way of St. James to pray about a personal issue, to fulfill a vow or as penance for sins, according to the Pilgrim Office.

Contemporary pilgrims embrace the tradition for various reasons, the Pilgrim Office notes. Those include the desire of people to “find themselves,” identify a meaning to life, adopt an atmosphere of reflection, carry out a promise, pray for others and themselves, meet pilgrims from other countries, learn about the culture and art they see along the route, follow in the footsteps of ancestors, deepen their faith, encounter God, honor St. James and espouse his teachings.

Follow the yellow scallop shell

The road to Santiago de Compostela is lined with a barnyard of greeters including goats, sheep, horses, cattle, cats and dogs. At one family garden plot a few weeks ago, a Jesus-themed scarecrow welcomed walkers along the English route, which originates from the Atlantic shores of Ferrol, Spain.

The fertile land along the trail gives way to sizable home gardens and sprawling fields of corn and hay; lush rollercoaster hills burst with flowers and birdsong.

On all the routes, the Camino path is marked by signs with yellow scallop shells against a blue backdrop, which point pilgrims in the right direction as they navigate through cities, towns, neighborhoods and forests.

The scallop shell was considered a universally recognizable image when the Camino symbol was adopted centuries ago, and the design is incorporated into architectural features of buildings and art throughout the Galician region. Pilgrims often buy or are given as a gift decorative scallop shells to carry with them.

Still, it can be easy to miss a marker and not realize it for a while, then have to backtrack and add mileage to what already seem like grueling days.

Locals helpfully waggle their index fingers at wayward pilgrims who mistakenly overlook a marker. Some villagers eyeball pilgrims traipsing through their villages and resting at cafes as though the scene were a television show.

In one long stretch on the English route, a tiny elderly woman bracing herself to stand upright with two wooden poles perched herself at the end of her dirt driveway to watch our group slog by. Her show of strength and the depths of wisdom in her lined face did not go unnoticed.

As pilgrims walk in groups or go solo, they lift up prayers, examine their consciences and perhaps try to solve the mysteries of life while enduring rain, wind and heat.

Pilgrims that hail from the United States, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Colombia, China, throughout Europe or other locales traditionally greet each other with the words, “Buen Camino.”

Construction workers, business owners and people passing the time at outdoor restaurants often offer the same salutation, which in Spanish means “good road,” or “good spiritual and physical path.“

It is said that everyone’s Camino is different, and there’s no right or wrong way to experience it. Upon returning to their homelands, some pilgrims say in retrospect that the Camino is life-changing, or the most worthy thing they’ve done.

“I went on this journey broken, angry, grieving and in need. This journey changed my life and filled me with a sense of love, comfort and hope,” one pilgrim wrote last year on caminoways.com.

Cathedral remains a marvel

In following Jesus’ decree to his disciples to spread Christianity “to the ends of the Earth,” James is thought to have traveled to Spain to evangelize. Finisterre, a coastal town, was considered during Greco-Roman antiquity to be the end of the known world and became an addendum to the Camino to Santiago.

James is the only apostle whose martyrdom is recorded in the New Testament, as Judea’s King Herod Agrippa ordered him killed. James was executed by sword shortly after he returned to Jerusalem from Spain, in the first half of the 40s AD.

In a mixture of legend and historical records, the prevailing story is that seven disciples shuttled James’ body back to Spain in a boat. They placed James’ body on a rock, which is said to have closed around it, forming “a holy sarcophagus.”

While praying in the early 800s AD, a Galician hermit named Pelagius is said to have seen bright lights shining down from the sky over multiple days, a divine revelation that led to a hidden tomb in the Libredón forest.

Inside were the skeletal remains of a beheaded man, which religious officials declared to be the apostle James. Bones identified as two of James’ disciples also were in the tomb.

The local bishop determined a miracle had occurred; the Galician king made James the patron saint, or divine protector, of the kingdom and ordered a chapel to be built in James’ honor.

The cathedral gets its name from the Spanish translation of James, which is “Santiago,” and Compostela means a “field of stars.”

Some accounts say the word references the lights the hermit saw in the ninth century and correlates to the stars of the Milky Way galaxy. According to legend from the Middle Ages, the stars led pilgrims to James’ tomb. Other renditions say one bright star guided early pilgrims to the area.

The king became among the first pilgrims to forge the original Camino route.

Other theories have claimed the discovered remains were not that of the apostle James but of a nonconforming heretical bishop, Priscillian, who was persecuted and executed in the late 300s AD.

Today, what are commonly recognized as James’ relics lie in a crypt beneath the main altar inside the massive cathedral, one of many interesting features of the medieval basilica that broke ground in 1075 and was consecrated in 1211. The Moors, or Muslims, destroyed the original church in the late 900s.

Gothic and Renaissance design elements were added over the centuries to the Romanesque and Baroque façade of the impressive cathedral that looms nearly 250 feet tall.

Also of note are a nonfunctioning 14th-century clock tower and a vast collection of sculptures, carvings and reliefs.

Inside, the centerpiece Portico of Glory was completed in 1188 and includes a depiction of St. James, statues of the apostles, columns of animals, angels, musical instruments and other images intended to serve as an iconographic representation of symbols from the Book of Revelation and other parts of the New and Old Testaments.

The neck-craning, ornate altar with side chapels and organs presents a visual feast. Cathedral tours in Spanish and English include stops at inside museum rooms and a rooftop view of the city.

At some of the pilgrim Masses at the cathedral, a historic custom continues.

The ceremonial botafumeiro — a Galician word meaning “smoke expeller” — purifies the congregation spiritually and physically. But it’s no ordinary incenser.

The botafumeiro is the world’s largest incense burner, which when filled with ignited frankincense and myrrh weighs around 150 pounds. The silver container swings over the nave from a complex pulley system suspended 66 feet above.

The original reasoning was that pilgrims smelled bad after making the long trip to the cathedral and needed bodily purification. And incense is considered a spiritual purifier in several faith traditions. Of note, most pilgrims now sleep in hotels or hostels overnight and do not camp outside, although some do.

It takes eight men, who wear red robes, to put in motion the botafumeiro, which can reach a speed of up to 42 mph, according to the Pilgrim Office. The pendulum movement disperses a thick cloud of smoke throughout the congregation.

Churchgoers sit in the pews in awe and perhaps a little fear as the giant globe whizzes by like a celestial bullet.

A glimpse of heaven on Earth

Camino tours are available through companies or churches, in which hotel stays, some meals, transportation of luggage while walking and some area attractions are included in the cost. Some pilgrims prefer to make the trip on their own, though.

Either way, to receive an official certificate of distance completion known as the “Compostela,” walkers must document their progress in a booklet in which they accumulate each day least two dated stamps as “pilgrim credentials,” according to the Pilgrim Office.

Colorful inked stamps with different images are given at hotels, cafes, restaurants and other stops, to prove that pilgrims have finished at least 100 kilometers of a Camino route.

With straying off the path intentionally or unintentionally and accounting for some sightseeing, my family walked well over 100 miles during six days.

Pilgrims who arrive on horseback or bicycle also qualify for the certificate, and some pilgrims travel by boat to a Spanish port such as at Ferrol to begin their excursion.

Watching people who are in wheelchairs or facing life-threatening illnesses accomplish what many able-bodied pilgrims find challenging inspires the ability to put one foot in front of the other and soldier on.

Churches along the routes bestow special blessings to pilgrims during public recognition, where pilgrims say aloud their nationalities or homes of origin.

The international solidarity of the Camino, with every pilgrim focused on the same goal for myriad reasons, gives a glimpse of how global peace is possible. Perhaps with a little supernatural assistance.

Contact the writer: 719-476-1656.

Editor’s note: Gazette reporter Debbie Kelley traveled this month to Spain with some of her family members as part of a local group that undertook a pilgrimage known as Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James. This is her account of the adventure.

Making it to the finish line looks more like a crawl than a sprint. A lurching, not a pounding of feet.

Bodies of all ages showing signs of protesting blisters, sore tendons and quivering muscles are saved by kinesiology tape, salve, walking sticks and ibuprofen.

It’s a Quasimodo style of victory rather than that of an Olympian. But it concludes with the same gasps, sobs and overwhelming sense of gratitude and relief.

As they complete a journey that takes anywhere from about a week to more than a month on foot, depending on the path selected, Camino de Santiago pilgrims congregate in a large sacred square outside the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

Some raise their arms, others distribute high-fives or release whoops of satisfaction in realizing a goal that seemed impossible when climbing the 22nd hill of the day and gloriously within sight when walking a near marathon the next day.

Such is the experience of the Way of St. James, a network of routes with trailheads originating in several European cities that lead travelers to one holy destination: the shrine of the Christian apostle James at the cathedral in Galicia in northwestern Spain.

Believers hold that the site venerates the remains of James the Great, the first of 12 men to join Jesus as an apostle. According to the Bible, James was the son of Zebedee and Salome and the brother of John, another disciple of Jesus.’

Sojourners come from all continents and corners of the globe to embark on a quest that taxes the body, mind and soul.

Yet at the end, spiritual fullness supersedes the physical and mental drain, as pilgrims come to see God, humanity and themselves with the eyes of the heart, not the impurities of the world.

But no churchy identification or ecclesiastic passport are necessary for Camino pilgrims, as the centuries-old trek has become a powerful magnet for not only religious people of all faith traditions but also secular people of no faith tradition.

The Camino, meaning path, trail or “the way” in Spanish, ranks as one of the top pilgrimages in the world and is more popular than ever.

According to data from the official Pilgrim Office in Santiago de Compostela, 2023 was a record-breaking year with 442,073 pilgrims — the most in its history.

Since the ninth century, trekkers have trudged the same ancient and modern-day reconfigured paths seeking spiritual sustenance and a closer relationship with God. They also might encounter revelations of self-discovery, personal growth and divine guidance in their lives.

People are challenged to contemplate why they want to do the pilgrimage, who they will pray for, what they want to accomplish.

However, the expedition is not just about what wayfarers want to take away but also what they will leave behind.

Anger, impatience, doubt, fear, worry, wicked worldly ways and other transgressions commonly are shed. Pilgrims also are known to rid themselves of possessions, for example by donating clothes or books they had brought in their suitcases but found they didn’t need.

Forebears from the Early Middle Ages originally undertook the Way of St. James to pray about a personal issue, to fulfill a vow or as penance for sins, according to the Pilgrim Office.

Contemporary pilgrims embrace the tradition for various reasons, the Pilgrim Office notes. Those include the desire of people to “find themselves,” identify a meaning to life, adopt an atmosphere of reflection, carry out a promise, pray for others and themselves, meet pilgrims from other countries, learn about the culture and art they see along the route, follow in the footsteps of ancestors, deepen their faith, encounter God, honor St. James and espouse his teachings.

Follow the yellow scallop shell

The road to Santiago de Compostela is lined with a barnyard of greeters including goats, sheep, horses, cattle, cats and dogs. At one family garden plot a few weeks ago, a Jesus-themed scarecrow welcomed walkers along the English route, which originates from the Atlantic shores of Ferrol, Spain.

The fertile land along the trail gives way to sizable home gardens and sprawling fields of corn and hay; lush rollercoaster hills burst with flowers and birdsong.

On all the routes, the Camino path is marked by signs with yellow scallop shells against a blue backdrop, which point pilgrims in the right direction as they navigate through cities, towns, neighborhoods and forests.

The scallop shell was considered a universally recognizable image when the Camino symbol was adopted centuries ago, and the design is incorporated into architectural features of buildings and art throughout the Galician region. Pilgrims often buy or are given as a gift decorative scallop shells to carry with them.

Still, it can be easy to miss a marker and not realize it for a while, then have to backtrack and add mileage to what already seem like grueling days.

Locals helpfully waggle their index fingers at wayward pilgrims who mistakenly overlook a marker. Some villagers eyeball pilgrims traipsing through their villages and resting at cafes as though the scene were a television show.

In one long stretch on the English route, a tiny elderly woman bracing herself to stand upright with two wooden poles perched herself at the end of her dirt driveway to watch our group slog by. Her show of strength and the depths of wisdom in her lined face did not go unnoticed.

As pilgrims walk in groups or go solo, they lift up prayers, examine their consciences and perhaps try to solve the mysteries of life while enduring rain, wind and heat.

Pilgrims that hail from the United States, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Colombia, China, throughout Europe or other locales traditionally greet each other with the words, “Buen Camino.”

Construction workers, business owners and people passing the time at outdoor restaurants often offer the same salutation, which in Spanish means “good road,” or “good spiritual and physical path.“

It is said that everyone’s Camino is different, and there’s no right or wrong way to experience it. Upon returning to their homelands, some pilgrims say in retrospect that the Camino is life-changing, or the most worthy thing they’ve done.

“I went on this journey broken, angry, grieving and in need. This journey changed my life and filled me with a sense of love, comfort and hope,” one pilgrim wrote last year on caminoways.com.

Cathedral remains a marvel

In following Jesus’ decree to his disciples to spread Christianity “to the ends of the Earth,” James is thought to have traveled to Spain to evangelize. Finisterre, a coastal town, was considered during Greco-Roman antiquity to be the end of the known world and became an addendum to the Camino to Santiago.

James is the only apostle whose martyrdom is recorded in the New Testament, as Judea’s King Herod Agrippa ordered him killed. James was executed by sword shortly after he returned to Jerusalem from Spain, in the first half of the 40s AD.

In a mixture of legend and historical records, the prevailing story is that seven disciples shuttled James’ body back to Spain in a boat. They placed James’ body on a rock, which is said to have closed around it, forming “a holy sarcophagus.”

While praying in the early 800s AD, a Galician hermit named Pelagius is said to have seen bright lights shining down from the sky over multiple days, a divine revelation that led to a hidden tomb in the Libredón forest.

Inside were the skeletal remains of a beheaded man, which religious officials declared to be the apostle James. Bones identified as two of James’ disciples also were in the tomb.

The local bishop determined a miracle had occurred; the Galician king made James the patron saint, or divine protector, of the kingdom and ordered a chapel to be built in James’ honor.

The cathedral gets its name from the Spanish translation of James, which is “Santiago,” and Compostela means a “field of stars.”

Some accounts say the word references the lights the hermit saw in the ninth century and correlates to the stars of the Milky Way galaxy. According to legend from the Middle Ages, the stars led pilgrims to James’ tomb. Other renditions say one bright star guided early pilgrims to the area.

The king became among the first pilgrims to forge the original Camino route.

Other theories have claimed the discovered remains were not that of the apostle James but of a nonconforming heretical bishop, Priscillian, who was persecuted and executed in the late 300s AD.

Today, what are commonly recognized as James’ relics lie in a crypt beneath the main altar inside the massive cathedral, one of many interesting features of the medieval basilica that broke ground in 1075 and was consecrated in 1211. The Moors, or Muslims, destroyed the original church in the late 900s.

Gothic and Renaissance design elements were added over the centuries to the Romanesque and Baroque façade of the impressive cathedral that looms nearly 250 feet tall.

Also of note are a nonfunctioning 14th-century clock tower and a vast collection of sculptures, carvings and reliefs.

Inside, the centerpiece Portico of Glory was completed in 1188 and includes a depiction of St. James, statues of the apostles, columns of animals, angels, musical instruments and other images intended to serve as an iconographic representation of symbols from the Book of Revelation and other parts of the New and Old Testaments.

The neck-craning, ornate altar with side chapels and organs presents a visual feast. Cathedral tours in Spanish and English include stops at inside museum rooms and a rooftop view of the city.

At some of the pilgrim Masses at the cathedral, a historic custom continues.

The ceremonial botafumeiro — a Galician word meaning “smoke expeller” — purifies the congregation spiritually and physically. But it’s no ordinary incenser.

The botafumeiro is the world’s largest incense burner, which when filled with ignited frankincense and myrrh weighs around 150 pounds. The silver container swings over the nave from a complex pulley system suspended 66 feet above.

The original reasoning was that pilgrims smelled bad after making the long trip to the cathedral and needed bodily purification. And incense is considered a spiritual purifier in several faith traditions. Of note, most pilgrims now sleep in hotels or hostels overnight and do not camp outside, although some do.

It takes eight men, who wear red robes, to put in motion the botafumeiro, which can reach a speed of up to 42 mph, according to the Pilgrim Office. The pendulum movement disperses a thick cloud of smoke throughout the congregation.

Churchgoers sit in the pews in awe and perhaps a little fear as the giant globe whizzes by like a celestial bullet.

A glimpse of heaven on Earth

Camino tours are available through companies or churches, in which hotel stays, some meals, transportation of luggage while walking and some area attractions are included in the cost. Some pilgrims prefer to make the trip on their own, though.

Either way, to receive an official certificate of distance completion known as the “Compostela,” walkers must document their progress in a booklet in which they accumulate each day least two dated stamps as “pilgrim credentials,” according to the Pilgrim Office.

Colorful inked stamps with different images are given at hotels, cafes, restaurants and other stops, to prove that pilgrims have finished at least 100 kilometers of a Camino route.

With straying off the path intentionally or unintentionally and accounting for some sightseeing, my family walked well over 100 miles during six days.

Pilgrims who arrive on horseback or bicycle also qualify for the certificate, and some pilgrims travel by boat to a Spanish port such as at Ferrol to begin their excursion.

Watching people who are in wheelchairs or facing life-threatening illnesses accomplish what many able-bodied pilgrims find challenging inspires the ability to put one foot in front of the other and soldier on.

Churches along the routes bestow special blessings to pilgrims during public recognition, where pilgrims say aloud their nationalities or homes of origin.

The international solidarity of the Camino, with every pilgrim focused on the same goal for myriad reasons, gives a glimpse of how global peace is possible. Perhaps with a little supernatural assistance.