What led one local on a Spiritual Pilgrimage through Spain

There is a story that centers around one of the most famous Christian pilgrimages in the world.  That is, when Jesus died, the disciple St. James (also known as Santiago) traveled to the Iberian Peninsula (now Galicia, Spain) in order to convert the Pagans there to Christianity.  Later, in 44 A.D. an apparition brought St. James to Jerusalem where King Herod had him beheaded, making him the first disciple to be martyred.  According to legend, St. James’s remains were buried in Compostela.

In the 11th Century, Europeans were told to make the pilgrimage of Camino de Santiago, also known as the Pilgrimage of Compostela, from their homes as penance for their sins.  Over the centuries, a network of multiple routes formed across Europe to the shrine of St. James.  And, for over 1,000 years, the routes have been traversed as both a spiritual journey and hiking experience. 

Patty Prather, who describes herself as a seeker of deeper spirituality, had been yearning to make the Camino since the 90s, but there was always something preventing her.  It would be 15 years before the opportunity presented itself and when it did, she grabbed it without hesitation, and she knew she’d go it alone. 

She chose the Portuguese Camino for a couple of reasons:  It was the one traveled less than the more common French Camino and others, and she felt she had a calling to go to Portugal since her great grandfather was a fisherman from the Azores Islands.

The Portuguese Camino starts in Lisbon, Portugal and stretches across the Western Coast of Spain, finishing in Santiago de Compostela, 385 miles.  The term “walking distance” would take on a whole new meaning for Patty.

To prepare herself, Patty trained for eight months building stamina by walking on as many different terrains as one can in South Louisiana and then for the last three months carrying a backpack of the supplies she would bring.

Before she left Lafayette, she had mapped out where she would sleep along the way – a series of host homes, modest hotels and bed and breakfasts. 

On April 15 at about 9 a.m. she left Lisbon, Portugal with everything she’d need in a backpack:  two pairs of clothes, some Kind snack bars, a pair of Teva sandals, a few first aide essentials, a towel, rain parka and her water bottles.  Around her neck, she felt armed with her scapula, sacred heart medal and her grandmother’s wedding ring. 

It took two days just to walk through Lisbon’s industrial area and then she followed the Tagus River for a long distance.  Amazingly, in the eight days it took Patty to get from Lisbon to Porto, Portugal, 194 miles, she met up with only other two people walking the Camino.  She missed a few of the sought out yellow arrows painted on trees and stone markers pointing the right way at various tricky crossroads along the trail, causing her to once hitch a ride to get five miles back on track. 

It was parish priest and Camino pioneer Don Elías Valiña Sampedro who cleaned and mapped out the Camino trail with yellow arrows after studying the pilgrimage of St. James.  “Other than that, all you have is a tiny map and a guide book, which I misplaced a few times.  Google Map doesn’t know the Camino route,” Patty laughs.

She pulls out a well-worn pamphlet with each page colorfully stamped and signed from all the places she had slept during her pilgrimage – a requirement to earn a certificate at the end.

The paths were often difficult; getting sore muscles and blisters (on every toe in Patty’s case) is part of the journey.  One pulsing blister finally broke, forcing her to stop and hail another ride – this time from a Portuguese farming woman.  

Those who helped her did not speak English, but they were always one communication well understood:   with their hands together and a tilt down of the head, they asked for prayers once she reached Compostela. 

“I met so many angels on the way who helped me.  There’s wonderful comradery along this great walking trail,” Patty remembers fondly. 

The Camino is a paradox of pain and pleasure as that same unforgiving terrain lead to breathtaking trails, rich farm lands and pastures, ancient cathedrals, past miles and miles of vineyards and grapes, skirted beautiful coast lines and lush forests. 

Patty was fully aware that she was walking where, just last year, 300,000 had walked before her and where others would make the same trek in the future.   

“Friends asked why I went alone and I said I wanted to be with myself and God,” Patty says.  “I liked the quiet and living in the present.  Once I got there, I felt no fear of anything or anyone.  We are taught fear in the media, but it was so freeing to believe that all humans are good people.  Besides, I felt the power of people in Lafayette praying for me.  It was a beautiful three and a half weeks by myself.  It was a very powerful experience that taught me, among other things, how to pray differently.”

Once Patty reached Ponte de Lima, she took transportation back to Lisbon where she had planned to meet her husband, Brent, who was waiting for her to make the drive to Compostela together.  The effects of childhood polio have put limits on Brent’s walking and they knew he could not make the hike.  But it was important to Patty to make those first few hundred miles on her own and to ultimately be at the cathedral with Brent.

On May 19, she and Brent arrived at the Cathedral de Santiago where she received her certificate.  Many, many other pilgrims arrived, quickly identified by the clam shell they were wearing that signified they had made the journey.  The clam shell, native to Galicia, has several meanings; some say each line in the shell represents a different Camino route leading to St. James’s shrine.

While for many, the pilgrimage is more profound than the destination, Patty says as she sat on the altar waiting to see Brent, and hundreds of others, hug the statue of St. James, she felt the power of prayers of everyone that touched her life.  She made a list in her journal of all the people who had helped her along her way.  She offered her Camino to the caregivers in her life, especially the nurses who took care of her mother.

“At that moment in the cathedral, I felt a common belief,” Patty affirms.  “I realized that for hundreds of years pilgrims before us had taken time to pray at this very statue and I felt all of humanity’s prayers at that point.”

In the end, Patty figured she walked nearly 500 miles, which included the times she got lost.  

Last month, she celebrated a year since making her Camino and says it is still enriching her life.  “I’m still very peaceful and try not to interrupt that with constant social media and news,” she says.   Her email signature reads:  May we know peace and may we live peace.

It helps that she has practiced meditative prayers for years, the past five with an all women group at Sacred Center.  And, time with her three children and six grandchildren (soon to be seven), heightens her level of contentment and peace.

Patty shares her story, but says everyone’s experience is different.  “I would tell anyone who is interested, to walk a Camino. You’ll know when it’s your time.  It’s not a vacation, it’s a different attitude than going on a vacation.  The goal is to get from point A to point B, with lots of breaks.  What comes to you is what God sends you that day.  I spent most of my days in prayer.  Whatever your reason for going, you will come back changed.”

With the belief that we are all asked by God to grow, Patty says she tries to answer the call.  In doing so again, she hopes to next walk the northern Camino on the north shore of Spain. 

“God doesn’t want me to stay where I am,” she smiles.