Peter the Hermit | Page 2

of Isis and Osiris came from Egypt to
Rome, and became an influential cult there, as witness the abounding
symbols of that worship still preserved in the Capitoline Museum.
[Sidenote: The Charm of Judea to Christians]
To the Christian no land could be so full of religious suggestions,
remembrances, and associations as Judea. France, Spain, Italy, Britain
were no sooner Christianized in any degree than pilgrims began to set

out for the Jordan, for Bethlehem, for Jerusalem with its Gethsemane,
its Calvary, and its Holy Sepulcher. Those who were taught that
blessing came "by the work wrought," especially when the years
prophesied a brief space of life left, eagerly sought to wash sin away in
Jordan or to die near the hill of the atonement.
[Sidenote: Greater Number of Pilgrims]
[Sidenote: Buildings by Constantine and Helena]
When Christianity became imperial by alliance with the State, and
corrupt by the ascendency of Constantine in its Councils, the number of
pilgrims greatly increased. Ambitions as well as devotions drew men to
Palestine. Constantine had evoked Jerusalem again as a name and as a
city from the ruins of the preceding three centuries. The liberality of
Constantine and Helena had identified the holy places sufficiently for
the credulous faith of the time, and has decorated them with churches
and colonnades. Michaud says: "An obscure cavern had become a
marble temple paved with precious stones. To the east of the Holy
Sepulcher appeared the Church of the Resurrection, where the riches of
Asia mingled with the arts of Greece and Rome."[2]
[Sidenote: Security in Pilgrimages]
The attraction of such buildings, however, was not so great a stimulus
to pilgrimages as the security which the pilgrim might have, both on his
journey and after his arrival, through the extended and effective
authority of the Roman emperor. The pilgrim could now journey
without fighting his way, could be housed without secrecy after his
arrival, and could worship without stripes at any one of the many
shrines which attracted his piety.
[Sidenote: Dangers of the Earlier Journeys]
It is doubtful if any pilgrims traveled so far at first in such numbers
through unsympathetic and unfriendly people as those who went as
palmers before the settlement of the roads by Constantine or just before
the Crusades. During the stay of St. Jerome at Bethlehem, in the fourth

century, the pilgrims were so numerous that he speaks of them as
coming in crowds, and says that the praises of God could be heard there
in many languages.
[Sidenote: Early Fathers and their Cautions]
[Sidenote: Warnings of St. Jerome]
Some of the great leaders of the Church, Jerome himself with varying
note, were wise enough to point out the evils of these pilgrimages, and
to remind the faithful that the Christ might be honored by good deeds at
home. Gregory of Nyssa wrote: "The Lord has not said, 'Go to the
Orient and seek justice.' Travel even to the west and you shall receive
pardon." St. Augustine said in the first sermon on the words of the
Apostle Peter: "I am unwilling to consider a long journey. Where you
believe, there you arrive."[3] Jerome from Bethlehem itself writes,
"Heaven is equally open to Britain and Jerusalem." He could not have
advised against pilgrimages more strenuously if he had wished to keep
Bethlehem for himself and for the Roman ladies drawn thither by his
example.
[Sidenote: Good Roads and Travelers' Homes]
For several centuries the passion for the pilgrimage increased steadily.
Roads were indicated, resting places pointed out, and wealth sought to
buy salvation by building hospitals and providing for doles of bread
and wine to those who made the sacred journey. Charlemagne made
their case a tax on his subjects through whose bounds they passed.
"Even in our entire kingdom neither rich nor poor shall dare to deny
hospitality to the pilgrims.... On account of the love of God and the
salvation of our souls, no one shall deny them shelter, fire, or water."
[Sidenote: Shelters in Jerusalem]
In Jerusalem vast caravanseries were built for them, Gregory the Great
building there one of the largest of all shelters.
[Sidenote: Washing Sins Away]

The signs of the pilgrim--the staff, the wallet, and the
scallop-shell--were blessed by priest or bishop before departure, and
took on added sanctity, and even miracle-working power, if they had
reached actual use in the Holy Land. It was not long before an
indulgent Church guaranteed that bathing in Jordan should wash away
all sin. And, as the Holy Land must be rich in the bones of martyrs and
in the relics of Christ and His apostles, it was within the ambition of the
pilgrims to possess a hair of the Virgin, a thread from the seamless coat,
a nail which had pierced His hand, a splinter from the cross, or