S3:E10 Carrying Pilgrim Prayers on my Camino to the Tomb of St. Peter

Walking virtually along the world's most revered footpaths and connecting the global community of pilgrims, it's the Sacred Steps Podcast. Available on YouTube and your favorite podcast app. Broadcasting from the Chamere Studios in Florida. Here's your host, pilgrim backpacker and author, Kevin Donahue.

Good morning, Camino Pilgrims, and welcome back to the Sacred Steps Podcast. I'm Kevin Donahue, pilgrim, backpacker, struggling author with my first book, The Pilgrim's Table, available later this year. If you're joining us for the very first time, welcome to the podcast. I think you'll find that on this program, we're walking virtually alongside pilgrims and authors, sharing their stories and connecting a community of pilgrims from around the world. And that includes you.

So if you're planning a pilgrimage walk or have already returned from your journey, tap subscribe and join us twice monthly on the podcast. On today's episode, I'm sharing my own experience from walking my Via Francigena through Italy, focused on carrying the prayers of pilgrims along my own pilgrimage. Before we begin, let's check the mailbox and answer some of your questions. First, from Julia in Eastbridge, Kent in England. She writes, We are Eastbridge Hospital, a place of pilgrim hospitality for eight hundred years.

We have many pilgrims pass through our beautiful building on their way to Dover, and we stamp their passports. We would like to offer passports here. Is this possible? If somebody could contact me, that would be great. Our website is eastbridgehospital.org.uk.

Thank you so much for your email, Julia, and for all that you and everyone at Eastbridge are doing for pilgrims and walkers. I had the good fortune to have my Pilgrim passport stamped at Eastbridge when I was walking the Pilgrim's Way from London through Rochester to Canterbury. Perhaps we met. Eastbridge, for those who know Canterbury, is over near Greyfriars Garden and the Great Stour inside the West Gate on High Street. It's a few minutes walk from the cathedral.

As Julia said, Eastbridge has been a pilgrim hostelry since November, welcoming and caring for tens of thousands of pilgrims who came annually to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket and to venerate Saint Augustine, who founded the church in Canterbury. Julia, while I do not know of a specific contact for obtaining the Pilgrim Passports, I would suggest getting in touch with two great organizations in The UK dedicating to restoring the Pilgrimage tradition. And those are the British Pilgrimage Trust and the Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome, both located in London. Of course, the pilgrimage office at Canterbury Cathedral sells the passports, so that would be another great resource maybe to learn where they obtain them. Thank you again for all that you're doing for Pilgrims headed to Rome and to Canterbury, Julia.

Wishing you and everyone at Eastbridge all the best, and I will stop in again when I'm walking your way next. If you're interested in walking the Pilgrim's Way from London to Canterbury or starting your Via Francigena walk in Canterbury, you'll find several episodes dedicated to these walks on the podcast homepage at sacredstepspodcast.com. I walked the Pilgrim's Way in September and October 2021, finishing in Canterbury before continuing on the Via Francigena, past Saint Martin's, Shepherd's Well, and Dover to the English Channel. I think we've recorded maybe 12 or more episodes on pilgrimage in The UK, including routes across England, Scotland, and Wales. You can stream those on your podcast app, over on our YouTube channel, or on the website.

Next from Natalia in Brazil. One Camino, Kevin. I saw your video about taking a camping blanket recently instead of a sleeping bag. This sounds like something I want to do. You said in the video to put the blanket into your backpack instead of the sack that is sold with it.

Can you explain how to do this? Thank you. Much love from Brazil. Thank you, Natalia, and much love to all of our followers streaming the podcast in Brazil. That's my attempt at Portuguese.

Yeah. So I posted a video on our Camino 101 series called Take This Instead of a Sleeping Bag on the Camino De Santiago. The point of the video is that sleeping bags are heavy and inefficient for the Camino. If you think about a sleeping bag, it usually has a zipper that makes one big blanket connect to cover your body top and bottom. I know there's some complications here.

Some of them are mummy shaped and what have you, but they generally open on one side and fold to cover you. Because pilgrims are buying lighter weight sleeping bags from Amazon or Alibaba or Decathlon or REI, these tend to have just really modest insulated value. And frankly, you don't need great insulation because you're sleeping inside in an albergue on a mattress. And this is directional towards my point. So that layer of the sleeping bag that is going under you, once it is compressed by your body, its insulative value is again decreased exponentially from the compression, which is why in most of your backcountry hiking, you'll see backpackers carry a sleeping pad to create a greater barrier between the ground and themselves.

To add, if you will, insulated value or what we call r value. For your part, you already have that mattress creating insulation under you. But, again, indoors where the ambient temperature is more manageable than the outdoors. This bag layer that is laying beneath you is really doing, frankly, nothing at all for you. It's barely sufficient to add comfort, and it certainly isn't adding substantial insulative value.

What it does add is weight. So my suggestion is to take half of the sleeping bag, meaning you take a down camping blanket, which is, for all intents and purposes, the top part of the sleeping bag, instead of the full bag. Rated to 55 degrees, a 650 fill count down blanket will keep you warm on cool nights and checks in at roughly one pound, less than half, perhaps significantly less than half than that bulky sleeping bag. The down blanket packs down to about two liters versus 12 to 20 liters for a sleeping bag. And here's where I'm finally answering your question, Natalia.

Instead of compressing the blanket into a stuff sack, which is going to take up that two liters of cargo space in your backpack, I've always suggested that you push the blanket into the very far bottom interior of your backpack. Make this the very first thing you put into your empty backpack. It's down, and it will compress very, very small. So just take it and shove it into the bottom of your backpack. As you add gear, the blanket will occupy all the little air pockets and nooks of your backpack, saving you room as your gear further compresses the blanket to its smallest form fitting, space filling place in your bag.

The video on down blankets is part of our Camino one hundred one video series on YouTube at youtube.com/sacredsteps. I'll link it below in the show notes. That's where you'll find 12 to 15 videos for beginning pilgrims with tips and tricks from myself and others. One of the things I hope to do this summer is actually incorporate more of your tips, having some guests sharing their best practices in our Camino 101 series. So if you're interested in that, hop over to YouTube, click subscribe, so that our future episodes are available to you automatically.

Natalia, I hope this answers your question. It's a challenging concept to explain in writing or verbally. It's much easier to witness someone stuffing the blanket into the bottom of the bag, but I hope I've explained it well for you on this podcast. I'm so grateful for your kind words and for you sending in your question via the website. Buen Camino Natalia.

All my best from Florida to you in Brazil. Speaking of the website, if you'd like to email a question or comment, you can do it at sacred steps podcast dot com. You can also record your question or Camino plans as a voice message, and we may play them right here on the podcast. In our previous episode, I mentioned with great astonishment that the podcast is now streaming in 81 countries. I just wanna take one more moment to thank you again for helping to share these episodes.

By pressing a star rating on your podcast app, you're telling Apple and Spotify and and all the podcast apps, recommend these shows to pilgrims looking for podcasts. So thank you sincerely for your reviews and your ratings. Most of all, thank you for helping me fulfill our goal of connecting a global community of pilgrims. Sincerely, thank you for rating the show. On today's episode, you know, the greatest challenge for today's episode, for me, is to try to get through this entire podcast without getting overly emotional.

And if you're used to watching us on YouTube, don't adjust your screen. Today's podcast is only an audio on the podcast app and on YouTube. But today, I'm gonna be sharing the story of carrying your prayers, the prayers of pilgrims, from my Via Francigena pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Peter in Rome. First, a little context. In 2020, Scottish Pilgrim Johnny Walker, many of you know from the Camino forums and social media groups in Santiago, suggested that I invite others to share in my pilgrimage walks by carrying their prayers or reflecting on their behalf.

What I invite other my fellow pilgrims to do is to say to their family and friends, people in the golf club, people in their church, people in their street, if you have anything that you want me to reflect on and to pray about while I walk on my Camino to Santiago and to lay before the tomb of St James in Santiago De Compostela, please write them down and give them to me. And I would encourage everybody to do that because it was a very, very humbling experience for people who wrote often very personal matters that entrusted us with thinking about them as we went on our Pilgrim Way.

That has to have been The the

next time you're preparing for a Camino Kevin, I expect you to knock your next door neighbor's door and say, What do you want me to pray for?

At John's advice, I began inviting our Sacred Steps audience to allow me to carry their prayers on my journeys, including my spring twenty twenty one California Missions Trail pilgrimage, my fall twenty twenty one Pilgrimage to Canterbury and Holy Island in The UK, and this last year, my twenty twenty two Pilgrimage through Italy to the tomb of Saint Peter at the Vatican. I've shared my thoughts and reflections on these journeys in previous episodes, including my season two recap of the Pilgrim's Way and Saint Cuthbert in season two episodes five and six, I think, which you can stream on your podcast app or directly on the Sacred Steps homepage. So I'm walking through Italy on the Via Francigena, and carrying the prayers submitted to me through the website before my journey. Again, I've done this before, and you've given me the opportunity to open my pilgrimage before. But this journey felt very different for me.

Firstly, there were roughly 70 pilgrims and families that sent me their prayers. That was shocking to me, and I'm I'm grateful for the opportunity. But in some ways, gave some gravity, figuratively, of course, to the purpose. Perhaps it was walking through these medieval Italian towns and villages with their century old churches. Maybe it was the destination, walking to Saint Peter's.

Maybe it was the journey that I happened to be having in my own life. But something that I've done before, carrying your prayers, felt incredibly poignant to me this time. From a practical purpose, your prayer requests come to me in a dedicated folder in my email so that I can easily access them, and then I put them into one document. I carry that document on my mobile phone so that I can access it anywhere I go. And I would usually pray on your behalf once or twice a day, depending on where I was or how I felt about a certain location, especially if it seemed like the right moment and the right place to venerate your prayers.

And and sometimes that would be a cathedral, a house of worship, an abbey, and sometimes just natural locations. Clearly, Saint Peter stands out as being highly significant and highly emotional, so I'll get to that in a moment. But one place that stood out probably wouldn't pass as highly significant to anyone just walking by. But I was in Italy, and I came upon a field, just an entire field of poppies. Now poppies have significance in many ways for many different people, dating back to Greek and Roman poetry in which the poppy was used as a literary symbol for death.

In classical mythology, the poppy is often a symbol for resurrection or a celebration of one's memory transcending death. And in modern culture, we use the red corn poppy in Western society to commemorate those who were killed in our great and terrible wars. When I saw poppies in The UK, it was always about remembrance for World War one and World War two. But in our home, my wife loves poppies, and I can remember one of Jack's first little primary school drawings, the field of poppies hanging in our kitchen, much to the delight of Maren and Jack both. So here I was, and I think maybe all of those things drew me to this field and this place.

But I'm just in in the middle of rural Italy on a very hot, very long day. And across this dusty dirt path, a farmer's hayfield between two olive orchards, just filled with bright red poppies. On the side of the road, a great big shade tree told me this was the place to stop and get out of the sun. Stop and take in all the beauty that was before me. And the poppies and the field were absolutely beautiful.

I'll have to go back and check, but I believe I posted on my Instagram several pictures of that poppy field that day. And as I sat there resting, and here here's something that I don't ordinarily do in my day to day life, but I recall being really grateful for this shade tree. Right? Because it was like a large oak or elm tree, and most of the trees in Lazio, near these farmers' fields, are actually olive trees. So the ground has been clear cut, and there aren't a lot of just shade trees there.

But I recall being really grateful for the shade tree. You know those days when you're walking and walking, and there's no shade in sight, and you finally get that little break. It was an oasis for me. So I took out my phone, and I took the photos of the field, and I think I took a photo of myself and sent it home to Mare, because I knew she loved the poppies, and I laid back, and I rested with my feet up. I got hydrated, and I remember being really moved to make this a place where I read your prayers.

And in the quiet of that place, to an audience of thousands of these bright red symbols of remembrance, I read your prayers aloud, and I've been doing this day upon day in all types of places. So I know, at this point in my journey, I know your prayers. Not that I can recite them from memory, but I recognize each one as I'm reading them and the people that you're praying for by name. And I promise I will never break your confidence, but I have to share one aspect. I remember getting to this one prayer and struggling in this place to read it aloud.

The prayers you send are of all aspects of likes. Prayers for your children, prayers for your parents, prayers for peace, happiness, to overcome demons, to overcome challenges, to feel closer to God, to have someone touched by the hand of God, to have more success in your life or reconnect with friends, and and all, really, the entirety of human condition. But this one prayer was requested by a woman, and it was very conflicted about her father. They had been distant because of some abuse by her father, and now he had passed away. And she was praying for her family to heal, praying for herself to find forgiveness, and praying for her father to be redeemed.

Under that tree, I felt so connected to your prayer. And at other times, in other places, I've had similar experiences with differing prayers that others have shared, but I have no doubt in my mind that this prayer you've been carrying and that you asked me to carry and pray on your behalf during my pilgrimage. I have no doubt this prayer has been hurt, And it's it's not my own. It's not really my place to know how this may manifest itself in your life and in your family's life, but I have no doubt in my mind on that day, in that place surrounded by these symbols of remembrance, your prayer was lifted up, and your voice was heard. And I just want to let you know that you are loved, that the light is indeed brighter than the darkness, and it is shining towards you.

And the days ahead will find you stronger in life, in love, and in peace. Let's pause for just a second, and when we return, sharing your prayers at the tomb of Saint James.

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And now the Sacred Steps Podcast continues.

I've talked at some length about arriving at Saint Peter's Basilica at the conclusion of my Via Francigena walk in 2022. My family was there to greet me in Saint Peter's Square, and after getting my testimonium, we spent time, as many Americans do, traveling throughout Italy. But there was one act I had promised and completed before we left Rome. Prior to departing on my journey, I'd reached out to the Vatican office, and somehow they took great measures to allow me a private access tour to the Scabby, the underground crypts and tombs upon which Saint Peter's is built. For those who haven't been to Rome, the Vatican is built upon the old Christian burial grounds near the circus ground begun by Agrippina and finished by her son Nero, who, by the way, murdered his own mother to seize control of the Roman Empire.

The obelisk that you see in so many photos of Saint Peter's Square is the last remaining symbol of Nero's Circus, which, just to clarify, was not a family friendly area to learn about the conservation of animals or habitats. The Roman circus, and particularly Nero's circus, was a place for the grotesque, for the cruel, for the heathen displays, including the execution and martyrdom of early Christians. It's the place where Saint Peter was crucified, upside down, and buried at Mons Vaticanus Vatican Hill, which is how we've come to name the Vatican. I'll share some links to more of the history of early Rome for those who wanna learn about the forming of the Vatican and the location. But it's important to know, if you don't already, that the altar for the modern day Saint Peter's Basilica sits directly above the tomb of Saint Peter.

Several, I don't wanna call them stories, but some distance above the tomb, as the area below the basilica was later excavated to reveal Roman burial grounds with the tombs of many early Christians buried in close proximity to Saint Peter. So Marin, Jack, and I met a guide from The Vatican, and we're taking on this private tour with one other group to tour the Eskabe, the necropolis under Saint Peter's. If you're interested in touring Eskabe, you can connect with the excavations office like I did, or you can work with a private tour company that sometimes works with the Vatican staff. Either of those might be an option for you. But the underground necropolis is a burial site filled with tombs that are thousands of years old.

These are the resting place of Rome's families and martyrs, and among them, Saint Peter. So it felt like a great honor to be in this space and to learn about the tomb since I had never been there. And the highlight of the experience without question, being able to visit the tomb of Saint Peter. Our guide walked us to the tomb and showed us where the popes and faithful have come to pray beside the tomb. And after she had explained it to us, I shared with her that I wanted to take a few moments alone here because I had been entrusted with the prayers of nearly 70 other pilgrims.

And with that, she and Maren and Jack departed. And for I don't I don't know exactly how long. Sometime, I was alone to kneel at the tomb of Saint Peter and to share your prayers. Everything around the tomb, being underground and removed from all the crowds, is silent. Understandably quiet, but just a place of extreme silence.

And being able to kneel before Saint Peter's underground tomb, and maybe you've done this before, but to kneel there and pray there felt very profound, a weighty moment for me. Here I am, this little pilgrim, kneeling before the tomb of the apostle, the rock of Christianity, and privately being able to pray in this sacred place. Reading your prayers aloud at the tomb, my voice echoes in the void, so every word I read I can hear reverberating among the the tombs and the ceiling above, which is actually, again, the floor of the basilica above me. And at this point in my journey, I'd been reading these prayers every day for day and day and weeks. So as I said, in some regard, I know these prayers.

I know your words to the point where not only do I understand them literally, but I understand, or I think I reasonably understand the emotion and the inflection and the intention in each prayer. But in this place, it's as if I'm reading them for the first time. And for those who ask me to share their prayers, I read your prayer humbly on my knees in the dim light of the necropolis at a place where popes and pilgrims have prayed just feet from Saint Peter's tomb. One prayer that stands out to me particularly in that place was the prayer of a doubting man. A man who, despite his years of practicing in the Christian faith, had begun to have more serious and significant doubts about God and God's place in his life.

This was a hard prayer to read in this place, but I think in many ways, this was one of the most important places to share his prayer. Here, before Saint Peter the Apostle, the first bishop of Rome who carried the church following the resurrection of Jesus, a man who was crucified upside down for the entertainment of others in the Roman circus. In this holy place, I prayed the prayer of a man who was losing his faith and asking for a sign that God still cared. That faith still mattered despite all the signs that his church had placed its daily chores ahead of its Christian tradition. That he was still welcome in a church before God.

Now, I can't tell you that a bright light shone and appeared. I can't tell you that the ground shook. I can't tell you that voices cried out. But I can assure you of this. Every one of your prayers was read aloud and shared, and I believe heard before God, before the tomb of one of his most venerated servants in that sacred space.

When I finished your prayers, I took the opportunity to share my own prayers of gratitude for a safe journey, for my family and friends, for you even though we've never met, and for those I have been given the opportunity to serve. And finally, for the opportunity to pray on your behalf that my pilgrimage, my journey, my voice might venerate your prayers. I want to thank my friend John for encouraging me to open my pilgrimage to others. Carrying the prayers of pilgrims has been one of the most humbling and the most fulfilling elements of my recent journeys. Of all that I may shoulder, of everything that I carry in my pack, there is nothing more important than your prayers to me, and I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to serve you in some small way alongside your own faith journey.

We've reached the part of this episode where now I have something to maybe ask of you. Maybe you're planning your Camino, planning your Via Franciga, planning your first, or your next, or your final pilgrimage walk. Let me encourage you the way John encouraged me to consider opening your pilgrimage to others. Reach out to your family and your friends, and let them know how meaningful and important this journey is for you. Invite them to follow you online with photos and videos, of course, but invite them to allow you to carry something on their behalf.

If they have something on their minds, they have something on their hearts, Let them know you can say those prayers on their behalf in these places you're going. This is a great gift you can give to them to help shoulder a burden, a concern, to carry a joy or a thought. But if I'm being honest, there's no greater gift they can give you than to add their purpose to your pack. My son Jack and I will be walking the Camino De Santiago in June. So to you, if there's something that's on your mind or something that's weighing on your heart, it would be my humble honor to carry your prayers to the tomb of Saint James In shrines and sanctuaries and beautiful places that move me along the way, I'll share your prayers.

I will light candles on your behalf and solemnly pray that your words are heard. If you'd like to submit a prayer request, go to prayers.sacredstepspodcast.com and complete the private form. I'll be collecting requests through about June 6, and then compiling your prayers for my next pilgrimage. To say that I've been blessed with the opportunity to walk these routes is clearly an understatement. My family has graced me with time away to pursue this passion, and people have taken me into their hearts and homes and prayed on my behalf and allowed me to pray for them.

And for for all that it may have meant for you to have someone carrying a prayer to these places, for me, it truly has been one of the great blessings I've been fortunate to receive in my life. Thank you for sharing in my journeys, for watching over me with your prayers and your thoughts, and for blessing me with the gift of carrying your prayers. Until we're together next, be well, stay safe, and buen Camino.

This has been the Sacred Steps Podcast. To help other pilgrims find the show, please leave a star rating on your podcast app. For episode notes, links from the show, or to contact Kevin, visit our website at sacredstepspodcast.com. You can also join our behind the mic email list on the website. Before you go, tap subscribe so our future episodes are available to you automatically.