Sarah Blick, a professor of art history at Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, is one of the founders of Peregrinations, the international society for the study of pilgrimage art. The society was founded in 2000 to bring together scholars who explore the art and architecture of pilgrimage in the late Middle Ages.

The intent was to provide a forum for themes and topics related to that subject and share current research. Among the goals of society members is to reconstruct more fully the sites in Europe which were goals for those who journeyed on pilgrimage.

In this Q & A, Blick shares her insights on why pilgrimage remains such a vital institution today.

Q: Pilgrimage souvenirs have ancient roots and seem as popular today as they were in medieval times. On our upcoming diocesan pilgrimage to the National Shrine in Washington, there will be time to peruse the huge gift shop there and come away with souvenirs. Why do people remain so emotionally connected to carrying something away with them that signifies the journey?

A: Today, I believe that it allows the pilgrim to take away a tangible memory of their experience.  It could be a pebble picked up from the side of the road, a flower pressed in a book, or a specially manufactured souvenir with a picture of the place or image visited. 

In the Middle Ages, the reasons for going on pilgrimage were rather different and so the response to pilgrim souvenirs was also different. According to miracle stories and other records, most people embarked on pilgrimage to obtain miraculous healing for themselves or their loved ones. This was believed possible because they were traveling to gain access to a relic or to a miraculous image.  Relics and miraculous images were believed to retain the holy essence of the divinity of which they were once a part (like a finger bone) or which they touched (the Virgin Mary's cloak) or was generated by a divine presence. Many, for instance, were believed to have been painted or sculpted by the Evangelist Luke and then dropped down from the heavens or "re-discovered" after centuries.

It was believed that this divine presence caused a merging of heaven and earth, and in that place where the relic or image resided, normal earthly laws could be suspended and miracles could occur. The relics were so powerful that anything they touched would in turn gain similar powers.

One scholar refers to it as "holy radioactivity."  So pilgrims wished to touch the relics, but that was generally forbidden. They were kept under tight lock and key, usually in sumptuous reliquaries.  The pilgrims were, though, allowed to touch shrine bases which held the reliquaries.  In order to take the power with them, they could touch something to the shrine base or cloth covering an altar holding the reliquary and then take that home with them.  Most commonly, they touched their souvenir to them. From there, they could dip it in wine and drink it, rub it on an afflicted body part, etc.

But the power of the pilgrim souvenir went far beyond that.  It was used for protection purposes: cast into the bodies of bells, baptismal fonts, and tankards.

It brought even greater sanctity to these ritual objects – in the case of bells, for instance – it was believed that they could ward off lightning and bad weather.  Pilgrim souvenirs were placed in the foundations of houses, pinned to cattle troughs, and laid in fields to guard against weeds and vermin infestation. There were tales of pilgrim souvenirs raising out horses that were stuck in the mud and alleviating the pain of childbirth.  Frankly, for some, they became secondary relics capable of the same miraculous powers as the original to which they were touched.

In the later Middle Ages, when the numbers of pilgrims reached unprecedented levels (100,000 in one week at Aachen Cathedral), pilgrim souvenirs were used as a way to allow pilgrims special visual access.  At Aachen, in the 15th century, every seven years they held a jubilee and they were flooded with pilgrims.  There was no way that so many people could fit into the cathedral, so (the Church officials) draped their relic out over a balcony between two towers.  This was a chemise of the Virgin Mary, reputedly worn when she gave birth to Christ.  Pilgrims purchased badges with tiny mirrors in them.  They could reflect the image of the chemise onto a loaf of bread and then eat the loaf, thus transferring the power. Johannes Gutenberg mass produced such badges before inventing the printing press.

Q: The National Shrine in Washington was created largely as a place of pilgrimage for Catholics and is a showplace of art and architecture. Can you talk about the broad range of sites which have attracted pilgrims over the centuries and why people undertake journeys to them?

A: Pilgrimage sites are incredibly varied.  Many are situated in revered places in nature: mountains, rivers, volcanoes, strangely shaped rock formations, etc.

These were commonly seen as special openings between worlds: the heavens, earth, and the underworld.  In ancient times, they were places where it was believed that communication with the gods was made more accessible.

There were also places made sacred because something special happened there.  Places hit by lightning or meteorites were considered sacred in ancient Rome, for example.  Places where miracles were reported to have occurred or where sacred people once preached or lived also have traditionally drawn people to them.  Think of Mt. Sinai, where God talked to Moses.

Many, but not all, sacred places are characterized by difficulty. That is, they are difficult to get to (in deserts, climbing mountains, having to travel many miles) and that adds to their sense of exclusivity. In the Middle Ages, sacred places waxed and waned as their popularity grew or fell.  Some places attracted visitors after they were expensively refurbished or after they gained a new important relic. 

The presence of new saints and newly-discovered saints could always draw crowds. Some folks were excited by the thought of Thomas Aquinas’ death because he was so large. They knew they would be a good many relics to share among them.

Still, beauty was not enough - a church had to have a relic or miraculous image.

Q: It's customary for pilgrims to wear something that identifies them as being on pilgrimage. These days, it's likely to be a bandana or a ball cap. Why do you think this remains part of the tradition?

A: There are a number of theories concerning this.  One of the most popular, proposed by cultural anthropologists Victor and Edith Turner, is that pilgrims, once they get far enough away from home, enter a liminal state (neither here nor there).  That is, the old status markers and community fall away and a new community is formed with their fellow pilgrims.

In this way, wearing identifying clothes helps pilgrims create this "communitas." Other scholars disagree and point out that most pilgrims traveled in large groups from their original communities and that the status remained the same and that the interaction with other pilgrims was of a more limited sort.

If this is true, then the clothing marker is of a more personal nature.  The pilgrim wants to feel that they have changed and the marker is a way to be different or separate from the normal group.

For modern pilgrims, I think these clothes allow them to more easily identify other pilgrims and it opens doors to communication and friendship.

In the Middle Ages, pilgrims tended to wear heavy boots, thick cloaks, and broad brimmed hats to deal with changing weather conditions.  They also commonly carried a walking staff.  As they did not acquire a pilgrim souvenir until they reached their destination, there was no way to distinguish them from other travelers except by the sites where they chose to stop and visit.

Q: How did you get interested in the study of pilgrimage art and architecture and come to help found the society? Why are pilgrimages a topic of interest today?

A: I discovered pilgrim badges by accident and was fascinated by these dinky, poorly made, metal pieces because they showed imagery that I had never seen before.  At the time (1990), not much had been written on them and so I jumped in with both feet first.  I soon discovered 

Ultimately I settled on the pilgrim souvenirs of Canterbury Cathedral because they intrigued me the most visually.  I then started to read everything I could get my hands on about pilgrimage.

I joined forces with Rita Tekippe who also worked on pilgrimage art (reliquaries). She now teaches at State University of West Georgia, and we started to organize sessions at medieval conferences and met all kinds of other scholars interested in the subject and it blossomed from there.  We decided to found the Society to have a place to share new research and ideas about pilgrimage art.  We regularly organize sessions at conferences and we publish the scholarly journal Peregrinations (http://peregrinations.kenyon.edu). It's been a lot of fun and we've met some great people!

I think people today are interested in pilgrimage because they want a visceral interaction with the sacred, something out of the ordinary. It's also great fun to travel, see lovely landscapes, and gorgeous churches.