Carrión de los Condes 2

My reasons for wanting to stay here at the Albergue de Santa Maria were several:

The albergue is run by an Augustinian order of nuns, who usually conduct a session of singing for pilgrims every evening. The nuns are currently away on a prayer retreat and so we were instead looked after by a team of hospitaleros, including 2 young priests in training. We sung songs in Spanish, French and one in English (Amazing Grace). Interspersed between the songs, first the hospitaleros and then the gathered pilgrims introduced ourselves and shared our stories. This time the countries represented included the UK (3 of us), France, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Canada, Spain, Austria, Australia, the US and Taiwan. Finally, we were each given a cardboard star made by the nuns to remind us of how the ancient pilgrims would find their way along the Camino by navigating by starlight (in the times before smartphone apps with GPS and the myriad of yellow arrow and signs everywhere). And then we were given a hug by the hospitaleros.

It was also great to discover, at the start of the singing time, that my Californian (and part Mexican) friends were also staying here.

After the singing, there was a short gap before it was time for Mass in the church of Santa Maria next door. There was just enough time to catch the last half hour of a Spanish guitar quartet‘s concert in the same church, which was brilliant.

I was pleased to sit next to my Californian friends for the mass, not least because they are devout Catholics and both speak Spanish. Even armed with my bilingual Spanish/English mass book it was tricky to follow in places, but my friends provided me with the readings in English, and helped me find the correct page a few times. Although I didn’t know most of the words and everything happened without being announced or any words provided for the liturgy or hymns, it was a holy moment to worship alongside my sisters and brothers in Christ.

I was reminded how similar some of the Catholic liturgy is to the Anglican liturgy which I remember from my childhood and teenage years in the Church of England (that is apart from being in rapid Spanish!) Not being Catholic, I couldn’t take mass but went forward to be blessed by the priest.

At the end of the service, there was a further time of blessing for the pilgrims in the congregation. We were all called to the front of the church, and the priest welcomed us formally on behalf of the church (with someone reading a translation of the priest’s words). We were invited to say what countries we were from (a similar list to those in my albergue) and then the priest prayed for us collectively, before calling us to come forward for him to lay his hands on our heads, and pray for us, one by one.

After mass, it was time for the communal meal back in our albergue next door. This was a different affair to previous communal meals I’ve experienced in the last few days. As we had each arrived and checked in, we were told that although the hospitaleros would cook the main course, we pilgrims each needed to contribute something for the meal. This resulted in a tremendous spread for the 50 or so of us staying here tonight.

I ended up sitting across from one of the trainee priests and next to a lady from the Vendée, France who in fact came from a town I stayed in about 20 years ago. It was nice to have the chance to inflict my dodgy French on my fellow pilgrim!

At the end of the meal, we all helped to clear the tables and to wash up under the watchful (and, at times, cheeky) supervision of the hospitaleros!

And then it was time for bed.En savoir plus