Icon, Image and Pilgrimage

A 15th century olive wood statue, about life size, of the Christ Child in the Church of Santa Mara in Aracoeli adjacent to the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Among many other objects of veneration and immense artistic value in that magnificent church, the statue, covered in votive offerings, has been an object of pilgrimage for centuries, venerated especially by women wishing to become pregnant. Photo EOP January 2009.

In the process of doing research for the upcoming course at ALRI, I have been reading materials in art history related to pilgrimage. While it is clear in retrospect, I had not previously given much thought to the issue of "images" in pilgrimage, especially in Christian pilgrimages. Travel to venerate an icon - a painting, a statue or some other visual representation of a diety or a holy person - is one of the most common types of pilgrimage. The various "black virgin" statues scattered across Europe at places like Jasna Gora in Poland or Le Puy in France are major pilgrim destinations as are various other visual representations of the Christ, Mary, or one or another saints housed in churches, monasteries, or isolated hermitages. Almost as important is taking home an icon, a visual representation of the pilgrimage. Even those who walk a pilgrim route in a spirit of postmodern irony usually take lots of photos and often buy a souvenir to take home. Rare is the postmodern pilgrim to Santiago de Compostela who does not go home with the iconic scallop shell, a handful of postcards, and often with a tasteful olive wood carving of St. James dressed as a pilgrim. A more traditional pilgrim has an even greater array of souvenirs to chose from and take home.

Today I finished reading a most significant work on the importance of images to pilgrimage, among other related topics, Freedberg, David (1989). The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of Response. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-261441-1. Chapter 6 "Image and Pilgrimage" is especially important in a book that should be read by any serious student of pilgrimages in the Roman Catholic tradition.