Santiago!

Praise God in His angels and in His saints! At about 3:00 PM on the Memorial of Saint Athanasius, the second of May 2016, we arrived at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. 

On the way in we met Anita, who escorted the three of us – Francine, Rebecca, and myself – to the cathedral Plaza.

  

Afterwards, secured beds in an albergue perhaps a block from the cathedral. I showered and changed into one of my remaining sets of clean-ish clothes, and together we found the Pilgrim office.

Compostela in hand, we returned to the albergue, where Francine took to her bed for some much-needed rest and to get off of her feet.

  

We resolved to visit the cathedral properly the next day, when we were presumably clean and rested.

At loose ends, I popped over to pray in the cathedral crypt. And I had the most amazing experience at the Cathedral. 

I walked down into the crypt, to pray before the remains of Saint James. The Archbishop of Santiago and another priest were celebrating Mass in the crypt on the saint’s altar.

Naturally, I stayed for the remainder of the Mass. 

  

Then I wandered up to the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, just in time for benediction.

All this, and I was just popping in to say hello! Truly, God is good.

Dinner was tapas deep into the night with many, many Pilgrim friends old and new.