Homo viator – pelerinul creștin între medieval și contemporan
Homo viator – The Christian Pilgrim between the Medieval and the Contemporary

Summary/Abstract: Pilgrimage is a phenomenon that has permeated the history of Christianity from the fourth century to the present day. It represents a particular expression of faith, religiosity, and devotion which, over time, has undergone changes and transformations, often connected to (if not directly caused by) broader social, political, cultural, and environmental shifts within which Christianity developed into a global religion. Throughout more than sixteen centuries of Christian pilgrimage, many elements of long-term functional continuity can still be identified today. Among these is the need to see, touch, and sensorially experience the loca sancta and the relics – an element present in every era and across all social strata. The cognitive-cultural experience, arising from the pilgrim’s curiosity, together with the expiatory and penitential dimension of the journey, are likewise characteristic features.Beginning with the early modern period, and especially with subsequent transformations in mobility and the emergence of new means of transportation, the understanding of pilgrimage also changed: by the mid-nineteenth century Lourdes could be reached by train, even by the sick; more recently, the Holy Land became accessible by air travel. These new modalities and configurations have turned pilgrimage into a new frontier of evangelization and re-evangelization for Christians. However, while faith is absent, the religious quest does not disappear: rather, there emerges a mobile, fluid, and flexible search that only occasionally identifies with the Church. It is an ever-evolving search for the self, characterized by three dimensions: historical-cultural, mystical-fusional, and ecological-interior. The latter is the most postmodern, because it lacks a fixed destination; what matters is the experience itself, as it is often demonstrated today by El Camino de Santiago.

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