A pilgrimage church (German: Wallfahrtskirche) is a church to which pilgrimages are regularly made, or a church along a pilgrimage route, like the Way of St. James, that is visited by pilgrims.
What is the fundamental function of a pilgrimage church?
Pilgrimage churches were constructed with some special features to make them particularly accessible to visitors. The goal was to get large numbers of people to the relics and out again without disturbing the Mass in the center of the church. A large portal that could accommodate the pious throngs was a prerequisite.
What does pilgrimage mean in Christianity?
A pilgrimage is a journey that has religious or spiritual significance. The journey is usually taken to an important religious place. There are many sites of Christian pilgrimage, several of which are mentioned in Bible stories about the life of Jesus. A person on a pilgrimage is called a pilgrim.
What is a pilgrimage in the Catholic church?
A pilgrimage is a journey religious people take to a holy place or a place of religious significance. Pilgrimage can be a physical journey but it can also represent an individual’s journey of faith. … Catholics may also visit sites linked to famous or important saints to help them connect with their faith’s history.
What are the main features of Romanesque pilgrimage churches?
Romanesque churches characteristically incorporated semicircular arches for windows, doors, and arcades; barrel or groin vaults to support the roof of the nave; massive piers and walls, with few windows, to contain the outward thrust of the vaults; side aisles with galleries above them; a large tower over the crossing …
What age is associated with pilgrimage churches?
In the Middle Ages the Church encouraged people to make pilgrimages to special holy places called shrines. It was believed that if you prayed at these shrines you might be forgiven for your sins and have more chance of going to heaven. Others went to shrines hoping to be cured from an illness they were suffering from.
Why is pilgrimage an act of worship?
Pilgrims feel that worshipping in this place of spiritual importance can help them to develop spiritually. Praying in the shrine and going to the daily Sprinkling of the Well service means that pilgrims can hope that they too will be blessed and, perhaps, healed from an illness.
What it means to be a pilgrim?
Definition of pilgrim
1 : one who journeys in foreign lands : wayfarer. 2 : one who travels to a shrine or holy place as a devotee. 3 capitalized : one of the English colonists settling at Plymouth in 1620.
What religions require a pilgrimage?
Pilgrimage is not only a widespread and important practice in Christianity but also in other major religious traditions, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.
Why do Catholic pilgrims go to Lourdes?
They come to Lourdes to see the site of a famous vision experienced by a young girl called Bernadette Soubirous and to be healed by its supposedly miraculous waters. … Christian pilgrims now visit and pray in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes and worship at the grotto where the vision is said to have taken place.
Do Protestants go on pilgrimages?
Today, many Protestants visit sites such as Jerusalem in order to feel connected to Jesus and reflect on their faith. However, these Protestants still would not worship saints or visit places such as Walsingham. Pilgrimage plays an important role in the Catholic faith.
What architectural feature distinguishes pilgrimage churches?
The architectural feature that especially distinguishes Romanesque churches is the barrel vault.
What is the first pilgrimage church?
The earliest written description of Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages to the Holy Land is the Anonyme de Bordeaux, a story that tells of a resident of Bordeaux on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the year 333.
Why are Romanesque churches dark?
Romanesque buildings were made of stone. … European architects were not very good at building stone roofs yet. If they did have stone roofs, the walls had to be very thick in order to hold up the roofs, and there couldn’t be very many windows either. So Romanesque buildings were often very heavy and dark inside.