<strong>Where would you go?</strong><br><br>I would take the Via Francigena to Rome. This is an ancient land route for pilgrims from Canterbury – now in the Southwark diocese where I minister – to Rome. On various holidays abroad I’ve seen pilgrims walking this route and also the signposts for it. Having completed various other shorter walking pilgrimages, such as the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/pilgrimage-standoff-assisi-or-santiago-de-compostela-its-a-tough-call/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Camino de Santiago</mark></a> and the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/sainted-saunterers-on-the-pilgrim-road-to-chartres/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Paris to Chartres march</mark></a>, this would be the ultimate and longest experience.
I’d probably start off at Southwark, as the Chaucer pilgrims once did, and then go on like them to Canterbury before heading down to Dover for a crossing to the continent. This route has been travelled by so many famous Englishmen, from Benet Biscop to Hilaire Belloc. It is joined at various moments by tributary routes from other European countries, but it is uniquely relevant for us as it starts officially in England. It’s a golden thread that connects our land to the Eternal City, the shrines of the Apostles.
<strong>Would you make any special stops</strong>?
A pilgrimage like the Via Francigena is actually more about the journey and the stops on the route than the final destination. I’ve spent thousands of days in Rome – I lived and studied there for the priesthood at the Venerable English College. Many highlights for me would be found walking through beautiful Tuscany. Every little town and city there has an abundance of breathtaking architecture and inspiring sacred art. These are some of my favourite things in the world.
I’ve spent a lot of time with architecture – restoring Pugin’s masterpiece St Augustine’s at Ramsgate – and sacred art, most recently with <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/?p=792778&preview=true&swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">a film at the National Gallery, <em>Christ Contemplated</em></mark></a>. The whole trip would deliver an abundance of Christian creativity, especially the sites in Tuscany, such as Lucca, Siena, San Gimignano.
<strong>Whom would you take?</strong>
I’m very happy on my own and that would be good for the soul. But companionship is important. So, either my dear father, who walked the Camino with me in 2017, or one of my good priest friends; I’m blessed to be part of a group of writer priests, and they would appreciate this path. Although some of them do so much writing that they are quite unfit.
Another group who would enjoy this would be some of the young adults I have accompanied as a priest, through years of conferences like Evangelium and retreats and parish groups. They would keep me going too, and as a priest I love seeing pilgrimage through the eyes of another.
<strong>You can transplant your favourite pub, bar or restaurant onto the route. What is it?</strong>
Variety is the spice of life. I would create a two-part hybrid restaurant which would be in part a classic English pub like Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street with its steak puddings – I am a Lancastrian! – and in part a traditional Roman trattoria, like the Abruzzi restaurant in Rome near my alma mater, the Gregorian University, serving its best <em>rigatoni alla carbonara</em>.
<strong>Which books would you take with you?</strong>
Light ones – and I don’t mean content-wise! Walking pilgrimages demand detachment, both spiritually and for ease of movement. Not counting the Bible, then certainly the <em>Path to Rome</em> by Belloc that is so relevant to this journey, and perhaps the 10th-century account of Sigeric who walked the Via Francigena. I’d take also my favourite spiritual text, St Augustine’s <em>Confessions</em>.
<strong>Camp under the stars, or find a church hall to sleep in?</strong>
We created a walking pilgrimage in Kent from Ramsgate to Canterbury (9 miles long) called the Way of St Augustine, the route of our first missionary to the English, coming from Rome, in 597 AD. Along that route there were opportunities for “champing” – “church camping”. I once slept in the 12th-century pilgrims’ hall in Canterbury – you feel like real medieval pilgrims. I’ve also slept under the stars in the desert in Jordan. So if the conditions are right – both or either. But I’m very British, so better a real bed and clean linen.
<strong>What Bible or religious verse would you ponder as you walked?</strong>
I think St John’s Prologue is enough for 50 days’ meditation! It would be a constant reminder of why I am doing the pilgrimage, and would preach to me alongside the beauty of the path.
<strong>What’s your go-to prayer?</strong>
I’d have my Divine Office as a priest and my rosary in my pocket. But I’ve found on walking pilgrimages that meditation or mental prayer becomes very important. Some preparatory prayers, then some points to ponder – they come easily on such a journey – leading to spiritual conversation with the Lord.
<strong>What’s the singalong to keep everyone’s spirits up?</strong>
Even though it’s not Catholic in origin, I think it would have to be “To Be a Pilgrim”. The themes about life being a pilgrimage and our specific journey being a microcosm of the greater pilgrimage are all contained there. It speaks of the trials too, which are real on such a journey, and of to be always focused on Christ. And it’s a marching song, great for the group: “He who would valiant be… follow the Master.”
<strong>You’re allowed one luxury in your bag. What is it?</strong>
A good Scotch or brandy – essential medicine for the aching body, the pain of blisters and weariness! If shared, the evenings are merry. As Hilaire Belloc said: “Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, there’s laughter and dancing and good red wine<strong>.”</strong>
<strong>What would you most miss about ordinary life?</strong>
My parish and parishioners. As a parish priest, your parishioners are like your family. I’d also miss seeing my own family with whom I am very close. But they would understand the pilgrimage and know that I’d come back as a better father, brother, son.<br><br><em>Photo: Screenshot from the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUqU5aMPitI"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">film’s trailer </mark></a>showing Fr Marcus Holden at the National Gallery. A <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/contemplating-christ-julia-hamilton-is-moved-by-a-new-film-exploring-religious-art/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">review</mark></a> of </em>Christ Contemplated<em> can be read here. </em>
<em>Fr Marcus Holden is parish priest at St Bede’s, Clapham Park, London. Visit <a href="https://saintant.com/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">saintant.com</mark></a> to watch Christ Contemplated.</em>
<strong><strong>This article originally appeared in the June 2024 issue of the <em>Catholic Herald</em>. To subscribe to our award-winning, thought-provoking magazine and have independent and high-calibre counter-cultural Catholic journalism delivered to your door anywhere in the world click</strong> <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/subscribe/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">here</mark></a>.</strong>
