Pilgrimage and Encounters with the Holy
22nd June @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
June Forum: Pilgrimage and Encounters with the Holy
This is a free event.
Image: Louis IX on pilgrimage to Nazareth, from Chroniques de France ou de St Denis, 14th century. Wikimedia Commons.
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About the June Forum
Presented by Professor Elizabeth Tingle
Pilgrimage, defined as a journey for spiritual purposes, was and remains a fundamental component of many religions. People travel to ‘tap’ into sanctity, to deploy it in their everyday lives, for healing, obligation, devotional need, and religious curiosity. By travelling to ‘meet’ a saint or to experience the site of a sacred event, the devout engage with sanctity on a personal, physical, and often a material level.
This research forum will consider the features of pilgrimage that distinguish it from other forms of travel. It will look at motives for travelling; modes of journeying and popular destinations; use and experience of sacred space; votive acts, and material ways of remembering the visit. This will be done initially through an examination of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, across time. We will then consider the experiences of different faiths; the difference between sacred and secular journeying, and why pilgrimage remains extremely popular today.
About the presenter
Elizabeth Tingle is Professor of History at De Montfort University. She is the author of various publications relating to religious history and her most recent work is Sacred Journeys: Long Distance Pilgrimage in North-Western Europe in the Counter Reformation (Medieval Institute Press/De Gruyter, 2020).
There will be tea and cake from 6pm. The forum will run from 6.15pm to 7.30pm. Venue TBC.
About the Vaughan Open Research Forum
The Vaughan Open Research Forum is a series of talks, workshops and interactive sessions which are open to anyone who is curious and wants to find out more.
Themes for sessions relate to our core teaching topics, arts, humanities, social sciences and counselling, and also discuss adult education and co-operative issues.
How to register for this event
This is a free event but please register in advance using the form below.