Pielgrzymowanie: modlitwa, turystyka, edukacja

Pilgrimaging: prayer, tourism, education

Summary: No matter who visits the site (a church, a sanctuary, a holy city), whether it be tourist or pilgrim, the truth about the site should be important for him. The opening up to it is a condition in order "not to be lost in history", including "the history of salvation" with which the sites explored by pilgrims are associated. The present reflections are devoted to the sites which convey the truth synthesizing many dimensions - the nation's history, material history, art, as well as the history of the Church, religion, spirituality and faith. From the four descriptions of Rome contained in different accounts and guides for pilgrims one can see the pressures on the input of history (and the historic awareness created by it) on the part of the political and economic circumstances. The present brings back the moments of the past in the memory of societies as it is needed and the present moment to decide on the distribution of accents and to prompt reinterpretations. Another aspect of the perception of sites such as Rome or Kraków is an intellectual tension between the attitudes of a historian and of a pilgrim. This dualism may have two dimensions - it may narrow the scope of interests (the history of the site is either "sacred" or "profane"), it may also lead to one-sided perceptions ("critical" or "pious" knowledge). Here the veneration of the greatness and the perfection of God which is revealed in the wisdom and the beauty of human works (not necessarily explicitly sacred), as well as the creative tension between the achievements of the present time and eternity which is fulfilled in itself are revealed. They certainly belong to the strictest canon of Christian spirituality, though they have not been born from the pious atmosphere of a Roman sanctuary. The lack of critical reflection does not promote faith but rather religious prejudice (as teaches us John Paul II in his encyclical Fides et ratio). In faith, and consequently in pilgrimages, the divine and the human values meet rather than exclude one another.

Peregrinus Cracoviensis, 2007, z. 18, s. 5-10.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

ISSN 1425-1922

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