AWW Saints Sub-Committee: Matters Arising.

 

   Quite a long time ago, there was a discussion on one of Mike’s walks about saints in general and more specifically a Patron saint of Walkers. The conclusion was that there was no specific one as such, but we could adopt one to fill the need – if indeed there was one. That can be seen at the last paragraph of the  blog which can be found by clicking HERE .

   This quandary seems to have left Rod, who oddly was not even on that walk, with an itch that needed to be scratched, and has finally gestated in a masterly monograph which he sent to me last Thursday.

     I withheld publication for a few days, not only to corroborate the research, but to vet and ascertain that there were no sinister and subliminal nor commercial implications – the Saint in question also being the patron saint of winegrowers and makers , but not of wine merchants – and  now I am pleased to present Saint Vincent de Saragossa as a candidate for Patronage of the Wednesday Walkers.   It is a sad fact that Internet research was hampered by the fact that there is a rather beautiful female singer who goes by the name of St Vincent; the island nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines, and a rather more famous saint named Saint Vincent de Paul, all of whom take up the first ten pages of a simple Google search.

      Let that not be a bar to Saint Vincent of Saragossa’s promotion.  Here is Rod’s case:-

 

Saint Vincent of Saragossa

 

     A while back the Saint Appointment Sub-Committee discussed the idea of choosing a suitable Saint as the Patron for the Wednesday Walkers..

There appeared to be no Saint specifically dedicated to walkers, nor any suitable alternatives, and the matter was dropped. I think the matter should be raised again and I would like to propose that St. Vincent be appointed as the Patron of Wednesday Walkers.  Why him? Well there are a number of reasons (not all of which, I accept, are of equal importance to everyone!); 

1. He is the Patron Saint of our Capital.

2. We live in the Algarve and the Cape named after him is an important geographical feature here.

3. An important sea battle in the annals of British naval history was fought near there and where one Commodore Horatio Nelson made his name.

3. The Anglican Church in the Algarve is dedicated to him.

4. He is the Patron Saint of winemakers.

5. Perhaps most important of all is that following the founding of the Wednesday Walkers by Maurice Clyde its first project was to create a walking route across the Algarve.  Almost from the outset it was decided to base this route on a little known Pilgrims’ Way across the Algarve; part of a route from Valencia in Spain to Cape St. Vincent followed by pilgrims to pay homage to St Vincent whose remains were buried near the Cape. Some research on this had been done in the 1980’s by a Portuguese group, Caminus, and this gave us a useful start.  Much work needed to be done to further research, up-date and modernise the route and many Wednesdays in the late ‘90’s were spent on this. The route became, of course, the Algarve Way  or the Via Algarviana; both names coined by the Wednesday Walkers it might be noted.  It seems this alone is probably reason enough for St. Vincent to be chosen as our Patron Saint.

A brief history of the Saint is below.

If this agreed then we should establish his Saint’s Day as ours, January 22^nd.   On that day, whatever the day of the week, or whatever the weather (of course!), we should celebrate with a suitable walk at the Cape followed by a lunch in Sagres.

ST. VINCENT

     Cape St. Vincent, Sé de São Vicente in Lisbon, St Vincent’s Anglican Church; we are indeed surrounded by the name of St. Vincent. But who was he? There is a small statue of him in the Church of Nossa Senhora de Graça in Sagres but virtually no reference to him at the famous Cape that bears his name, and Guide Books are singularly devoid of any information about him at all. This is particularly odd since he is, in fact, the Patron Saint of Lisbon and, almost as importantly to some, the Patron saint of Wine Producers! Indeed ask even a number of Portuguese who the Patron Saint of their capital is and some half of them will tell you St. Anthony....S.Antonio.

S. Antonio indeed merits a public holiday in Lisbon and poor S.Vicente’s birthday(22^nd of January) is practically forgotten! Why is this? Well perhaps one reason is that S.Antonio de Padua was born in Lisbon and S.Vicente de Zaragoza was; in fact, Spanish!

Vincent was born in Huesca, Spain, in the latter part of the third century and early in his life joined the Christian church in nearby Zaragoza. He obviously caught the eye of the Bishop, Valerius, and was appointed his Deacon. Although Valerius was a devout Christian he was a much older man and apparently suffered from some sort of speech impediment. Vincent effectively became his mouthpiece and seems to have become even more outspoken in his Christian beliefs. So much so that when they moved to Valencia they soon came to the notice of the powers that be in Rome and Emperor Diocletian had them imprisoned. They were found guilty; Valerius in view of his age and infirmity was released but exiled; Vincent was horrifically tortured in an attempt to make him renounce his faith. He resolutely refused and in AD 303 was finally put to death. His eventual canonization was pre-congregational so the date is unknown.

History then becomes more legend but at some point after that his disciples chose to remove St. Vincent’s body as far away from the influence of Rome as possible. They placed him on a ship and set sail westwards out of the Mediterranean. They sailed as far as Sagres. Sailing round the Cape when the northerly or westerly winds are blowing was then well nigh impossible, and difficult enough today. So waiting in the protected waters of Sagres bay for the winds to change was an obvious choice. Anyway the Cape was an awe-inspiring place; inhabited in Neolithic times, as can be seen today; the Promontorium Sacrum as the Romans called it, and the end of the known medieval world.

His body was brought ashore and buried, probably to begin with just temporarily,

somewhere near the cape. It was unlikely this was at the Cape itself but at some place more convenient between Sagres and Vila do Bispo. Whether it was always intended to leave his remains there, or whether the intention was to remove them to northern Europe is not known, but in any event they remained near the Cape for many centuries, guarded as legend goes, by a flock of ravens. During the rest of the Roman, Visigoth and Moorish occupation of Iberia a trickle of Pilgrims, including Moçarabes, found their way across the Peninsula to pay homage to his memory and there was, and partly still, is an ancient pilgrims’ way stretching across southern Spain and the Algarve. This never rivalled the pilgrims’ route to Santiago de Compostela in the north but existed nevertheless.

There he remained until around 1170 when, with Moorish occupation of the peninsular on the ebb, King Afonso Henriques recovered Lisbon for the Christians and as a symbol of the liberation decided to transfer St. Vincent’s remains to Lisbon. Still protected by the loyal ravens they were once again placed on a ship and then re- interred in the Sé that bears his name. He was declared the Patron Saint of Lisbon and the Coat-of-Arms of the city portrays a sailing vessel with ravens on either side. More recent legend has it that the descendants of the flock of ravens continued to occupy roof corners of the Sé until as recently as the mid 20^th.century.

From then St. Vincent’s fame seems to have declined. S. Antonio was born in Lisbon in 1195, died in Italy in 1231 and was canonized a year later. Because, probably, of his ancestry and place of birth he became a more important icon for Lisboetas.

Not forgotten, St. Vincent´s name crops up around the world; he is important in the eyes of the Eastern Orthodox Church and, for example, he was remembered by Columbus who named the Carribean island after him when he discovered it on a January 22^nd. Sadly, though, he remains one of the lesser known Saints, but, in Portugal especially, he surely deserves better.

 

 

Below is a copy of an article I did for the 10^th Anniversary of the first Algarve Way crossing.

ALGARVE WAY / VIA ALGARVIANA 10 YEARS OLD

10 years ago The Algarve Way / Via Algarviana was created, so what is it and how did it come about?

In AD 303 Vincent, a devout and active christian from Zaragossa in Spain was tortured and martyred for his beliefs in Valencia by the Roman Emperor Diocletian. He sometime later became St. Vincent. His friends and followers took his body and set sail, probably with the intention of avoiding the clutches of Rome, towards northern Europe. They sailed as far as Sagres where his body was buried, possibly at the time just temporarily, near to the Cape that bears his name. There it lay for several centuries, however, during which time a steady trickle of Moçarabe pilgrims made their way across Iberia to pay homage to him. They crossed the R.Guadiana at Mertola and set off across what became Portugal, from Alcoutim, heading for the Cape - The Promontorium Sacrum as it was then called; already a religious site and the end of the known medieval world.

St. Vincent´s body remained at the Cape until 1173, when as a symbolic gesture to mark the reconquest from the Moors, it was taken to Lisbon by ship, guided by ravens as tradition has it, where it remains to this day in St. Vincent´s Sé. He is, sadly, a little recognised Saint. There is nothing at Sagres or the Cape to commemorate him, but he is, in fact, the Patron Saint of Lisbon (although even many Portuguese do not appreciate this), and the Lisbon Coat-of-Arms depicts a sailing vessel surrounded by ravens. He is also, perhaps almost as important to some, the Patron Saint of Winemakers.

Little was done to record or perpetuate this pilgrims` trail in the way of that of St. James (Santiago) in northern Spain, until a Portuguese group called the Associação Caminus did some research in the 1980´s and in 1990 published a study and map of the route under the title “Moçarabe em Pergrinação a S. Vicente”.

So how did this become the Algarve Way or the Via Algarviana? In 1996 the Algarve Wednesday Walkers (AWW´s), a group of quite energetic countryside ramblers, was founded by one Maurice Clyde. Apart from exploring the magnificent Algarve countryside, he had a dream of creating a cross-Algarve long distance walking route to link in with one of the Trans-European walking routes (the GR13/E4 already existing through to SW Spain). What better than to base this on the old St Vincent´s pilgrims´ trail as described by Caminus. Members of the AWW´s spent many months developing and reconnoitring this. At about that time the Portuguese environmental group, Almargem, were encouraged to take an interest . Although they were heavily involved in many important environmental issues and had few resources to allocate to this project they gave much moral support, as too did the Região de Turismo do Algarve ( Algarve Tourist Board).

Much of the original route, rather inevitably, has become tarmac roads and urban areas, so to avoid these stretches and to include some of the other lovely parts of the Algarve interior, a number of modifications were made. The route also had to have a name, of course, and to give equal weight to foreign and national users the two names Algarve Way and Via Algarviana were coined.

In 1997 the route was developed enough to have some test walks. In May of that year the eastern half from Alcoutim to Messines was completed in 4 days by AWW´s Ian Cooper, Mark Harman , Roderick Frew and in part by Maurice Clyde himself. In October the western half from Messines to Cape St.Vincent was walked in 6 days by the same group joined by Tony Webster and Jamie Milne-Home, and a number of others for part of the way.

In October 1998, to much fanfare, the first full 250 km. trans-Algarve crossing was accomplished in 11 consecutive days by a group of seven AWW´s; Maurice Clyde, Ian Cooper, Mark Harman, Tony Webster, Myriam Lo Isaac, Roderick Frew and Ian Angus plus four dogs, and much logistical help from other AWW´s. This was also done partly as a charity project to raise funds for the APAA animal protection group.

In 1999 the walk was completed in reverse from The Cape to Alcoutim. This was undertaken by Maurice Clyde, Myriam Lo, Paul Akehurst, Lindsey Henley-Welch two walkers from a Spanish Club and Neil McCabe. At the end of this crossing a post marking the start of the trail was erected in Alcoutim.....this still stands there today.

In the same year Ian Cooper lead two partial crossings for an Irish based Cancer Charity, with most of the participants suffering most bravely with terminal cancer.

In 2000 and 2001 the trail (slightly modified for horses) was covered twice by horserider groups led by AWW Roderick Frew. The second of these was undertaken to raise funds for Charities (RDA and the PSP Association) and was also covered by Karen Yates and Tony Barry on mountain bikes. In 2002 the crossing was first achieved by a visiting individual, an American, Kevin Nawn, following the rather rudimentary route description only then available.

Up to that time little had been done to actually map and record the route. In 2005, however, David Littlewood and Terry Ames, both experienced long distance walkers in the UK came to the Algarve, joined the AWWs and set about mapping, describing and way-marking the route. This very considerable achievement may now be viewed on www.algarveway.com and the route, under the Algarve Way name, is now regularly waymarked with a white cistus flower emblem. Terry Ames walked the mapped route in 2006, much of it solo, in what must be a walking record 8 days.

By 2006, too, Almargem were in a position to take more interest and be more pro-active in the project. They were able to attract some EC funding which when disbursed, will give more visibility and publicity to the route as well as invest in permanent way marking and route facilities. They are now actively promoting the route, with some differences, under the Via Algarviana name and have an informative website www.viaalgarviana.org .

In 2007 the route was covered once again by a large group of horseriders, half of whom came from the UK, led again by AWW Roderick Frew. Once more this was a major Charity project. At about the same time it was also covered,over four weeks, by an Irish based group led by David Littlewood, and a large part of it, solo, by AWW Mike Pease.

So after 10 years of graft and hard work Maurice Clyde´s dream lives on. It has now become a reasonably well recognised route which can be followed readily by anyone downloading David Littlewood and Terry Ames´ website, although one of the difficulties for the outsider doing the crossing remains the lack of accommodation in the eastern Algarve interior, where transport inevitably becomes an issue.

And what of those AWW´s who put so much time and effort into the early research and crossings? Of the original 7 of the first crossing, Myriam Lo and Roderick Frew still walk regularly with the AWW´s, Ian Cooper returned to the UK, where he still walks (and runs) after overcoming a heart problem and other health setbacks. Mark Harman, now residing in S.Bras, leads regular walks there, Tony Webster however prefers bridge to walking. Ian Angus, although never an AWW, resides in Spain and still walks regularly. Of the other AWW´s who participated in early walks, Paul Akehurst still walks regularly and organises a regular blog of AWW activies, Lindsey Henley-Welch, and Mike Pease do too. Jamie Milne-Home, not an AWW, lives much of the time in Spain and walks often. David Littlewood walks regularly and will happily assist and impart his website knowledge of the route to any prospective walkers. Terry Ames also walks regularly and would be more than happy to lead groups along the route and organise logistics. Maurice Clyde himself? He tragically suffered a major stroke and had to eventually return to the UK. Although he can no longer walk he still takes a keen interest in the activities of the AWW´s and for sure still dreams of his Algarve Way.

This a magnificent walk through the original Algarve countryside, much of which has never changed. You will see Algarve countryside and villages which you would never dream exist. It is well worth the effort to walk parts, or even all of it before golf courses, electricity pylons and wind turbines take their toll.

October 2008

(Since this date sadly both Ian Cooper’s and Mark Harman’s healths have deteriorated seriously.)

 

Well, if you are still with us, it seems a pretty strong case, but of course the AWW are almost a democracy! A poll is below.

 

If anyone has any suggestions or counterarguments, then either post a comment, or if that exceeds your technical expertise, send me an email and I will publish it.

 

“Saint. A dead sinner revised and edited.”    Bierce, Ambrose