Sacred Journeys: Lourdes

The modern pilgrimage experience, as seen in Sacred Journeys: Lourdes, is unlike the medieval pilgrimage experience. One of the big points that the movie, Sacred Journeys: Lourdes, makes is that the people who come to Lourdes for physical, spiritual, and emotional healing are not all Christians, or even religious. People are said to come to Lourdes because, for whatever reason they choose to believe, healing happens at Lourdes, whether it be a miracle, or work of God. However, in my opinion, modern technological advances, specifically in transportation, have made a huge difference between the modern and medieval pilgrimage journey. Due to these advances, pilgrimage experience, duration, and worldliness have improved, shortened, and increased …show more content…
In medieval times, the journey to a sacred site was often large and testing, both physically and mentally. In order to reach a holy site, pilgrims often had to cross rivers on foot and risked drowning, or crossed large bodies of water by boat. Illness on the road in medieval times meant little to no effective medical treatment being available. Pilgrims were often robbed of their belongings by either by bandits or members of their parties. Going by ship, they could be robbed by pirates. Pilgrimage by boat risked death by storm, or getting lost due to poor navigation. More effective modern transportation can allow people to visit holy sites all over the world, whereas in medieval times, pilgrimage was limited by accessibility to holy sites. According to the article, 10 dangers of the medieval period, by Emma Mason, on average, a medieval pilgrim on foot could travel 15 miles a day, whereas a medieval ship could travel 75 miles a day. According to Google, modern airplanes can travel 12960 miles a day, modern trains can travel 3600 miles a day, and modern ships can travel 624 miles a day. Modern ships are sturdier and have more safety precautions than medieval