Pilgrims: Penance and Miracles
There were two deeper reasons for pilgrimage. One was to gain an indulgence or as a penance for past sins. The other was in search of health, as pilgrims travel nowadays for healing to Lourdes. Miracles of release from disease came from touching the Holy Relics at shrines. The chief Relic at Reading was the Hand of St James the Apostle, separated from the body in Spain, given by the Abbey's founder Henry I, which led to the coat of arms of the Abbey including the shells of pilgrimage. The Hand was highly regarded not only by pilgrims but also by royalty. It was brought to Henry II before his departure on a difficult overseas campaign and Richard Coeur-de-Lion considered taking it on crusade with him. Reading also had many other relics. A document listing some 200 of these survives: part of Moses's rod, manna from Mount Sinai, a fragment of the Cross, one of St Luke's teeth, the skull of St Philip.
Pilgrims arriving at the Abbey were welcomed into the Hospitium of St John the Baptist by the monks in charge, the Hospitaller and his helpers. This building stood where the present Old Town Hall complex now stands to the north of St Laurence's Church. It provided hospitality rather than medical care. There were dining and reception rooms facing where the modern Blagrave Street runs and a dormitory block at right angles running into the Forbury and able to sleep perhaps 400 people. As at all monasteries, free hospitality was offered by Reading Abbey to its visitors, board and lodging for
two nights and days after which payment was expected. The problems of administration and feeding these numbers of people were great but were offset by gifts at the shrines in the church. The first Hospitium proved to be too small and was rebuilt on a larger scale in 1189. A night in the dormitory amongst the pilgrims from all walks of mediaeval society, not to mention the bed-bugs and other insect parasites which thrived on the visitors, would be a most enlightening experience for us if we could travel back in time.
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Fragment of a capital showing the coronation of the Virgin
Mary. This is the earliest known depiction of this scene
(c.1125). As well as the famous hand of St James, Reading had
a considerable number of other relics, including many
associated with the Virgin Mary - strands of hair, and parts
of her robe, girdle and sepulchre! The Abbey was dedicated to
both St James and the Virgin Mary. (1992.79.1)
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