Reading Abbey

Pilgrims: the Jostling Crowds

After enrolling at the Hospitium the pilgrims crossed the open area of the Forbury in front of the west door of the Church to enter through it into the nave and to the shrines set around the walls. The Relics were kept at the shrines in Reliquaries, boxes in gold and silver and jewelry reflecting the holiness of the saint from whom they came. The Hand of St James may have been contained in a Reliquary in the shape of a hand and was probably kept in a place of eminence behind the High Altar. The usual method of showing devotion was the purchase and lighting of a candle at a shrine and a suitable gift, usually money, was given as a thank offering for a cure.

Some pilgrims were in a pitiable state of health or carrying a weight of guilt and the monks at the shrines ministered to them as best they could. Some accounts of miracles of healing from the Hand have come down to us. An outbreak of plague in Reading was checked by the Hand being carried round the streets. Water blessed by the Hand being dipped in it was often a means of healing and we are told of Mauger Malcuvenant, saved from death by drinking this water after coming to Reading from Surrey. The withered left side of the body of a young lady called Ysembela was restored to normal use after she came to Reading from Sussex as directed by St James in a vision. Gilbert, from the north of England, wept tears of blood in front of the Hand in the Abbey Church as his sight was restored.

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