Patron saints for the times in which we live
As the feast of St Patrick falls in the middle of this month (17th March), I thought it might be a good time to look at Santiago’s position as patron of Spain and some of the challengers whom he has faced along over the centuries. I wrote previously about how Santiago’s position as patron was…
Finding love on the Camino
The title of this post might be a bit misleading because although it’s inspired by St Valentine’s Day, it’s not about those pilgrim romances that somehow develop while we’re all daily in a physically unattractive state that would never pass muster for a date in civil society. Rather it’s about a practice I encountered on…
Kerry and the Spanish Civil War (2)
My article “Reverend Robert Hilliard: the Kerry clergyman who died fighting for the Spanish Republic” was published in The Kerryman (14th January 2026)
Padrón, peppers and preaching
The town of Padrón lies about 25km south of Santiago de Compostela (for those of you who use alternative measurement systems, in miles that’s 15.5, or in Camino it’s a day’s walk), and is perhaps best known internationally for the pimientos de Padrón (Padrón peppers), small peppers fried in oil until they blister and are…
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Denis Casey 