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Domhnall O’Sullivan Beare (1560–1618) — Ireland’s first Knight of Santiago

The most famous military orders from the middle ages are undoubtedly the Knights Hospitaller (who still survive in the form of the Order of Malta) and the Knights Templar (who have no end of occult junk written about them).  Within Spain a number of prominent orders were established, most notably those of Calatrava, Alcántara, Montesa…

Easter and Granada

April, the month that Chaucer’s pilgrims saddled up for Canterbury, telling tall tales along the way, and in which the feast of Easter is most likely to fall.  Anyone who has spent Easter in Spain will know of the impressive religious spectacles and processions held in many parts.  While living in Navarre in 2022, I…

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…

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