Walking the Camino de Santiago
So. It’s been a while since I’ve posted the Camino Photo of the Day. Since Good Friday, in fact. Since then, my life has been torn apart by the sudden illness and death of my beloved bride. On this Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it seemed appropriate to resume where I left off, in the courtyard […]
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Today is the Feast of Saint James the Greater, known throughout the Spanish-speaking world as Santiago and in French as Saint Jacques. He was one of Christ’s Twelve Apostles. Saint James is the patron saint of the archdiocese of Seattle. May you have the joy of the feast! James and his brother John were natives of Galilee, sons of the […]
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Today would have been Francine’s 63rd birthday. Last year, when she turned 62, having been born in 1962, she proclaimed that it was going to be her year. She called it her “golden year”. Maybe it was. This is the year that she was swept up in the arms of Jesus. I have no doubt that she is in a […]
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Francine’s funeral arrangements are in place. Vespers for the Dead Vespers from the Office of the Dead will be sung for Francine on Thursday, 10 July, 2025 at 6:30 pm Pacific Time at Saint Patrick Church in Tacoma. The principal celebrant will be our friend, the Rev. Jacob Maurer. Music will be directed by Maestra Amy Gallwas. Vespers will not […]
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My beloved bride Francine passed to God at just after midnight on June 21. On behalf of our family, I ask for your continued prayers. Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine,et lux perpetua luceat eis. Grant her eternal rest, O Lord,and may everlasting light shine upon her. Our family thanks all those who supported us through Francine’s terrible final illness. Funeral […]
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My beautiful bride of 17 years was taken to the emergency room at midnight of Easter Sunday. She was physically weak and having trouble with her memory. At Tacoma General Hospital, they ran every test you could imagine. They even sent a sample of her spinal fluid to the Mayo Clinic. On May 5, we received the final diagnosis from […]
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For Good Friday, I thought this photo appropriate. This Crucifix stands next to the graveyard of the church of Saint-Julien de Cardaillac. The church itself was locked. Almost all of the churches I passed in France were open, but for some reason in this region – today in fact – this was the second locked church I’d come across. Date: […]
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After the sign announcing the village of Cardaillac, I walked another twenty minutes through mostly forested land before finally emerging to see this view of the village proper. You can just see the castle in the distance on the left. My goal here was to visit the church, visit the castle, and to obtain a late second breakfast, or possibly […]
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After about an hour of walking, I entered the village of Cardaillac, or possibly Cardalhac in Occitan. This place is built around a castle – photo to come – and dates back to the 8th century. It is named after the Cardaillac family, which traces its origin to a fellow named Bertand de Cardaillac. By the 11th century, the Cardaillacs […]
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While the Camino route from Figeac to Rocamadour is these days classed as an “alternate” route, in earlier centuries, it was not. Rocamadour was a “can’t miss” site for medieval pilgrims. I continued walking on an asphalt road through the woods under a beautiful canopy of trees. Occasionally, I would catch glimpses of a stream off to my left and […]
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