Via Lemovicensis: the Relics of Saint Bartholomew

24 April 2026 Thom Pilgrim Reports, Via Lemovicensis

Our communal breakfast began at about 7:30. It was quite the spread! A welcome change from yesterday. We were ten pilgrims for breakfast. Ten!

Claudine our hostess did not stamp our pilgrim passports, but instead drew individual little doodles for each of us.

Daniel left early – he has a train to catch in Marsac. His Camino for this year will end today. He’ll pick it up again next year.

The rest of us dawdled. Judith left next, and we bid each other a beautiful life. I didn’t leave until just a bit after 8:15 AM. Not my latest start, but close.

The air was cool, and the sky was cloudless. My suspicion was that it would be an umbrella day. My pack felt heavier this morning; it had been quite a while since I’ve had a full food stash.

it was surprisingly easy to pick up the Camino route, which is not a usual thing in cities. I walked through quiet residential neighborhoods

I very much enjoy the social aspect of the Camino, meeting people from all over the world and having surprisingly deep conversations with people who may have been strangers half an hour before. Certainly, Daniel, Philippe, and I had some great conversations while we walked yesterday.

Just as one example, Philippe worked for the European Space Agency for a decade, developing and launching satellites. For four of those years, he and his family lived in French Guyana where he was the launch director.

However, I also very much appreciate walking alone. That’s when the thinking, the contemplation, and the walking prayer really happened. After the crazy busyness of yesterday, I was glad to be walking alone this morning, at least for a while.

This morning I was reflecting on the sacramental life. My Facebook memories reminded me that one year ago today, Francine was given the Anointing of the Sick by our pastor Father Mulholland. The Camino often drives me to reflect upon the sacraments, but obviously in a more particular way this morning.

At about 8:35, the Camino came up to a very busy freeway. The route diverted for several hundred meters for passing under it in a tunnel and then heading back. And then suddenly I was in the countryside.

I was already getting warm, and it wasn’t even 9 AM yet. I took the opportunity to take off my fleece.

Just a few minutes later, I walked through the sleepy suburban hamlet of Le Petit Malonze. I would occasionally catch glimpses of Philippe far ahead of me.

If we had been alive two thousand years ago when Jesus walked the Earth in the flesh, we could have witnessed Him healing the sick and forgiving sins. He still does those things, of course, and He does them in the sacraments. What a marvelous Grace! What an entirely unmerited gift! And we lay people must take very seriously our duty to pray for and encourage vocations to the sacred priesthood, for without His mediating priests, those graces would lay unclaimed.

When I reached the prosperous, suburban hamlet of Sagnemoussouse just after 9 AM, I saw a sign that indicated the name of the road I was walking on. It was Route de Saint Priest. God is a poet.

Lord, grant us faithful and holy priests in abundance!

At the house at the end of Sagnemoussouse, which smelled of wood smoke and lilac, a sign said it was 1174 km to Santiago. Maybe.

There was now a forest of birch trees and pines to my right and open fields to my left. In the distance, I could hear the call of a cuckoo. The road I was walking had a surprising number of cars, vans, and school buses, all heading to the city behind me.

By the time I passed through the suburban hamlet of La Villeaubert, it was already 9:20. I wasn’t making particularly good time this morning. Eventually, both sides of the road became the patchwork of pasture, field, and forest that had been more typical the past few days. Again, there was evidence of timber harvesting.

At about 9:35, the meaning of the road’s name became clear to me as I entered the village of Saint-Priest-la-Feuille. When I arrived to visit the 13th-century church of Saint-Laurent, I found Daniel, Philippe, and Judith there. They were just leaving as I was arriving.

It was a pretty little church, and while I sat there, a pair of magpies flew in and around the church, making an extraordinary racket.

By 9:55 I was on the road again. 10 minutes later, the Camino turned off the main road onto a much narrower one of asphalt and gravel. In the distance, I could hear a rhythmic shouting and the lowing of cows. I soon saw a herd of cattle being led through the pastures and down into the road ahead of me. I was now following a herd of cattle.

They were quite a way ahead of me, but the road definitely became something of an obstacle course. Fortunately, I soon came to a fork in the road, and the cows had taken the other path.

It was back to road walking now, through the farming hamlet of Le Bec and then back into the open countryside. The road itself soon transitioned from asphalt to dirt and stone, lined with purple and yellow flowers.

By 10:35 I was warm enough that I put up the umbrella. Shortly after this, it was back to asphalt roadwalking.

Just before 11 AM, I came upon Philippe and Judith resting on a low wall near a bridge. I joined them for a bit of a rest before walking on through the hamlet of La Côte.

There was a short, but lovely uphill stretch after this, climbing through green forest. The cool breezes were delightful.

I passed through the hamlet of Puybeaumas at about 11:15 or so. I was definitely moving slowly now. Even so, this is where I caught up with Daniel. We were soon walking on dirt, and then grass again.

At 11:40 we entered the tidy village of Chamborand. Sadly, the church was locked, and there didn’t seem to be much else here. Nothing lunch-like, anyway.

As we chatted, we passed through the hamlet of Bellivier about 12:05.

Then it was roadwalking through meadows for the most part, though there were lovely strands of trees. The kilometers passed quickly as we talked, and we hardly ever went the wrong direction.

About 12:50, we passed an operating water mill. It was pretty neat; I don’t know I’ve actually seen one working before.

Shortly thereafter, we passed a large lake on the left side. The breeze off the lake was cool and delightful. We passed through the hamlet of La Bourale, with its newly restored stone houses, and onto a gravel road winding slow slowly up uphill through the meadows.

At about 1:30 PM, we passed through the little Hamlet of Sauzet. It still has what appears to be a public oven for baking bread facing the main street. The road was now asphalt, and the sweat was stinging my eyes.

Around 1:40 we finally arrived in the village of Bénévent-l’Abbaye. This village is named after the city of Benevento in Italy and after an abbey that no longer exists.

Our first stop was the magnificent abbey church, which is now a parish church for the village. It was designed and built in the middle of the tall century, and has hardly undergone any alteration since then. It is a beautiful and harmonious building. We sat for a while, luxuriating in the cool church air and praying.

The reason this village is named after Benevento in Italy is that some of the relics of Saint Bartholomew the apostle or brought here from there when this church was built. They remain here to this day.

And it is there, at the relics of the apostle, where I lit a candle and prayed for Francine.

And then we repaired to the terrace of the local bar for a respite. I ate a sandwich from bread, meat, and cheese from my stash. Presently we were joined by Philippe. And finally Judith.

We all left at about 3:15 PM. Judith for her Jeet, and the rest of us for Marsac.

It was road walking on a fairly busy divided highway. We lost Philippe to a grocery store, but Daniel and I continued onwards.

At about 3:40 PM, the Camino diverted off the road onto a lovely dirt path in the woods, stream with oak leaves.

At about 4 PM, we passed through the farming Hamlet of Lagémard. It consisted primarily of a lot of abandoned cars and tractors covered in vines and piles of old tractor tires. Oh, and there was a house and some barns too.

It was about 4:15 when we finally entered the village of Marsac. Within just a few minutes we were inside the church. This had been such a very long day.

Daniel couldn’t stay long, we said our goodbyes and he ran for the train station. I stayed in the little church of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul a while to pray.

The whole church had sort of a sad aura about it, as though it had suffered depredations and indignities in the past, and was trying to put on a brave show of survival.

It appears that one of the side altars was simply ripped out of its location, leaving holes in the wall and crumbling plaster behind. The worst part is that this particular chapel appeared to have been a mortuary chapel. I counted at least four, and possibly as many as seven, gravesites within.

Then I set off to find the gîte. It turned out that it’s right next to the train station. I saw the train pass as I approached. By 5:30, I was showered, and Philippe had arrived. We are the only two in the gîte tonight.

Dinner was, weirdly, pizza. Award-winning place in the town, so we tried it out. Definitely worth the hype.

Date: 24 April 2026