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The spirituality of walking: pilgrimages are booming

Following the longing: Pilgrimage is "praying with your feet", they say. But not only that, it is an overall experience for body, mind and soul.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com, krone.at-Grafik)

Pilgrimage has been a trend for years - not only on the Spanish Way of St. James, but also in Austria. Currently, 28,000 kilometers of pilgrimage routes line our landscapes - and there will be many more in the future. Read all the details here.

Even if the weather is still a little crazy at the moment instead of May-like beautiful: The pilgrimage season is starting up again. "There are already 28,000 kilometers of pilgrimage routes crossing Austria, 4,000 more than five years ago," says pilgrimage expert Roland Stadler, "and the construction of new routes and the expansion of existing ones is continuing apace."

The network of domestic pilgrimage routes is becoming increasingly dense, "because existing hiking trails are being converted into pilgrimage routes," explains Stadler. He is chairman of the Catholic Church's Tourism and Leisure Pastoral Working Group and head of the tourism pastoral care department of the Gurk-Klagenfurt diocese.

According to the theologian, the "engine" of the pilgrimage boom is primarily tourism regions that are striving for new routes and tailor-made overall pilgrimage packages.

Many people are looking for self-reflection and orientation in life, for which a path is then charged with spiritual meaning.

Mag. Roland Stadler, Pilgerseelsorger

Bild: Diözesane Pressestelle

People on a quest
Behind this is an increasing demand for the combination of hiking with spiritual elements: "Many people are looking for self-reflection and orientation in life, for which a path is then charged with a spiritual meaning," says Stadler according to "Kathpress".

Often, chapels, churches and monasteries are used as reference points along the way or classic pilgrimage sites are rediscovered as destinations; in addition, there is the conscious experience of nature or the unity of body, soul and spirit while walking.

Pilgrimage, walking, hiking: a wonderful, formative experience that unites body, mind and soul.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com – Tomas)

Low-threshold offer
For the church, pilgrimage certainly has the advantage of a low-threshold offer to people, as it does not only appeal to people socialized in the church: "The advantage is that you can do it without an institutional framework," says the theologian.

Stadler: "Everyone is on their own or accompanied by a few people, goes at their own pace and designs the route individually as it suits them." This is in stark contrast to traditional church pilgrimages, where there are of course more guidelines regarding the route, procedures and common prayers.

Central platform in the making
However, the church is currently still lacking a new central Austria-wide pilgrimage contact point after the "Quo Vadis" on St. Stephen's Square in Vienna was closed this year.

However, there should soon be an Austria-wide platform, at least virtually, that offers interested parties up-to-date information on all pilgrimage routes.

Conchita Wurst at the opening of the European Capital of Culture 2024 Bad Ischl Salzkammergut.

(Bild: Einöder Horst)

Pilgrimages around the European Capital of Culture
In any case, this year and next year there will be "a number of focal points and initiatives" around the topic of "pilgrimage", explains Stadler. This is because the "Holy Year 2025" proclaimed by Pope Francis is also being held under the motto "Pilgrims of Hope".

But first there are big pilgrimage events around the European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl Salzkammergut this year: To mark the 1100th birthday of St. Wolfgang, a "star pilgrimage day" will take place on July 13 from seven different starting points to St. Wolfgang am Wolfgangsee - including its own pilgrim app.

There will also be a "water pilgrimage" initiated by parishes: The route goes from the Traun Falls in Roitham through Bad Ischl to the Traun springs in Bad Aussee. The project is intended to enable "a contemporary spiritual journey and experience of the church".

Pilgrimage as the focus of "Summer Church"
 According to "Kathpress", there are also new things to do with pilgrimage in other federal states: in Vorarlberg, for example, the diocesan "Summer Church" series focuses on pilgrimage and promotes existing routes in the region, such as the Dornbirn "Bible Path", the "Path of Humanity" and the "Path of Silence" in St. Gerold.

In Carinthia and Styria, the "Benedict Trail" via the monasteries of Admont, Seckau and St. Paul in Lavanttal is being promoted; in East Tyrol, the mountain pilgrimage trail "hoch und heilig" (high and holy) leads over numerous heights.

In the Mühlviertel, the "Johannesweg" is available for pilgrims and in the Mostviertel, the "Via Trinitatis" from the fall.

Further links

• An overview of the local pilgrimage routes can be found on the Pilgrims in Austria website.
• Information on the program and events surrounding the 1100th anniversary of the birth of St. Wolfgang can be found here and on water pilgrimages here.
• Here are the links for those who are interested in details about pilgrimages as part of the summer church as well as the Benedictine Way, the St. John's Way and the Mountain Pilgrimage Route.
• If you want to combine hiking with culture and history, you can also make a pilgrimage to one of the more than 20 local monasteries and abbeys. Information is available from the Klösterreich association or on the website of the religious communities.

Revival of an old path
As part of the "Holy Year 2025" proclaimed by the Pope, an initiative is campaigning for the revival of the ancient pilgrimage route "Via Romea Strata", which once led from the Baltic and Krakow to Rome, as a European cultural route.

Numerous events are planned along the Austrian sections of the route between the Drasenhofen border crossing in the north and Arnoldstein as the crossing to the Italian Monte Lussari in the south.

Stadler: "Individual pilgrims should then also be able to walk the entire route and find a 'meeting church' along the way that brings people into contact with the spiritual treasures of faith in a new way."