Why Rita? Devotional Practice And Pilgrimage Intent .

KielyWhy Rita? Devotional Practice and Pilgrimage Intent Towards a Medieval Italian Saint in Central Dublinacceptance of tragedy and rejection, was the firstwoman to be canonised in the twentieth century.Evolving Devotional IntentSince the coming of Christianity, religious devotionhas been enacted along a continuum ranging fromprescribed adoration of saints and martyrs who lived toan impossibly high standard (Kasten, 2014; Bangley,2009; Martin, 2006), to alignments with ordinary saintswhose lives resemble that of the devotee (Mayblin,2014; Ganzevoort, 2008; Ghezzi, 2007). Accordingly,for generations of Irish Catholics, devotional routinewas hardwired into their DNA, making escape oravoidance almost impossible, wherein devotionalpractice was facilitated by way of organised novenas,feast day commemorations, and parental / schoolinfluences on captive audiences, which embedded thelife stories of particular saints into daily life (Winstead,2011; Ellsberg, 2006). In Dublin, for example, a stronginter-generational devotion to St. Anthony of Paduastill exists, where on his Feast Day (June 13th), parentsbring their children to a Franciscan church in centralDublin at 4 pm for the Saint’s blessing. This practice isbound up in an embedded hagiography which positsthat at exactly 4pm on June 13th 1231, the children ofPadua ran into the streets shouting ‘Il Santo éMorto’ (the saint is dead), proclaiming in the process a‘santo subito’ (an immediate saint). What is interestinghere is that the adults, who themselves were brought aschildren for a blessing, now bring their own children,and in doing so, nourish the ancient hagiography.Furthermore, many of those educated in Ireland’s HolyFaith Convents, of whom, St. Brigid (Ireland’s secondmost important saint) is the patron, believe that whenshe asked for a plot of land on which to build amonastery, the landowner suggested that that he wouldgrant her the amount of land covered by the spreadingof her cloak, which when spread, covered more thanenough land for the monastery. Similarly, St. Patrick,Ireland’s premier national saint was believed to havedriven the snakes from Ireland, despite there beinglittle evidence to support this contention. And whilesuch ‘blind devotion’ may today be considered oldfashioned or naïve, in that such unquestioning loyaltywas associated with the holiness of saints, equally,modern devotional alignment might be characterised asopportunistic, evidenced in a broadly held perceptionthat a ‘chosen one’ has the power to deliver onephemeral requests (Coles & Harrison, 2012; Cotter,2005).Moreover, such transient association often arises,without the ‘devotee’ having any devotion to the 89 targeted saint. Worried students for example will beencouraged by their parents or grandparents to pray toSt. Joseph of Cupertino on the eve of theirexaminations to help them answer questions that theyhave not sufficiently prepared for, while others willcasually promise St. Anthony a ‘reward’ to find lostitems for them. Similarly, habitual recourse to St.Blaise is evident on February 3rd when significantnumbers ‘invest’ in his protection from throatinfections for the following twelve months. And yet,while differing in their motivational depth, each ation with a saint of choice (Kasten, 2014;Coles & Harrison, 2012; Ghezzi, 2007; Carroll Cruz,2006; Cotter, 2005).But, while saints increasingly ‘appear’, or ‘re-appear’for opportunistic reasons, (typically associated withrevenue generation or tourism development), devotionmay also be motivated by a sense of hopelessness ordesperation (Trueb, 2009; Tari & Vanni, 2008).Accordingly, since February 2004, San Precario, ofMilan has been ‘imagined’ by a group of Milaneseactivists, and appropriated as patron saint ofcasualised, temporary, flexible, and freelance workers.The creation of this fictitious ‘saint’ acknowledges thefact that those in difficult or traumatic circumstancesFigure 4 : The Fictitious San Precario, of ecario2/

International Journal of Religious Tourism and PilgrimageVolume 4(iv) 2016(not being able to gain full time employment in Italy,France and Spain), are no different to other traumatiseddevotees, in that they need someone to pray to (Tari &Vanni, 2008). Furthermore, populist representations ofattributed ‘ordinariness’, notably St. Therese ofLisieux, St. Pio, St. Angela Merici, St. Jane de Chantal,St. John Paul II, St. Joan of Arc, St. Mary McKillop,and Bd. Pier Giorgio Frassati, (Coles & Harrison,2012; Ghezzi, 2007; Ellsberg, 2006), have injected newconduits for deeply rewarding, and co-identifiabledevotion to religious figures associated withpersecution, social justice, feminism, rejection, andunbridled joy. Referencing the popularity of Bd. PierGiorgio Frassati (1901-1925), Ghezzi illustrates howhe has become the joyous hero of contemporary youngCatholics, becauseunlike other saints who appear to them to beotherworldly, they regard him as normal,[epitomised in their perception of his havingpursued the same pleasures that they enjoy,notably] mountain climbing, organising partiesfor his friends, enjoying sport, and having a zestfor life (2007:127-128).Stigmatism and SolaceDiffering from induced appropriations, longitudinaldevotion often tends to align with acute medical orpsychological traumas, which in turn instigates acomforting co-alignment with saints who experiencedsimilar sufferings (Mayblin, 2014; Kunz et al., 2009;Trueb, 2009). Accordingly, in championing a case forthe appointment of St. Agnes of Rome, (a virgin martyrof the Roman Catholic Church), as the patron ofwomen suffering from the trauma of hair loss, Kunz etal. (2009) suggest that her powerful hagiography couldwell facilitate a therapeutic co-identification bond forwomen suffering from the traumatic experience of hairloss. This hagiography suggests that on January 21st304, following her refusal to marry the son of a localRoman prefect, Agnes was dragged naked through thestreets before being publicly beheaded at a stake,where legend has it that her hair copiously grew tocover her body, thus protecting her from the prurientgaze of onlookers. Similarly, in contextualising thesignificance of devotional co-dependency amongCatholics in northeast Brazil, Mayblin (2014:272)argues that when saints are perceived by devotees tohave ‘suffered like them’, they ‘become like them’which acts to produce an intimacy, wherein devotees‘enjoy regular conversations’ with particular saints.This intimacy is instanced in their portrayal of a local‘folk saint’ Frei Damiao (1898-1997), as ‘snoring 90 loudly’, ‘cracking jokes’, and being ‘fond of stewedpumpkin’, which for his devotees, heightens theprobability of his understanding the daily sufferings ofordinary people. Furthermore, their referring to St. Ritaas ‘the married saint’, or ‘just an ordinary woman likeany other’, or that ‘her husband was a drunkard and agambler, and so were her sons’ (Mayblin, 2014:274),testifies to their ability and willingness to associatewith saints whom they view as a like sufferer.Ganzevoort (2008:19) also communes with theattractiveness of ordinariness when suggesting thatstigmata (physical manifestations of divine grace), canbecome ‘powerful metaphors for exploring theinteraction between scarring, trauma, and identity’ inthe lives of ordinary people, which facilitates ‘anarrative construction of ones woes with respect tothose of a respected other’.Portraying the life of St. Rita in a modern context,wherein a combination of her life’s experiences,(violence rejection and devotion), culminated in herpartial stigmata, Ganzevoort (2008) argues thatordinary people often feel stigmatised through notbeing accepted or heard within the confines of whatthey perceive as normal society. Thus, the sufferer willoften seek and find solace in being one of many whohave travelled this road. Furthermore, in addressinggender biased exclusion within the context of scarring,identity and bonding, Ellsberg (2006:15) argues thatwhile historically, the church venerated women saints,in that they provided the perfect framework forreligious devotion, such women have been blatantlyunderrepresented in the Canon of Saints, have waitedlonger for canonisation than men, and have beenovertly characterised in terms of their ‘feminine virtuesof purity, humble service, obedience, or patientendurance’, while being under-acknowledged in termsof their ‘questioning of authority, defying restrictivecodes, or their audacity, and wit in surmounting theobstacles put in their path’.Similarly, in exploring devotion to the Virgin Maryamong Muslim women, Jansen & Kuhl, (2008:295)found that in their pursuit of ‘shared womanhood’,they viewed Mary not as virginal and pure, but more as‘a mother, who suffered herself’. Accordingly, inperceiving Mary as a mediator between themselves anda distant and judging God, they were particularlyattracted to her femininity, which made her ‘nearer andmore approachable, especially during intimatemoments such as childbirth’, to her ‘understandingtheir need to feel responsible for the direct physical,moral, and social wellbeing of their family’, and to one

KielyWhy Rita? Devotional Practice and Pilgrimage Intent Towards a Medieval Italian Saint in Central Dublinwho will help to ‘overrule parental power, escape froma violent partner’, or ‘assist sick family members toface loneliness, and a hostile society’ (Jansen & Kuhl,2008:295).Doi, 2011; Simone-Charteris & Boyd, 2010; Graham& Murray, 1997; Tilson, 2005). Similarly, incharacterising the urge to satisfy social and culturalneeds within a holiday environment at the holy site ofMount Athos, Androtis states thatEver Evolving Pilgrimage Landscapeswhile visitors were overwhelmed with thespirituality of the place, they were equallyinspired by tangential influences, namely,cultural experiences (architecture, heritage,and the Byzantine monastic life), secularexperiences (material manifestations ofOrthodoxreligiosity),environmentalexperiences (the beauty of the naturallandscape), and educational experiences(learning, personal growth and development)(2009:79).While it would appear that religiously motivated travelhas existed since the time of Christ (Kaebler, 2006;Sharpley & Sundaram, 2005; Rinchede, 1992), so toohas the secular practice of using innovative strategiesto attract overtly curious pilgrims to designated sacredsites, in order to create burgeoning pilgrimagemarketplaces (Ruud & Jones, 2009; Croft et al., 2008).Indeed, Tilson (2005) cites strong evidence of abooming souvenir trade in religious artefacts andreliquary during the early days of Christian travel,suggesting that proof of ‘being there’ was a significantconstituent of the pilgrimage package. Interestingly,such historically innovative promotional practices aremirrored in the modern strategies of pilgrimagepromoters, who increasingly target the personal andsocial values of de-differentiated tourist audiences,whereby the traditional motivations for visiting sacredsites, (asking forgiveness, seeking cures, and offeringthanksgiving), are functionally expanded to suit thesensory, emotional, and affective motives of themodern traveller (Marine-Roig, 2015; Rizello & Trono,2013; Olsen, 2013; Kiely, 2013; Hughes et al., 2013;Collins-Kreiner, 2010; Frank, 2009; Williams et al.,2007; Voase, 2007; Tilson, 2005; Shackley, 2002;Kong, 2001).Outlining such behavioural trade-offs, Frank(2009:157) documents experiential duality in � (admiring the Alpine flora and fauna), and‘useful experiences’ (contemplating the majesty andforgiveness of God), at an Austrian alpine shrine in theearly years of the nineteenth century, which localresidents, whose livelihood depended on attracting aconstant flow of outsiders, duly exploited. Suchexperiential diversity appears to be increasinglyfacilitated for the modern ‘pilgrim’ wherein the‘traditional pilgrimage’ is propelled, by way ofinexpensive flights, specialised tour operators, modernhotels, and choreographed cultural itineraries, frombeing a hardship focussed act of thanksgiving orrepentance, to an event managed cultural / leisureformat, exemplified in the ‘mixed message’ packagingof pilgrimages to traditional shrines such as Santiagode Compostella, Lourdes, Fatima, Bari, andMedjugorje (Rizzello & Trono, 2013; Olsen, 2013; 91 This would suggest that modern pilgrims willinglyembrace existential authenticity, where what is ‘real’resonates with their motivational need to satisfy socialand cultural needs, and where retelling one’s personalexperience of a pilgrimage trumps religious fulfilment,illustrated in the popularisation of personalised themessuch as ‘wellness’, ‘personal identity’, ‘personalsatisfaction’ and ‘inner peace’, in what iseuphemistically termed ‘spiritual tourism’ (Olsen,2013; Kim & Jamal, 2007; Smith, 1992; Nolan &Nolan, 1992). Evidencing this perspective, MarineRoig argues that:in recent decades, the number of touristsvisiting religious buildings designated ascultural attractions, mainly due to theirexceptional architecture, has significantlyincreased (2015:25).Analysing a representative sample of the over 3.26million tourists who annually visited the Basilica of LaSagrada Familia in Barcelona under the conflictinglymotivational headings of ‘cultural curiosity’ and‘religious belief’, the author (2015:25) concludes thatwhile religious visitor motivation was less than4%, more than 40% of visitors were motivatedby their interest in art and architecture(2015:25).This is despite an overt attempt by the CatholicHierarchy to market the religiosity of the world famouscathedral. Similarly, Hughes et al., (2013), in theirstudy of visitor motivation at Canterbury Cathedral,found little evidence of a desire for a religiousexperience, but rather that the majority of visitorsconsisted of those either imbued with a passion for thecathedral’s architecture, or those who derivedsatisfaction from ticking the ‘being there’ box. So,while tourism agencies have undoubtedly tapped into

International Journal of Religious Tourism and PilgrimageVolume 4(iv) 2016the large volume of travellers, for whom spiritual /secular tourism is a significant motivator (SimoneCharteris & Boyd, 2010), worryingly, it would alsoseem that depending on one’s credulity threshold,almost anything can be promoted as ‘a shrine’, andtherefore ‘worth visiting’. This ranges from the‘traditional’, to the ‘imagination stretching’, whereAbraham Lincoln’s home in Springfield Illinois is nowdeemed an historical shrine, Elvis Presley’s grave inGraceland, a musical Mecca, and Alta, on Utah’s skislopes, a snow shrine (Tilson, 2005).Traditional Pilgrimage FormatsAlternatively, for traditional pilgrims, both cognitiveand emotional attachments to sacred places are morerooted in core concepts such as faith, values, identity,and the perceived authenticity of the destination, thanthose attached to the herd driven, box ticking exercisesof populist pilgrimages (Bond & Falk, 2013; Rizzelo &Trono, 2013; Belhassen et al., 2008; Jansen & Kuhl,2008; Heather & Heather, 2003), wherein the interrelationships between the individual and their coreidentities, critically impact on the production andconsumption of satisfactory experiences (Uriely, 2005;Poria et al., 2003).Under the heading of ‘Theoplacity’ (from the Greek‘Theos’ or God, and the Medieval Latin ‘Placea’ orplace), Belhassen et al. (2008) explore the powerfulinfluence of physical places on pilgrims through theintersection of three centrally related motivatorsnamely: the ideology underlying the pilgrimage; theplaces visited, and; activities undertaken while onpilgrimage. Additionally, in arguing that pilgrims bringwith them ‘preconceived understandings of the sacredspaces they visit’, the authors (2008:684) posit that thenotion of pilgrims having ‘shared, collectivelyauthored meanings of these spaces cannot be ignored’.Similarly, in suggesting that visitors ‘do not get toknow an area, but get to re-know it’, Gali Espelt &Donaire Benito (2005) highlight the motivationalsignificance of subjective and social constructs onplace identity through amalgams of ‘a priori’, ‘in situ’and ‘a posteriori’ place imagery.It would seem therefore, that reciprocal relatednessbetween place and pilgrimage intent, may wellcharacterise how ‘invested meaning’ in seeminglyinanimate places, translates into a significantattractiveness for devotees (Harrison-Buck, 2012;Sillar, 2009; Alberti & Marshall, 2009; Bird-David,1999). Citing the symbiotic relationship between theancient Mayan communities and their circular shrine 92 architecture, Harrison-Buck, (2012:67) describes howthese shrines ‘became socially meaningful places,invoking real agency, through reciprocal engagementand mutual responsiveness’. Expanding on themotivational significance of such behaviour, Sillar(2009:370) terms it ‘an empathetic concern for placesand things that are considered to have social identities’,adding (2009:376), that ‘everyone invests some thingsand places with more emotional engagement thanothers’. Agreeing, Shanahan, (2009) addresses theimportance of intentional agency, where being seen tobe part of a community of practice, internalises themotivation for identity related behaviour, while Alberti& Marshall, (2009:346), in proposing that inert places,(and by extension shrines), provoke human action,succinctly states that ‘things do, after all, make us dothings’. But, while place alignment constitutes asignificant pull factor for traditional pilgrims, genderedattachments to pilgrimage sites also illustrateemotionally powerful motivational intent (Jansen &Kuhl, 2008; Mernissi, 1989).In acknowledging that churches in Western Europe arewitnessing a sharp decline in attendance, Jansen &Kuhl (2008:295) argue that ‘pilgrimages to Christiansacred sites continue to flourish’. Furthermore, theycontend that the majority of those visiting Christianshrines are women, and that this has much to do withthe dynamics of women’s lives. Focussing on Muslimwomen who visit Marian shrines in Portugal andTurkey, the authors conclude that pilgrimage to thesesites embraces gendered practice, firstly in their statedpreference for a female figure, and secondly in theirsearch for the healing of feminine worries aboutrelatives, childbirth, or domestic violence.Similarly, in articulating the gendered significance forMoroccan women visiting shrines dedicated to femalesaints, Mernissi stresses that involvement with the saintand the sanctuary of the shrine, aretwo of the rare options left to these women toactively shape their world, stimulate energiesagainst their discontent, and allow them tobathe in the intrinsically female community ally, for these women, public petitioning is asignificant element of their pilgrimage activity. This isstarkly documented in illustrating how:The newly arrived woman will put her hand onthe tomb or on the drape over it, and willexplain her problem either in a loud voice orsilently. She might go into great detail about

KielyWhy Rita? Devotional Practice and Pilgrimage Intent Towards a Medieval Italian Saint i

a small congregation of attendees at a weekly novena mass to St.Rita of Cascia, a medieval Italian saint, which takes place in an Augustinian church located in central Dublin. Known as ‘The Saint of the Impossible’, Rita of Cascia (Figures 1 & 2) was born in 1381 in Roccapo