La Romeria: My First Pilgrimage

In the year 1635, a young, poor woman was out in the woods of Costa Rica gathering firewood. She came to a rock near a spring, and on top of it was a small statue that was about eight inches tall. It looked like a doll of a mother carrying her son, so she brought it home and put it in a basket, then forgot about it. The next day, as she was gathering firewood, she saw the same statue in the same spot. So, thinking that she now had two dolls, she went home to put it in the basket with the other. When she got home, she found that the identical doll was gone. The next day, the same thing happened again.

So she brought the statue to the local priest, who didn’t think much of it but put it in a chest to examine later, which he forgot to do until the next day. When he did so, it wasn’t there. Meanwhile, the woman (you probably guessed it!) found the statue AGAIN on the same rock by the spring. She took it back to the priest, who promptly locked it in the tabernacle in the church.

The next morning, the priest rushed to the tabernacle, only to find it wasn’t there. Very quickly, accompanied by many of the parishioners, he went to the spring, where the statue was on the rock. He realized that this was Mary saying that she was a mother for everybody: the poor, the rich, and people of all races. This was a time of discrimination, and religion was largely seen as for the rich European settlers, so this sign and its message were a big deal. On that spot, they built a small church, which is now the Basilica of the Virgin of the Angels, named after the feast day that the statue was first found on, and which is now the patron saint of Costa Rica. The statue is lovingly called “La Negrita,” because of its dark color.

Every year, for hundreds of years, people from all ends of Costa Rica have been making the pilgrimage to this Basilica to honor the patron of their country, as well as to bring thanksgiving for something, or a petition, such as the healing of a loved one. On the 300th anniversary in 1935, Pope Pius XI declared the basilica a minor basilica, and that whoever made the pilgrimage was given a plenary indulgence. In recent years, there have been an estimated 1-2 million pilgrims a year making the journey.

After hearing a lot about it, I really wanted to do it too! I was able to join our friend Memo’s group, him and some friends who go every year. Because of the heat, they would walk at night, and the whole 90+ mile pilgrimage was this:

DAY 1 (6 pm): Memo, a lady named Wendy who was part of the group, and I left Santa Rosa. The idea was to get to a town about 35 minutes away if you’re driving, where we would meet the rest of the group who lived in a different town. This part was personally the least enjoyable because of the mental game, being that I know the route really well from driving and was just waiting and waiting for each town that we would pass through, as walking is so much longer than driving.

There were so many more specific stories, but it would take multiple posts to cover them all, for sure. Small things, such as handing out so many little Jesuses to people, being able to pray all along the way for the intentions of our family and friends, wearing sandals and being the only person to not get blisters, filling my water bottle with orange juice the second day after breakfast (an ingenious idea), refusing to put on sunscreen because I thought I only used to get sunburned by the beach (a bad idea), throwing a mini marshmallow off a huge bridge on a really windy day to see it fly super far and then land in a river where the fish attacked it (a highlight), and so much more.

One thing I also remember is that sometime during the week, the group asked me if I was going to do the pilgrimage again the next year. I pulled the cultural: “Si Dios quiere” (If God wants), which can mean anything from “Sure, absolutely!” to “Heck no!” For me it was, at that point, definitely more towards the negative end. Let’s just say that after road walking for over 36 hours, I’m pretty sure you would not be too quick to say yes to that sort of misery again.

As soon as we got to the basilica, a ton of people were yelling and selling stuff right out in front, so it was super chaotic. But as soon as we walked inside, all of that disappeared. It is traditional to walk down the center aisle on your knees as a last gesture as a pilgrim, so we did. I will say, I have been to Italy and seen some really cool churches, but this was different. To walk into this beautiful church on your knees, with other pilgrims all around you, tired and sore, and to see the Blessed Sacrament on the altar because they just happened to have Adoration at that time, with the statue of Mary and the Christ Child behind it from the miracle that happened almost 400 years ago, was one of the most powerful and holy moments in my life. So much so that as I walked out of that church, it was already a given for me that I would do the pilgrimage again next year if we were here, just for that holy experience.

I thoroughly encourage you to go on a pilgrimage, if you haven’t already. To have that time in prayer with God the whole time, to be able to share your faith with people along the way that you encounter, and then when you arrive, it is a truly amazing and impactful experience that will help to strengthen your spiritual life. In a way, it will also recharge it afterwards, aside from giving you many graces!