A pilgrimage to eternity : from Canterbury to Rome in search of a faith / Timothy Egan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Egan, Timothy, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages--Europe.

Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages.

Europe.

Genre:

Travel writing.

Physical Description:

367 pages : maps ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Viking, [2019]

Summary:

At a time when Britain, America, and much of Europe have never been so secular--and when his mother's death and his Irish Catholic family's complicated history with the church prompted a reckoning with his own beliefs -- Timothy Egan decided to follow in the footsteps of centuries of seekers. He embarked on a thousand-mile pilgrimage through the theological cradle of Christianity, to explore one of the biggest stories of our time: the collapse of religion in the world that it created. Egan sets out along the Via Francigena, once the major medieval trail leading the devout to Rome, and makes his way overland via the alpine peaks and small mountain towns of France, Switzerland and Italy. The goal: walking to St. Peter's Square, in hopes of meeting the galvanizing pope who is struggling to hold together the church through the worst crisis in half a millennium. Making his way through a landscape laced with some of the most important shrines to the faith, Egan finds a modern Canterbury Tale in the chapel where Queen Bertha introduced Christianity to pagan Britain; parses the supernatural in a French town built on miracles; and journeys to the oldest abbey in the Western world, founded in 515 and home to continuous prayer over the 1,500 years that have followed. He is accompanied by a quirky cast of fellow pilgrims and by some of the towering figures of the faith--Joan of Arc, Henry VIII, Martin Luther.

Contents:

Quest: Land of kings & athiests. London falling

A Canterbury Tale

At the cliff of the kingdom

Besieged at Calais

The Lost City of Saint-Omer

A night at the monastery

War and peace on the Western front

The miracles of Laon

Sluts and saints along the Chemin des Dames

When God anointed kings

The highest use of monks

Napoleon was bullied here

Wars of religion

Wanderings

Lost: Land of heretics & heroes. The hollowed house of light [House of Enlightenment]

United Europe's ticking clock

The betrayal

Refuge and reform

A theocracy on the lake

The permanent prayer of Saint-Maurice

Answers: Land of miracles & wonder. A pilgrim over the Alps

Monastery in the sky

Mountain myths

Proving the existence of God

A farewell to Augustine

A series of unfortunate events in a small car

The way out of a labyrinth

In the path of the little poor man

Allegories on the wall

The miracle of Montefiascone

The women who live forever

Companions of the Camino

Pilgrim's Progress.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 331-351) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Nichols fund bookplate.

Other Format:

Online version: Egan, Timothy, author. Pilgrimage to eternity

ISBN:

9780735225237

0735225230

OCLC:

1085579008