To: Carlos G. Vallés
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 11:02 AM
Subject: Una duda

Hi, Carlos,

As you know, I’m going on my pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the Apostle St James in Santiago at Compostela next week. [That is ten days walking along the pilgrim way from France to Spain along which thousands of pilgrims from all over Europe and the world come to travel the distance on foot and to gain the merit of the pilgrimage and the official document of having completed it on foot as it has been sealed in all the pilgrim resting places along the way.] My doubt is, can I get that certificate in my grandmother’s name? She would love it, of course, as she cannot do the way in person at her age. That is, can I do the pilgrimage in another person’s name that cannot walk the 100 miles, and would she get the plenary indulgence and all the spiritual benefits of the pilgrimage?
Just that for today.
Kisses,
Elena.

2010/3/23 Carlos G. Vallés <carlos@carlosvalles.com>

To do your pilgrimage in your grandmother’s name is a beautiful thought, Elena, and it will do for her soul whatever the actual walking would do for her. What I don’t know is whether they will give you the official Latin certificate of the pilgrimage (the so called ‘Compostela’) in your grandmother’s name. If you explain to them the situation, they should give it to you. You can tell them that in Catholic masses, the one who says the mass is the priest, but he can ‘offer’ the mass for anybody else, and in fact he usually does that and even charges a stipend for it. We in India used to say masses which we offered for the intentions of Catholics in the USA, where another priest gathered such intentions and communicated them to us in advance, and he charged there the stipend (one dollar) and then sent it to us. We irreverently called them ‘dollar masses’, and many parishes among us lived on them. This was a little ugly as you see, but it does show that you can ‘offer’ a good work and its religious merit for another person. The same is the case of the masses for the souls in purgatory. They are said here, and they have their effect there. With all these arguments you’ll we able to convince the clerks at the pilgrims’ office. Tell them your grandmother, who is 89, cannot be expected to go to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France and start walking from there through Spain with walking stick, rucksack, scallop shell, and pilgrim’s hat for ten days. Your grandmother will understand, as she surely has paid for many masses for her intentions and her dead relatives, and now she can get the merit of the pilgrimage for free. When I say ‘merit’ I mean the plenary indulgence and everything included. And, besides, that does not in any way diminish your personal merit on foot.

I’ve just now read the book ‘I’M OFF, THEN’, on the Santiago pilgrimage written by Hape Kerkeling, a popular comedian in German television who has made the Way himself. The book has sold more than three million copies in a short time and is very entertaining. I can lend it to you if you want. And then see: the book is dedicated on its first page to his grandmother! It would seem geniuses think alike. You can even give the book to your grandmother. Or, better still, you write your own book and dedicate it to her. I can write a prologue for you if you want. I too went to St James’s sanctuary in Santiago a few years ago and I asked for the ‘Compostela’ in the pilgrims’ office. They asked me whether I had come on foot. I said I had come by plane which was much more expensive. And I got the certificate! So all my sins are forgiven. Still, I’ll be going again this year which is special as it is a jubilee year, just in case. The subtitle of the German book is also meaningful: ‘Losing and finding myself on the Way to Santiago.’ May you get lost and find yourself again. Tell me all when you’re back. Kisses, Carlos.   

From: Elena  
Thank you, Carlos. Lovely. Elena.

[The official ‘Compostela’ was given with Elena’s name on it and the Latin postcript: ‘vicarie pro’, which is ‘in place of’, followed by her grandmother’s name. Everything has been foreseen at Santiago. And everybody was happy.]