May 12 is the feast day of one of my favorite saints from the Camino of Santiago de Compostela. His name is Santo Domingo de la Calzada. He was a hermit who was born in the province of La Rioja in northern Spain, an important wine producing region. He was born way back in the year 1019. As a young man, he was turned down when he applied to be a Benedictine monk, but eventually he was ordained a priest. He spent a great deal of his time as a priest improving conditions for the pilgrims: planting trees, cultivating the earth, and building a paved causeway that served as an alternate route to the traditional Roman causeway between the cities of Logroño and Burgos. The town he founded is named after him: Santo Domingo de la Calzada. It is an important stop along the Way of St James. His church became a cathedral where his remains are buried in its crypt. Because of the civil work projects he started, he is the patron saint of civil engineers in Spain. The last time I was on the Camino of St James, I attended mass in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo de la Calzada on a Sunday with a group of pilgrims. In the middle of mass, a rooster which is housed in a cage in the cathedral based upon an old legend about Santo Domingo, crowed several time, which is supposed to bring all pilgrims who hear his crow good luck. In his place and time, Santo Domingo de la Calzada listened to the call that God sent him in order to bring his Gospel to the pilgrims on the Camino. More than 900 years after his death, pilgrims honor him and efforts to help pilgrims reach the Cathedral of St James. May all of us hear the way that God is calling out to us today.
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