Thiry people set out from Subiaco to make their way to New Norcia.
By Robert Hiini
Over 162 years after Salvado and Serra set out from Perth, thirty pilgrims from St Joseph’s Church, Subiaco are making their way on foot to New Norcia – although this time around, with a camera crew in tow.
Accompanied by a media team from the ABC’s Compass program, the pilgrims set off from Subiaco on Monday August 31 and are scheduled to reach New Norcia Saturday September 6 to be welcomed by Serra and Salvado’s successors, the small monastery community of present-day Benedictines.
The initiative is the culmination of 4 months planning building on parishioner, Dr Duncan Jefferson’s idea born of his own experience walking the Camino de Santiago – the Way of St James – in Spain.
Coincidentally, Bishop Rosendo Salvado had begun his religious life at Santiago, entering a Benedictine Monastery for novitiate, eventually making an application, together with fellow Benedictine Jose Serra, to authorities in Rome in 1844 to be sent as missionaries to any place of their choosing. They departed for the port of Fremantle in 1845, arriving in January 1846.
The route the 30 Subiaco pilgrims will take to New Norcia varies significantly from the one made by those pioneering Benedictines, taking in some of WA’s best known sites and landmarks such as the West Australian Parliament, St Mary’s Cathedral, Guildford and Walyunga National Park.
Each pilgrim has been given a "passport" from the parish’s office to be stamped after each completed stage and once the Camino or journey is completed the pilgrims will receive a certificate as a memento, acknowledging their feat.