Thank you for visiting our fundraising page. We are a group of seminarians of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Dillwyn, Virginia who will be making a pilgrimage to the holy site in Santiago de Compostela in the summer of 2026.

The history of pilgrimages

Pilgrimages have occurred since time immemorial. Before the coming of our Lord, pagans would pilgrimage to sites of "theophany", or where it was believed gods, and the divine visited. Naturally, after the coming of Our Lord, the Holy Land became a site of pilgrimage for Christians after the Roman persecution. As Catholicism flourished thereafter, pilgrimages to other holy sites became more common.

Today, pilgrimages are a respected tradition. In visiting a sacred site, pilgrims honor and pray to God, walking many miles with an emphasis on penance, devotion, and drawing closer to God.

The history of Santiago de Compostela

It is well known that upon the death of Our Lord, the Apostles, following Christ's mandate to teach and baptize all nations, ventured out to the four corners of the world. St. James came to the Iberian Peninsula (known as Hispania at the time). On the outskirts of the town of Caesaraugusta (present-day Zaragoza, Saragossa), St. James was miraculously visited by the Blessed Virgin Mary, leaving him as a reminder of her presence, a column or pillar, which is kept to this day at the Basilica in Zaragoza. On his return to Jerusalem, St. James was apprehended and beheaded. His disciples gathered up his body and carried it to the area known today as Santiago de Compostela, where a small structure was built to bury him. Due to various persecutions and Barbarian invasions, this structure was not discovered until the 9th century.

Since its discovery, countless pilgrims have flocked to it uninterruptedly for over a thousand years to honor the mortal remains of St. James the Greater.

The name of Compostela is believed to have derived from the Latin Campus Stellae (Field of stars), in memory of the miraculous lights that revealed the location of the tomb.

Fundraising

We seek benefactors to support us on this pilgrimage, the average cost being about $3,500 per seminarian. We will carry your intentions with us, praying daily and offering up sacrifices for them. Any excess proceeds will be given to a religious community. We thank you for the consideration.