The Archdiocese of Santa Fe Pilgrimage for Vocations dates to 1973, building on a centuries-old ministry by hermanos penitentes, and this summer, a Viatorian took part for the first time.
Fr. John Eustice, CSV headed to New Mexico, where his friend Fr. Patricio Chacón, O. Praem – vocation director for the Norbertines’ Santa Maria de la Vid Abbey in Albuquerque – invited him on pilgrimage.
The four pilgrimage routes each cover 100 miles, as two groups of men and two groups of women all converge in Chimayó after a week of walking.
Four 100-mile routes – two walked by men, two walked by women – converge on the holy site of Chimayó. There, Indigenous spirituality and Catholic piety come together around stories of healing, a legendary crucifix found buried in the ground, and what’s affectionately known as “holy dirt” at “the Lourdes of North America.”
This New Mexican piety traces to these lay men known as hermanos penitentes (penitent brothers). When missionary priests struggled against politics and geographical vastness to reach everyone, these men built moradas, or roadside chapels and used these spaces to teach catechism. The hermanos went on to gain Vatican approval and continue ministering to this day, especially in support of these pilgrims.
“Though the hermanos speak English, they pray distinct prayers in Spanish, and it’s 17th-century Spanish that’s chanted,” Fr. John said. “They process into chapels with hand-carved crucifixes called guías and go forward to where there’s all kinds of santos, such as Mary, St. Ignatius, St. Francis, and others, all carved in a distinctive New Mexican style.”
Fr. John walked with 60 other men, ranging in age from 13 to 75. With a few pickup trucks escorting them, the men take turns leading the group in procession carrying five items: their guía, their hand-painted image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one-fourth of a woodcarving heart (each route processed with one piece of it), a bag of written petitions, and a bag of dirt collected from each stop along their way.
The group depends on hospitality from local Catholics, who prepare and serve meals and open parish halls and gyms for simple lodging. Each day’s 20-mile day walk began before dawn with a break for communal Angelus prayer at sunrise. Local faithful lined the roads to encourage and support the pilgrims, who removed their caps when passing descansos, or roadside markers of deaths at those sites. In an area with significant poverty, addiction, and violent crime, Fr. John could sense that “we were walking through the muckiness of life and praying within it.”
Pilgrims mix individual prayer and silence, small-group discussions, and large-group prayer and singing. Fr. John would occasionally shift to the rear of the group and casually announce, “The confessional is open! People would fall back to my spot, and I’d tell them, ‘feel free to leave your sins on the highway,’” Fr. John said. “It’s amazing what 100 miles can do to help all of us heal and identify our desire to walk more closely with God.”
Fr. John enjoyed ministering with Fr. Patricio (pictured on the left) and others, including concelebrating Masses and hearing confessions – but he also valued the lay leadership and the times when he could simply be in community and fellowship with the other pilgrims, too.
His group was the last to arrive to Chimayó, to the fourfold sights and sounds of joyful prayer as pilgrims converged and received crosses and shells. Each group’s items were brought together there, where a circle of dirt was poured from all the groups’ bags and the crosses were placed in the middle as the four-piece heart was reassembled.
Fr. John was delighted by the communal fidelity, zeal, and piety. While he stepped forward to concelebrate the beautiful Masses, he also enjoyed blending into the group and even surprised some fellow pilgrims who almost forgot he was a priest when he vested for Mass.
As Fr. John celebrated his first anniversary of priesthood during pilgrimage and returns to directing Viatorian Vocation Ministry, it was particularly fitting to undertake a pilgrimage oriented toward prayer for vocations. The pilgrimage prayed for priesthood and religious life but, mirroring the Viatorian Community, always also named the diaconate, marriage, and single life in prayers.
“This is a lay-led movement. The priests are there, but laity is in charge,” Fr. John said. “For me, it was accompaniment, and it just happened to take place along the highways of New Mexico. I can’t wait to go back.”
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Later this summer, Fr. John visited Chimayó again after the pilgrimage.