April 2023
April is on the horizon, and with it, the re-opening of Refugio Gaucelmo in Rabanal del Camino. Yesterday, I revisited Rabanal where – as in every year since its inauguration in 1991 - a working party was spending the week running up to 1 April prepatring for a new pilgrim season. I was there for a meeting, but I was aware of the activity going on in the background. Someone was using a sander, someone else was digging over the patio garden, while the smell of paint drifted in through an open window on what was truly a beautiful spring day.
Back in 1991, such basic pilgrim accommodation as there was along the Camino Frances was often called ‘refugio’; the term ‘albergue’ came into use only later, in the mid-1990s, with the increase in numbers and an improvement in the general level of facilities. None the less, with the agreement of both the groups that created it – the UK’s Confraternity of Saint James and the Bierzo’s Amigos del Camino de Santiago - Refugio Gaucelmo has preserved the name it was given by the Amigos. Gaucelmo was a late 11th century hermit-saint who cared for pilgrims, rather like Santo Domingo de la Calzada and San Juan de Ortega farther east. He built a church and hospital for them, places of rest and recovery on the arduous trek through the mountains of Leon. We of the CSJ had not known of him, but were glad of a name so linked to the pilgrimage, so rooted in local history. It was all of a piece with our commitment to rebuilding the ruined parish house as respectfully as possible, using an expert local builder, quality materials and traditional methods.
Coming back to Rabanal is always a pleasure, but yesterday’s visit was particularly so. It wasn’t just seeing Refugio Gaucelmo looking so welcoming and well-cared for, though of course that was part of it. Rather, it was seeing the whole village looking so welcoming and well-cared for. This is a village that is not just surviving, but thriving, a place whose tradition of hospitality finds expression in everyday dealings and conversation, as I noted when I went into a local shop, then into one of the bar-restaurants. This is what Walter Ivens dreamed of, all those years ago, when he spoke movingly about ‘bringing the village back to life’ when it was so depopulated that when he – and I – first saw it in 1986, it had only 16 residents, the youngest 62 years of age. As the 9th halt on Aymeric Picaud’s route to Compostela, Rabanal’s precious commitment to pilgrims comes down to us through the centuries: that’s why it made sense to create ‘refugio’ here back in 1989. But the best part of Rabanal’s story is that while Refugio Gaucelmo may have been a catalyst, the ongoing process of recovery came about, and continues, largely through the agency of the people of Rabanal themselves.