March 26, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures will present a lecture by author Thomas D. Spaccarelli titled "The Ideology of Pilgrimage" 4-5:15 p.m. Monday, April 6, at the Mervyn H. Sterne Library, Henley Room, 917 13th St. S.

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more details, call 205-934-4652.

Spaccarelli is a professor of Spanish at the University of the South at Sewanee and author of the book "A Medieval Pilgrim's Companion." He and colleague Antonio Momplet founded two study programs in Spain that focus on the Road to Santiago and the Muslim heritage of the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, he and UAB Assistant Professor John K. Moore, Ph.D., have edited a collection of essays on the Road to Santiago and pilgrimage.

The Road to Santiago refers to the ancient pilgrimages through Spain that began after the bones of St. James were rumored to have been discovered at Compostela in the northwest corner of Spain in the ninth century. Since that time, millions of the faithful and others have walked, biked and traveled on horseback 500 miles from the French Pyrenees, across Spain, to Santiago de Compostela.

"Pilgrimage was and continues to be an endeavor in which individuals of all social classes experience the real presence of Christ," says Spaccarelli. "The talk will provide textual and artistic evidence of this phenomenon."