The Pilgrim and the Peas and Pilgrimage by Rail: Defining acceptable pilgrimage practices in Nineteenth-Century Britain

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the nineteenth century, attitudes towards Catholic pilgrimage travel became increasingly critical as newspaper reporters and writers attacked pilgrims for choosing to travel in comfort, and at speed, by train. This paper argues that the reason for this change can be pinpointed to two key things: the widespread popularity of a comic verse, The Pilgrim and the Peas, and the 1873 English Pilgrimage by rail to Paray-le-Monial. It argues that together these two factors were instrumental in shaping modern British attitudes to how pilgrimage should, and should not, be conducted and cemented the idea that a pilgrimage should be a journey of hardship undertaken on foot.