Abstract
The concept of pilgrimage grew progressively during the early Christian times and Late Antiquity. In the early Christian times, Christianity, deviating from Judaism, had to find a way to distinguish itself from it. In Judaism, the idea of pilgrimage was not exactly conceptualized. The Jews had a Temple in Jerusalem, a sacred place where no common people could penetrate. Nevertheless, population had to go there and worship it at least once a year. On the opposite, the early Christians, following the idea of splitting the two religions, thought that God and spirituality were everywhere and within everybody. Therefore, there was no need to build sacred places for the believers, as they could gather anywhere1. But the evolution of Christianity led the Fathers of the Church to come up with the necessity of churches, and the first ones looked like pagan temples, convert for the needs of the specific liturgy. Throughout the time, the idea of pilgrimage also developed. As early as the 3rd century, the Holy Land was seen as sacred; it was the place where the life of Christ occurred. The graves of martyrs were also progressively adorned. It is in the 4th century with the conversion of Constantine the Great to Christianity that sacred places were sought, and churches were built all over the Empire. His mother Helena was sent to Palestine; there she found the True Cross and other relics2. Churches were built on these specific shrines, as the Basilica of Nativity in Bethlehem, the Anastasis and the Martyrium, Golgotha, or the Mount of Olives. The construction of sanctuaries throughout Palestine developed until the 6th-7th century, time of Justinian. In the Holy Land, the afflux of pilgrims from Constantine onwards led to the construction of monasteries and hostels built especially to receive these pilgrims.
We can thus define pilgrimage as taking a journey to a place or to ecclesiastical buildings as monasteries, or tombs, which deserve and worth being worshiped and venerated. These places were brightened up by relics, objects or bones belonging to a sacred man. The pilgrim could, there, worship the place, pray, ask for forgiveness or for help, or wish for a cure. Relics were considered as objects performing miracles through the Saint to whom it belonged. Palestine, Rome, and other places were considered as sacred places and to have worthy relics.
