Once we have decided to start the long Camino to Santiago, it is logical to want to demonstrate that we have achieved such a feat and request the document that allows us to prove it: the Compostela. It will also be useful to be able to aspire to a position in the hostels that offer Christian hospitality along the Camino. The established way to do it is the Credential, a document that we can seal in hostels, bars, restaurants, churches, post offices... even banks or police stations; any stamp is valid, as long as it identifies a known place along the Camino.
The pilgrim must obtain the Credential before beginning the pilgrimage. It can be obtained in almost any nearby Catholic church, or in other places that you will easily find once at the starting point: hostels, pilgrim offices and tourist offices... It can also be obtained through the Brotherhoods of the Apostle Santiago and of the Associations of Friends of the Camino throughout the world.
The official credential is printed on cardstock and is accordion-folded across sixteen pages. The first page works as a letter of introduction, and must be filled in at the distributing association with the pilgrim's data. There is also a space at the top for the seal of the entity that delivered the credential; At the bottom of the same page, the date and the seal of the Cathedral will be placed once the pilgrimage has been completed.
The second page contains instructions for the use of the Credential. In it it says:
"Necessary considerations:
This credential is only for pilgrims on foot, by bicycle or on horseback, who wish to make the pilgrimage with a Christian sense, even if only in an attitude of search. The credential has the objective of identifying the pilgrim; For this reason, the institution that presents you must be a parish, brotherhood, diocese, association of Friends of the Camino de Santiago, or any Christian institution related to pilgrimage. The credential does not generate rights for the pilgrim. It has two practical purposes: 1) access to the shelters offered by the Christian hospitality of the Camino, 2) to serve as a certification of passage to request the "Compostela" in the Cathedral of Santiago, which is the certification of having made the pilgrimage.
The "Compostela" is granted only to those who make the pilgrimage with a Christian sense: devotionis affectu, voti vel pietatis causa (motivated by devotion, vow or piety) And it is also granted only to those who make the pilgrimage until they reach the Tomb of the Apostle, completing at least the last 100 kilometers on foot or on horseback, the last 200 km by bicycle or 100 nautical miles and the last km on foot.
The pilgrim's credential, therefore, can only be issued by the Church through its institutions (Bishopric, Parish, Brotherhood, etc. or, in any case, through institutions that are authorized by the Church). Only then can the "Compostela" be granted in the SAMI Cathedral of Santiago (Conferences on the Holy Year: November 1993).
The shelters that lack subsidies should be maintained, within their austerity, with the collaboration of the pilgrims (cleaning, care of the facilities, facilitating rest, financial aid ...).
Organized groups with a support car or bicycle are requested to seek alternative accommodation other than pilgrim shelters.»
The remaining pages contain boxes to place the stamps that the pilgrim will collect along the route. The stamps are usually placed in places where pilgrims stay, such as hostels, but also in parishes, monasteries, cathedrals, hostels, town halls and many other places.
Finally, the back of the Credential shows a series of maps of the Caminos a Santiago, and another page with a blessing taken from the Code Calixtinus, written in the XNUMXth century.
Different credentials have been published for years by different entities, always with the license of the Archdiocese of Santiago. For decades, more than 25 Credential models published by Associations of Friends of the Camino in Spain and other places have been considered valid, and delivered to pilgrims in exchange for a small contribution. But this situation has come to an end this year. The Camino authorities have tried for many years to unify the credentials system, and the Cathedral Chapter took a definitive step through this note, published in November 2015:
“After extensive dialogue with many of the entities that issue Credentials, and at the request of several of them, it is necessary to address an issue that is seriously damaging the image of the Camino and the Pilgrimage.
We currently receive more than 25 credential models, with prices ranging from free to twenty euros in some cases. Attempts have been made to sell them, even through the internet. The pastoral welcome, careful attention, and gratuitousness must be the fundamental objectives of our presence on the Camino and in the goal of the Pilgrimage.
The Cathedral of Santiago has its own credential registered, which must be considered the only valid one and whose price, for the pilgrim, may not exceed 2 euros. The management of the credential cannot be carried out with neither commercial nor profit criteria; the yields that could be derived from it, necessarily limited by the model that is established, must always redound in favor of the best service and attention to pilgrims.
In order to avoid harm to all those entities that are issuing credentials, a moratorium is granted so that they can use them: until April 2016, XNUMX. As of that date, only the official credentials of the Pilgrim Reception Office.”
So it is worth taking note: as of April 1 of this year, the only valid Credential model to request the Compostela is the one published by the Cathedral itself.
