The Barefoot Path in the
Western Contemplative Tradition
Part II
Wycliffe Reading His Translation of the
New Testament to the Protector
(Full Image 155K)
Jesus sent the disciples out two by two and barefoot. (Luke 10:1-16)
"I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Take neither purse nor
pack, nor sandals." Going barefoot is both obedience
to the Master and a sign of unwavering reliance on Providence
to meet ones needs. Did Jesus intend this advice symbolically?
We will see that Saint Francis, Santa Teresa, Saint John of the Cross,
and many others took bare feet as a literal command
of Jesus. We should note (by way of dismissal) that
many latter-day Christians, regard Jesus' admonition as meaning
not to take an extra pair of shoes, but it is difficult to reconcile
this with scripture or early church traditions.
So many saints, preachers and believers went barefoot that
one might well ask whether going barefoot really
set one apart from the crowd. Didn't everyone go barefoot
in ancient times? The answer is emphatically in the negative.
In nearly every account I have found, the barefoot preacher
is portrayed in an environment in which his or her behavior
is not the norm. Thus bare feet appear as a religious
distinctive, transgressing rather than conforming to the
fashions of the day. One apostle complained about having
to go barefoot. Jerome wrote in Against Jovinianus that
Saint Paul went barefoot against his own wishes, apparently
because ministers were expected to do so.
"Nudipedalia non exercere."
[*].
I will recount four examples of barefoot preachers from
cold lands where even a skeptic might expect to find a good part of the
population wearing shoes.
Elphage, Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Aethelred (martyred
in A.D. 1012) always arose at midnight, even in winter, went outdoors,
and prayed for hours, barefoot, without his cloak.
It is recorded that many Anglo-Saxon monks, mainly Benedictines, of
Elphage's time went barefoot as a lifelong penance.
Saint Columba established a celebrated monastery of barefoot
monks on the Inner Hebridean island of Iona. Saint Aidan did the
same at Lindisfarne. Finally,
preacher and translator John Wycliffe
traveled barefoot in England
until he was martyred.
[*],
He is depicted barefoot among his shod contemporaries in the painting
by Ford Madox Brown at the head of this section.
Returning to sunnier lands, we find that some
of the most celebrated Roman Catholic saints went barefoot
for most or all of their adult lives.
Among these are the founders of the Franciscans, Dominicans,
Discalced Carmelites, Poor Clares and Jesuits.
Francis, perhaps the best-known barefoot Saint,
inaugurated an order of barefoot priests and went barefoot himself
in strict imitation of the life of Christ.
He took Jesus' marching orders literally, sending out his ministers
two by two and barefoot, beggars in the service of God.
Near the end of his life, Francis
went on a famous barefoot and bloody walk up to the sacred cave at
Mount Alvernia. where he is said to have received the stigmata. Dante
related these events tenderly in the Paradisio.
Saint Clare
of Assisi, founder of the the "Poor Clares", Franciscan,
(also known as the "Barefoot Clares") went barefoot.
Francis and Clare are pictured barefoot in
Ambrogio Bondone Giotto's fresco from the
Basilica
of San Francesco.
Francis is, to my way of thinking, the first in the western
contemplative tradition to personify the elements as redeemed
entities, and this idea may be more than accidentally
related to his life on the barefoot path. For Francis,
the earth is our sister:
"All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Earth, our mother,
Who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces
Various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.
Santa Teresa walked barefoot from Spain to Rome
to obtain the necessary patent to open her first convent. She started
a contemplative order of barefoot nuns that came to be known as
Las Descalzas, the discalced or barefoot Carmelites.
One is discalced by removing the calcaeus or shoe.
Santa Teresa and Saint John of the Cross endured severe
treatment from the Calced Carmelites because of their adherence to plain
dress and asceticism (of which going barefoot was the chief
outward symbol).
The impulse toward barefoot ministry did not die out after Francis's time. Saint
Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits and the patron saint
of religious retreats, went barefoot even in winter[*].
Saint Francis Xavier, one of the first to associate with Loyola in
the Jesuit order, wore rags and went barefoot when he lived in
Goa[*].
On his trip to Miyako Japan, Francis Xavier walked (apparently by choice) for
several days barefoot in the snow, leaving bloody tracks as
he went[*].
Saint Dominic went barefoot as a missionary among the ascetic Cathars
and Alibgensians. Later he walked barefoot for thousands of miles, preaching
and visiting the houses of the order he
created[*].
Mary Magdalene of Pazzi was told in a vision that she must go
barefoot, and she sought unsuccessfully to avoid the notoriety
that the discalced state would bring by cutting the soles from her shoes.
"[*].
Saint Antonio Margil de Jesus, a Franciscan founded four missions in
what is now East Texas. A Franciscan, he walked barefoot everywhere, including
one trek from present-day Nicaragua to Texas.
Not only the Saints of Rome, but many other preachers and believers
went barefoot. Count Leo Tolstoy, a saintly (though not sainted) Russian,
abandoned polite society and went barefoot, did his
own ploughing, and gave up smoking, meat-eating, and hunting.
Barefoot Baptist missionary Thomas Downs regularly walked twenty-five
miles barefoot to preach in Yelvington Virginia[*]
Finally,
many of the Lancaster County Amish and Old Order Mennonites
near my home in Pennsylvania go barefoot in the summer months.
The prevalence of the practice is attested in the Pennsylvania
Deitsch saying,
"Deel Leit laafe baarfiessich rum un die annre hen ken Schuh."
(Some people walk around barefooted, and the rest have no shoes.)
The amount of time spent barefoot varies, but many children
and a few adults go barefoot whenever Sunday dress is not required.
Chaucer's Parson says, "Common or general
penitence is when priests enjoin men collectively in certain cases, as,
peradventure, to go naked on pilgrimages, or barefoot."
Since the earliest days of the church, travelers
have been undertaking pilgrimages in bare feet.
A few drops from the centuries-borne
tide of pilgrims and penitents gives something of the flavor of
this path of devotion.
It was traditional in the early days of the church that "ashes
were put on the heads of public sinners. At the beginning of Lent they
came before the bishop, barefoot and in mourning garments to have
the Penitential Psalms and the Litany of the Saints recited over them."
In penance (perhaps politically motivated) for the murder of
Becket, King Henry walked barefoot through
the streets of Canterbury as monks flogged him with
branches[*]
In the early church, Catechumens seeking a worthy celebration of baptism
faced three nocturnal scrutinies. Barefoot, they stood all night on
a goatskin in the church renouncing evil influences.
Penitents renowned and nameless walk barefoot
in prescribed rituals during the great religious feasts.
During la Semana Santa in Sevilla the cofradías
(brotherhoods) of penitentes) move their churches' holy icons
through the streets. They march barefoot in tunicas,
much like the penitentes shown in Goya's
Procession of the Flagellants on Good Friday.
The penitential trek often
commemorates a celebrated barefoot walk from centuries before.
For example,
According to the Prologue from Ochrid by
Bishop Nicholai Velimirovich,
Emperor Heraclius brought the true Cross
back to Jerusalem in A.D. 628.
Patriarch Zacharias saw an angel directing the emperor to take off his
robes and walk barefoot beneath the cross (just as Jesus had walked,
barefoot and humiliated). The emperor stripped himself of his coat
and shoes, took up the Cross and carried it to the Church of the
resurrection on Golgotha.
In Malta, at the festival of local patron saints, penitents go barefoot
or chained, often bearing heavy crosses.
On the Via Cavour near the Piazza San Marco, one can find the Cloisters
dello Scalzo (barefoot), named for the bare feet of the person who carried
the holy cross in processions. It is the headquarters of the
ancient Confraternity of John the Baptist.
Difficult barefoot treks await the determined pilgrim
in all parts of the world.
Pilgrims to the shrine of the of virgin
in Orcival go barefoot as a sign of humility.[*]
Likewise the sanctuary of the Madonna of Novi Velia
"is frequently visited by pilgrims who reach it
barefoot, with their shoes hanging from their necks,
and their feet bleeding due to the harsh steep
slope."[*].
The "Slipper Chapel" at the shrine of Our Lady of Walsinghham
(ca. 1061) was named in honor of those who removed their shoes to go barefoot
to her shrine[*].
If going barefoot was an indication of low social status,
what was the stature of one who washed the bare feet of
others? (Remember, those who would be greatest must be least.)
Jesus' friend Mary (sometimes read as Mary of Bethany, other times
as Mary Magdalen) washed the feet of Jesus with her tears,
wiping them with her hair and anointing them with spikenard, a sign of
humility (Luke 7:38). In Ephraim of Syria's account
of this story, Mary is a harlot (thus Magdalen), and also
discalces herself as a sign of humility and rejection of a prostitute's
finery. "She drew off and cast from her feet the
adorned sandals of lewdness; and directed the steps of her
going in the path of the heavenly Eagle."
The feet of
Saint Mary of Egypt are the object of tender adoration by
Saint Zosimas in the beautiful story of their mysterious meetings
in the desert: "... the elder washed the feet of the saint with his tears and calling on her
to pray for all, covered the body with earth in the presence of the
lion"[*].
The detail below shows a barefoot representation of
Mary of Egypt. The
full painting
shows scenes from the story of Mary and Zosimas.
A tender example of foot washing as a sign of humility occurs
when Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, visualized
here by Ford Madox Brown.
According to the story, Jesus' disciples began to argue among themselves
about who was to be greatest among them. This is a foolish argument
among followers of Jesus, because he teaches that one should
shun pride of position. If you would be greatest then you must
be least.
In response to the disciples' posturings Jesus knelt humbly and washed
their feet (John 13:5), saying "So if I, your Lord and Teacher,
have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's
feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do
as I have done to you." It was not unusual in Hebrew tradition
for a disciple to wash the feet of a master, but Jesus' inversion of
the ritual is a profound emblem of life as he wished it to be lived.
We have seen that going barefoot has at least six meanings
in the western contemplative tradition.
- It is a sign of nearness to God, of standing on ground endowed with k'dusha (holiness).
- By correspondence with the dress of slaves and captives, it is an expression of humility and strong conviction, and a visible token of mortification or penance.
- Going barefoot is a "sign to the Nations" and a demonstration against empty professions that bear a Godly form, but lack God's power.
- Going barefoot in the manner of Francis, Clare, Teresa and others is a mark of obedience to Jesus' teachings. In accordance with these teachings, it is
- a symbol of identification with the poor and
- a sign of unstinting reliance on Providence.
Thus going barefoot is a single outward action
that exemplifies six principles of
the contemplative life.
To these six, I would add a seventh. We have seen
in the Jewish tradition that going barefoot
signifies anticipation of the Messiah's reconsecrating the earth.
A fortiori, the barefoot contemplative walks in unity with
an earth already redeemed.
Yet the earth, alive with holiness, lies unsensed by the figuratively and literally shod multitudes."The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
"Remove your shoes", says a voice from the redeemed earth, "for the the ground on which you stand is holy." All earth is holy, blazing with grace, if we but bare ourselves to it."Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod."