Farewell to Rome: A Swiss
Guard returns home along the Via Francigena
 |
| Vincent Perritaz arrives in Freiburg after a 37-day walk from Rome |
Vincent Perritaz is 26 and comes from Fribourg. He completed
three years of service as a Pontifical Swiss Guard on 31 May. He arrived in
Rome as a pilgrim, and decided to leave as a pilgrim, walking up the ancient
route of the Via Francigena. It was a journey that changed him both humanly and
spiritually. This is his story.
By Adelaide Patrignani
Most people get there in a few hours by plane. Vincent
walked. It took him 37 days. He left Rome on 1 June and arrived on 7 July in
his home town of Gruyère, a green mountain region near Freiburg.
Setting out
He chose to follow the Via Francigena, the ancient pilgrim
route that connects Canterbury, in the south of England, to the Eternal City.
For him, it represented the harmonious conclusion of a period of his life spent
in the service of the Holy Father. Three years earlier, he had travelled the
same road on his way to Rome. A simple pilgrimage, repeated like a refrain.
"Now that it's done”, says Vincent, “I realize this way of returning home
was like a therapy for me. It was very difficult to leave Rome, the Vatican,
the Swiss Guards and the Holy Father. I don't think I could have dealt with a
sudden return in one day. Returning home on foot gives you a lot of time to sum
up what you have experienced”. Something Pope Francis said at World Youth Day
in Krakow also struck him: "To follow Jesus, you need to have a dose of
courage, you need to decide to change the couch for a pair of walking
shoes". "I feel I have followed the Pope’s words to the letter by
travelling this way", says Vincent.
In Lazio, walking towards Aquapendente, and Vincent’s pilgrim staff
Leaving Rome on a summer day, Vincent felt torn: "I was
sad, of course, because I was leaving behind a life I had loved so much, but
also joy, because I was on my way home". For Vincent, the road was an
"extension" of his experience as a Swiss Guard, taking him back to
his home, “the Swiss Rome, the city of Freiburg". Even though he had
experienced pilgrim walks, having done the “Cammino” of Santiago de Compostela,
Vincent was hesitant about this new undertaking: “I was anxious. I felt I was
doing something too big for me". Still, he set out alone, happy in his
loneliness, and abandoning himself to Divine Providence.
Landscape of Tuscany
Divine Providence
The layout of the Via Francigena is based on a description
found in a manuscript by Sigéric de Canterbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, who
travelled to Rome in the year 990 to receive the pallium from Pope John XV. The
route is well signposted and the pilgrim has many guides to help plan the route
in detail. But for Vincent, it was important to walk without setting a daily
destination, going only as far as he could in a day. He felt that not booking
any accommodation in advance was a way to experience poverty and gratitude.
"You don't know where you are going to end up, so you learn to rejoice in
everything positive, because maybe you won’t find it at your next stop",
notes Vincent. He recalls many "memorable encounters", like that with
the couple who had welcomed him on his outward journey... and three years
later, did the same on his return. "I have to say that walking in the
opposite direction arouses curiosity", he observes.
The hills of Tuscany
From Tuscany to the Po Valley
The Via Francigena crosses seven regions of Italy (Valle
d'Aosta, Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Liguria, Tuscany and Lazio) for
just over 1000 km. Vincent was particularly struck by the landscape of Tuscany,
especially between the towns of Radicofani and San Miniato. "It is the
part of Italy where the landscapes are the most beautiful”, he says. A little
further north, these views of paradise become more like purgatory as the road
crosses the Po Valley. Between Pavia and Santhià, rice fields extend for as far
as the eye can see, offering an "extremely monotonous landscape with very
straight lines". The heat and stagnant water in the rice fields attract
"lots of mosquitoes", Vincent recalls. These days were "a great
test of patience", he adds. Then the landscape becomes mountainous again,
up to the slopes of the Valle d'Aosta, and the highest point of the route, the
Great St. Bernard Pass in Switzerland (2469 meters above sea level). A few days
later, Vincent reached the Canton of Freiburg. Once there, he no longer needed
a map as he recognized the familiar mountains of his homeland on the horizon.
The rice fields of the Po Valley
A backpack and a Bible
One might think the size and weight of a pilgrim's backpack
is proportional to the distance travelled. That isn’t always true, says
Vincent. All he carried was some clothes, food and water. “You can go to the
end of the world with that little", he explains. And if you are afraid of
getting bored, you always have your Rosary or a small Bible to keep you
company, he adds. It is easy to pray the Rosary while you are walking, says
Vincent, "especially along the least pleasant parts of the route".
You can also rely on the intercession of Saint Rocco, patron saint of pilgrims,
and Saint Martin and Saint Sebastian, patron saints of the Pontifical Swiss
Guard. Even though his backpack didn’t bother him, there was something else
that caused Vincent discomfort: his feet. “If it wasn't the left, it was the
right! As if one foot wanted to return to Switzerland and the other foot was
dragging me back to Rome”.
The faithful Companion
When, finally, he arrived in Freiburg, Vincent says he felt
a “strange feeling of loneliness”, as when you make a long trip with friends:
once you get back home, each goes their own way. During the five weeks of
walking the Via Francigena, Vincent says he experienced “a special closeness to
God, like walking with a friend”. This relationship is what helped him abandon
himself to Divine Providence. "I had to learn to let go of the itinerary,
to stop making calculations and to stop worrying”, he says. Experience forced
him to believe and to trust in God, he adds. Vincent has his own advice for
anyone trying to do the same: "Do everything you can to hold onto God at
any cost, as He were a safety rope… One of the ways we meet Him is precisely
when we see our plans going to pieces”, he says. Along the way, the former
Swiss Guard says he dared to lose himself “in hope with confidence". God
always “saves us from drowning".
Great St. Bernard Pass, on the border between Italy and Switzerland
The grace to continue
"Man of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Mt
14:31) is Vincent’s favourite Gospel verse, and the one he most associates with
his pilgrimage from Rome to Freiburg. On the return journey, he recognized many
of the places he had encountered on his way to Rome: "Benches, tree-trunks,
roadsides where in moments of doubt and despair I tossed everything onto the
ground and sat with my head in my hands". There were times when he was
ready to give up and go home, says Vincent. “But luckily I always received the
grace to continue”. Returning to these places gave him the chance to examine
his conscience, and to strengthen his faith. "In future, I hope to be able
to trust and look in the right direction, even if everything tells me that I
will sink", says Vincent. "Now I am convinced our only hope is God".
Keeping the door open
“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose
hearts are set on pilgrimage”. Thus reads Psalm 84 (verse 6). The words of the
Psalm sound like an echo of Vincent's itinerary: his pilgrimage along the Via
Francigena is over, but the journey revealed to him the infinite horizon of
life with God, and in God. A revelation of this kind puts resting on the couch
out of the question! Rather, it's about holding onto his Swiss Guard's
armour... ready for a spiritual fight. "Arriving back home”, says Vincent,
“was like closing the door of my heart to God, the door I had opened to Him
while I was walking”. The temptation to "control everything" in our
daily life quickly returns. We have to "fight and keep the door open".
"We keep it open when we live like a true Christian, moving forward with
total confidence in the Father". Vincent’s itinerary showed him how
"it is fear that blocks us, the fear of a Love that is so great it could
turn our lives upside down".
Landscape of Gruyère, Switzerland
Projects in progress
In September, the former Swiss Guard enrolled in the Faculty
of Theology at the University of Fribourg. He says he wants to build a
"solid foundation" to enable him to "talk about God".
Vincent feels that "people often reject God because they don't know
Him". His choice of studies is another reflection on the pilgrimage
experience he lived this summer: "The encounter with God is an invaluable
gift”, says Vincent, but we cannot limit ourselves to searching for Him along
the road, just because it is there that we dare open our hearts. God is not
limited to a pilgrimage route, he adds. Still, Vincent has a new dream: he
wants to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. "I don't know when", he
says, "but the day the opportunity presents itself, I better have the
courage to go. It will be the greatest journey of my life," he adds.
Vincent Perritaz greets Alain Berset, then President of the Swiss
Confederation, during a visit to the Vatican on 12 November 2018
Advice for interested travellers
Vincent has a word of encouragement for his Swiss Guard
comrades who may be thinking of returning home from Rome on foot. "If you
think about it, even a little, then do it. Go! It's easy. When you exit the
Vatican from Saint Anne’s Gate, turn left and keep going. All you have to do is
put one foot in front of the other". And what advice does he have for
someone wanting to hike their way home? “It is about 1000 km from the Great
Saint Bernard Pass to Rome. If you calculate each step as being 70cm, that
makes about 1.5 million steps," says Vincent. That's enough to discourage
even the most determined. "The only step that really counts, the most
difficult to take, is the first. The others will follow", he adds. The
only real challenge is learning to lose control: "When things don't go as
planned, that’s when you know you are going in the right direction. That is the
way God guides us", says Vincent confidently. In other words, he
concludes, "set aside your pride": it will mark the beginning a
life-giving journey, a journey of humility.
"Go, pilgrim, continue your search; go your way, do not
let anything stop you. Take your share of the sun and your share of the dust;
with your heart awake, forget the ephemeral. Everything is nothing, and nothing
is true except love" (Liturgical hymn, CFC).
«Va, pèlerin, poursuis ta quête; va ton chemin, que rien
ne t'arrête. Prends ta part de soleil et ta part de poussière; le cœur en
éveil, oublie l'éphémère. Tout est néant, rien n'est vrai que l'amour» (Hymne,
CFC).
Via Francigena in Tuscany
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