Three Peregrinas: Singing Nuns

Okay! It's time to share another inspiratonal Camino experience. On Monday, May 15th, we made it to Carrion by 3 pm, power walking the last km so we could get beds at the Santa Maria house of the singing nuns. I went ahead to beat out two strapping young men who were headed in the same direction. Sister Monica met me at the door to give me the news that the albergue was already full. I was hot, sweaty and my face was red. I was probably close to tears as well because we had marked this place as a spot we did not want to miss. I could tell that Sister Monica was sad too. But! She directed us to the Espiritu Santo albergue that still had beds and she invited us back for the singing at 6pm even though it is really for the residents of the Santa Maria albergue. We arrived back at the albergue in time for the singing and in time to get seats. It was a large crowd of pilgrims from the albergue and they gathered on the stairs and floor. The four St. Augustine nuns were so welcoming. They sang a song or two and then asked us to say our names, announce our home countries and tell why we were walking the Camino. Again we loved hearing the responses, even ones we didn't understand. We laughed at some responses and tried not to cry at others. One young sister played the guitar and was the lead singer. Really, she looked and sounded like an angel. One sister seemed to be the superior and she spoke to us so sincerely while another young sister did her best to translate. Everyone was spellbound. The sisters asked for volunteers to sing and two people did-Rachel from the US and a young guy from Korea. He just about got a standing ovation, he was so good! There was more group singing and the sisters closed with a special Camino song. They told us they would be praying for us. I think we were all reluctant to leave. Sister Monica gave me a high five and two hugs before I left. Then, lucky for us, we went to the pilgrim mass an hour later and got to hear the sisters again. We also loved the priest. At the end of mass he called all the pilgrims forward and asked us to raise our hands when our country was announced. He then proceeded to name just about every country in the world from memory. He talked to us for a while then we lined up for individual blessings. Sister Superior did one line and the priest did the other. One sister stood beside each of them to hand each pilgrim a little star. (Santiago de Compostela is translated as the field of stars) Sister Monica held my hand when she handed me a star. It's once again hard to describe the peaceful, loving feeling of the moment. We all gathered around the statue of Our Lady of the Camino to sing one last song and many of us lit candles. We wish all of of families and friends could have been with us.