Égérie
IVᵉ siècle
Prayer that sets out on the road, curious for the places where God let Himself be found.
Who was Égérie?
A woman from the western edge of the empire, perhaps Galicia, she set out around 381 on a long pilgrimage through Egypt, Sinai, the Holy Land and on to Constantinople. She kept a journal for her 'sisters' back home, describing liturgies, monks and holy places with precise curiosity. Her account is the earliest surviving testimony of a woman to the Church at prayer on the road.
In their own words
Wherever we came, it was always my custom first to say a prayer, then to read the passage of Scripture fitting to the place, to sing a psalm, and to pray again.
It so delighted me to see these places that I could not have my fill of them.