Michael died suddenly of a heart attack whilst walking the Camino de Santiago on 29th October 2024.
The Community gathered in the Universal Hall to honour Michael on Thursday 31 October at a time coinciding with the cremation of his body in Spain. Jean Luc, a lifelong friend of Michael’s, who walked the Camino with him and a few fellow pilgrims joined via Zoom from Spain to share deeply, to sing Taize songs and to hold Michael in his transition.
Louis, a fellow pilgrim on the Camino, delivered Michael’s walking pole to Santiago de Compostela by bicycle to show that Michael completed his pilgrimage. Click on the image to see his short video.
Arrived in Finistere
J’ai eu l’immense honneur de l’avoir accompagné jusqu’au bout de son voyage.
Louis
[I had the immense honour of having accompanied him to the end of his journey.]
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This is so heartening to read. I was a good acquaintance and then friend with Michael for over 30 years. I miss him daily. I was making him a pilgrim scarf, made from natural fibres I found from all the places he had lived and some wools he had sent me in the month before he started the camino. I finished it two days before he died and had intended to give it to him on his return. Instead, I took the finished scarf to Santiago a month after Michael’s death and left it, with a note, in the cathedral. Within an hour, I had received a message from a Swiss (how fitting!) pilgrim, who has been walking the Portugal Way with it ever since. She gives me updates and it makes me so glad to know that something that just started as a fun souvenir has become a symbol of remembrance and the camino.