a kind of religious discipline, which consists in taking a journey to some holy place, in order to adore the relics of some deceased saint. Pilgrimages began to be made about the middle ages of the church; but they were most in vogue after the end of the 11th century, when every one was for visiting places of devotion, not excepting kings and princes themselves; and even bishops made no difficulty of being absent from their churches on the same account. The places most visited were Jerusalem, Rome, Compostella, and Tours; but the greatest numbers now resort to Loretto, in order to visit the chamber of the blest virgin, in which she was born, and brought up her son Jesus till he was 12 years of age.