St. James Way in the Modern Day

Napoleon's invasion caused a crisis in Spain and an immediate War of Independence (1804–12). This had a negative impact on the number of pilgrims from France, which gradually increased again over the rest of the century.

In 1879, the remains of the Apostle were rediscovered. Their whereabouts had been unknown since at least the 16th century when, according to legend, they were hidden for fear that the privateer Francis Drake (who attacked the coast of A Coruña in 1589) would come to Santiago de Compostela.

Rome declared the authenticity of the remains of Saint James and his disciples through Pope Leo XIII's papal bull Deus Omnipotents (1884), which announced that 1885 would be an Extraordinary Holy Year for Santiago de Compostela.

The recently recovered relics were placed in a silver urn in the cathedral's new crypt in 1886. This space was renovated in 1960 and is still visited today.

The Cardinal and Archbishop Martín de Herrera opened the crypt in the Holy Year 1891 and promoted the revival of the pilgrimage. Pope Leo XIII also revived the local legends from Iria Flavia, Padrón, and Santiaguiño do Monte about Saint James evangelizing Hispania (the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula) and about his remains being transferred from Palestine.

Although the pilgrimage had become almost entirely local, there was an important flow of pilgrims from Galician parishes and from the rest of Spain in the Holy Years of 1897, 1909, 1915, and 1920.

Modern methods of transport were gradually becoming more widespread in the 20th century, radically changing the geography of the Camino and also affecting the logic of the very act of pilgrimage.

The increasing popularity of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela was thrown into crisis in the 1930s with the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). The Franco regime that followed this used the worship of the Patron Saint of Spain and the Camino to support the doctrine of National Catholicism.

At the start of the 20th century, there were signs that foreign pilgrims were beginning to return, but this declined with World War II (1939-45) and during the Cold War.

From 1950 onwards, pilgrimage from outside of Spain started to recover again when a group of French historians and archivists founded the French Society of Friends of Saint James (Société Française des Amis de Saint Jacques de Compostelle).

The end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries opened up a new period of appreciation for the Way. The highest spikes in religious interest occurred around the papal visits of John Paul II (1982 and 1989) and Benedict XVI (2010).

During this time, the St. James Way cemented its international recognition. It was declared the first Cultural Route of the Council of Europe in 1987. A few years later in 1993, the Way became a World Heritage Site and its listing was later extended in 1998 and 2015.

This was the moment when the traditionally European and Christian pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela broke through the boundaries of the old world to become a universal phenomenon, open to all faiths.

The pilgrims of the 21st century travel the Way for the landscape, history, cultural heritage, shared experience, and the sense of solidarity.