pil-grim (pil’grim), n. [ME.pelegrim; OFr. *pelegrin (later pelerin, Pr. pelegrin); L. peregrinus, foreigner < pereger, one on a journey < per, through + ager, country; cf. PEREGRINE], 1. a wanderer; sojourner. 2. A person who travels to a shrine or holy place. 3. [P-], a member of the band of English Puritans who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620.
(Webster’s)
“’And I shal apparaille me,’ quod Perkyn, ‘in pilgrims wise,
And wende with yow I wil til we fynde Treuthe.’“
“’Then I will dress as a pilgrim,’ said Piers, ‘and go with you till we find Truth.’”
(William Langland, Piers Plowman, Book VI; 1377)
“Whan that Aprill with his shoures sote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote …
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages …”
“When April with his sweet showers has
Pierced the drought of March to the root …
Then people long to go on pilgrimages …”
(Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Prologue; 1386)
“Fulness to such a burden is
That go on pilgrimage;
Here little, and hereafter bliss,
Is best from age to age.”
(John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Part II; 1684)
“But where content dwells, even a poor cottage is a kingly palace; and this happiness he had all his life long, not so much minding this world, as knowing he was here as a pilgrim and stranger, and had no tarrying city, but looking for one not made with hands, eternal in the highest heavens …”
(The Continuation of Mr. Bunyan’s Life, anonymous; 1692)
“By the grace of God I am a Christian, by my deeds a great sinner, and by calling a homeless rover of the lowest status in life. My possessions comprise but some rusk in a knapsack on my back, and the Holy Bible on my bosom. That is all.”
(The Way of a Pilgrim, anonymous 19th century Russian)
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims* on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.”
(Hebrews 11:13, 14)
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims* of the Dispersion …”
(1 Peter 1:1)
* Greek parepidemos, temporary resident; refugee; one who lives among a people not his own.