OPENING AND BLESSING OF THE NEW BELOKRANJA-
JACOB'S CYCLING ROUTES OF KOČEV
In the holy year of St. James 2021, the president of the Slovenia - Camino Jacob's Way Cycling Association, Franc Štefanič, and his wife, Helena, began tracing the new, fourth leg of the Jacob's Way, which was initiated by the members of the Association of Friends of St. James's Way. Jacob. The three existing Jacob's Ways lead through many Slovenian regions: through Prekmurje, Štajerska, Dolenjska, Osrednja Slovenia, Gorenjska, part of Notranjska and Karst and Primorska, while the southern part through Bela Krajina, Kostel and the Kočevsko-Ribnik-Sodra region of Slovenia remained without route, although there are also churches of St. Jacob. From autumn 2020 to summer 2021, Janko Purkat from Strahomer and Bojan Kosi from Ljubljana, members of the Association of Friends of the St. Jakob outlined on foot the route of the new Jakob path, which starts from central Šentjakobska
branches at St. Jakob on Hrušica above Novi mesto and goes via Gorjanci to Bela Krajina to Vinica, then along Kopla to Kostel, and from here across Kočevska to Notranjska, where it rejoins the Šentjakob route in Planina.
For now, the footpath is only mapped as a GPS track and is not marked in nature. From the fall of 2021 to the fall of 2022, the Štefanič couple marked and marked the 250 km long (3,700 m altitude) cycle route BELOKRANJSKA-
JACOB'S WAY OF KOČEVS, which starts in Nové mesto near the capitol and ends at St. Jakob in Ljubljana, where all four Jakob's Ways meet. A new path was opened and blessed in the extended St. Jacob's
year, on Saturday 22 October 2022 in Kočevje. The weather forecast for that day was not the best, but according toto the statement of the duty officer
forecast that it will not rain in Kočevje until at least 3 p.m., 23 cyclists bravely set off at 8:30 a.m. with the intention of riding part of the new route to St. Jakob in Mali Slevica. The stop was in the pilgrimage church of Mary of the Assumption in Nova Štifta near Sodražica. With a prayer and a song, the cycling pilgrims thanked the Mother of God for the successful pilgrimages this year, and then they climbed the slope via Sodražica to the place of Sveti Gregor, where the views open up far across Slovenia. From here, there was only a descent to the destination - the Church of St. Jakob in Mali Slevica. The prayer during the adoration of the angel was intended for all pilgrims along the Ways of Jacob, and they also remembered the deceased members of the association. The spiritual leader of the cycling association    p. Chrysostom Komar, this time without a bicycle. At this time, it was already raining in many parts of Slovenia, but Jakob's cyclists returned to Kočevje still in dry weather. They visited Slovenska vas near Kočevje
the new chapel, which also houses St. Jacob. It was recently erected by local resident Robert Kordiš as a thank you for miraculously surviving a fall from a high ladder without injury. Thus St. Jacob, as so many times before, over his pilgrims again
created a "corridor," as cyclists colloquially call it, of rain-free skies until the afternoon. During the blessing of Belokranjsko-Kočevska Jakobova, Fr. Chrysostom offered Holy Mass at 3:30 p.m. in the church of St. Jernej in Kočevje, and sung by the Cantete Domino vocal group led by the president of the cycling association
Franc Štefanič. The pilgrim-decorated church - in front of the altar a pilgrim's hat and the flag of the cycling association, and on the ambo a walking stick with a corkscrew and a shell from Santiago - emphasized the ceremony and importance of acquiring a new leg of the Jacob's Pilgrimage Route in Slovenia. On this occasion, the Štefanič couple, with the support of the Jacob's Path Slovenia - Camino Association, erected a memorial sign of St. Jacob. After the mass, which was also attended by members of the cycling association who did not cycle, as well as the creators of the en route stone sign, a blessing followed in Dolga vas. Because the patron saint of pilgrims is St. Jacob - Jesus called him the "son of Thunder" - started blessing from above with more abundant rain, the pilgrims and others gathered under the roof of the chapel at the cemetery, which is in the immediate vicinity of the stone monolith. Conceptual design for a shell carved in stone with the image of St. Jacob in it and the image of Mary with Jesus on the pillar were outlined by the society's secretary Helena Štefanič. The stonecutter Primož ensured that the sculpture got its beautiful final shape
Erjavec from Kitne vrh near Zagradac in the municipality of Žužemberk, who carved a beautiful shell into a stone monolith, and Peter Zajšek from Radovljica, who carved the image of St. James and Mary with Jesus on the pillar. Image of St. He summed up Jakob based on a painting made in 2004 by the academic sculptor Stane Jarm from Kočevje, commissioned by the Štefanič couple upon their return from a bicycle pilgrimage along the Camino Frances. He modeled Mary with Jesus after the image from Zaragoza, Spain, where St. Jacob around the year 40 AD. no. shown by Mary on the pillar. The memorial and the new Jacob's Way were blessed by Fr. Chrysostom singing the vocal group Cantate Domino. Unfortunately, it was not possible to take a group photo at the sign due to the rain, but the pilgrims will take it next year, when
set out for the first time on the new Pilgrim's Way of Jacob from Novi Mesto through southern Slovenia to Ljubljana.