'CALM' SAIN FOR AIR HOSTESSES

A12th-century saint who pent her adult life in a perpetual pilgrimage has been proclaimed patroness of travel hostesses. Saint Bona, born in Pisa. Italy, in 1156, dedicated herself to her fellow townsmen who went on pilgrimages to the shrine of St. James the Apostle at Compostella in Spain. Each voyage took about nine months, and St. Bona is said to have spent much of her entire adult life making the round-trip to Compostella, assisting the pilgrims. She died at Pisa on May 29, 1208, after making the last pilgrimage alone. In her later years she suffered constantly from a wound received when Saracens attacked a ship bringing her back front the Holy Land. Her biographies describe her as a gentle person, exceptionally beautiful, one who inspired calm amid trials and sufferings. In the Middle Ages the shrine of St. James at Cornpostella was a centre of pilgrimage from all over Spain and Christendom. It was also a centre of Christian resistance to the Moslem invasion of Spain. Pisa alone had 30 hostels for pilgrims.