So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death!
Of course, the greatest pilgrimage of all is the journey we celebrate today, the story of the one who came down to earth from heaven, whose shelter was a stable, and who shared his life with the poor and lowly.
In the late 4th century, as the immense Roman Empire was collapsing, the leading philosopher of the age, St Augustine, became deeply interested in possible explanations for the evident tragic disorder of the human world.