Ultreia

The Name

Ultreia

/ ool · TRAY · ah /  ·  Latin

Ultreia is the ancient rallying cry of pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago — the medieval pilgrimage route that winds across Spain to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Derived from the Latin ultra ("beyond") and -eia (an expression of exhortation and joy), the word means "onward," "go further," "go beyond."

The full phrase — Ultreia et suseia, Deus adjuva nos! — translates as "Onward and upward, God help us!" Pilgrims would call it out to one another on the road: one cries Ultreia! (let's go further!), the other answers et suseia! (and higher!). It is both a greeting and a pledge — a shared commitment to keep going, past exhaustion, past doubt, toward something worth reaching.

The journal bears this name because the work of writing — and the work of thinking — is its own kind of camino. Every essay here represents a student who went further: further in an argument, further in a question, further than required. Published at Saint Louis University Madrid, steps from one of the world's great pilgrimage routes, we hope every piece in these pages carries something of that spirit forward.