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"^Aa^AINOlUV^
LOUGH DERG
AND
ITS PILGRIMAGES.
WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
BY THE
REV. DANIEL O'CONNOR, C.C,
Priest of the Diocese of Clogher.
DUBLIN :
JOSEPH DOLLARD, PUBLISHER, 13 & 14 DAME-ST.
AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS.
1879.
(All Rights Reseroed.)
DUBLIN: JOSEPH DOLLARD, PRINTER DAME-STREET.
stack
Annex
To THE
MOST REV. JAMES DONNELLY, D.D.,
Bishop of Clogher
AND
Guardian of the Sanctuary of Lough Derg,
This Little Volume
IS
Most Respectfully Dedicated
BY the
AUTHOR.
20^1375
CTAA^^tf*^ /JSS^^^JUH^*^^- 0t*¥C-^iU'7U*'**-
PREFACE.
It has been long felt that a Handbook of the
Pilgrimage of Lough Derg, giving an outline of its
histor}^ an accurate description of the place, as well
as an account of the penitential exercises there prac-
tised, was a work, the want of which was admitted
on all hands. To supply this want, however imper-
fectly, the present little volume has been written.
In its compilation I have received valuable aid
and information from many kind friends, to whom
I owe an acknowledgment of my most heartfelt
gratitude. Foremost amongst these kind friends
I must mention the Rev. John O'Hanlon, M.R.I.A.,
but for whose assistance and advice the present
publication would very likely never have been pre-
pared for the press. I have also to express my
gratitude to the Right Rev. Dr. Graves, Protestant
Bishop of Limerick, for a learned article on ancient
inscriptions at Lough Derg, which his lordship,
with the greatest kindness and condescension, per-
mitted me to embody in this work. I am likewise
VI ' PREFACE.
indebted to the Rev. John Francis Shearman,
M.R.I.A., for extracts from rare works, and also for
several learned and interesting notes from his own
pen. I have received valuable aid and information
from Mrs. Atkinson, of Fairview, Dublin ; from the
Rev. Peter M'Glone, President of St. M'Carten's
Seminary, Monaghan ; and from my obliging
friends, W. F. Wakeman, Esq., Enniskillen, and
the Rev. James M'Kenna, P.P., Brookeborough.
The illustrations were sketched on the spot, and
drawn on the wood by Mr. Wakeman, of Ennis-
killen, and engraved by that well-known lady-artist,
Mrs. Millard, of Dublin. The map of the lake,
annexed to this work, was prepared for the litho-
grapher by Mr. Wakeman.
Should this humble production receive from the
public that amount of favour and encouragement
which the subject itself deserves, it is my intention,
hereafter, to enlarge the work considerably by adding
additional matter, by inserting further engravings,
and by supplying a copious index.
Taking into account the difficulties and incon-
veniences under which I laboured in writing this
PREFACE. Vll
little work, the onerous and responsible duties of
the sacred ministry, which occupied so much of my
time and attention, the distance from public
libraries, and the rather scanty materials for my
subject within reach, the readers need not be sur-
prised to find this work far from being as complete
and exhaustive as we should wish. Whatever
faults or inaccuracies may be pointed out to me,
I shall most willingly correct them ; and should any
additional information bearing on my subject be
communicated to me, I shall thankfully acknow-
ledge such information, and carefully preserve it for
future publication.
And now, in bringing before the public, not
without much anxiety and diffidence, this little pro-
duction, I have only to add that if my humble
efforts should contribute towards making more
widely known the blessings and graces to be
derived from a pilgrimage to Lough Derg, then the
leisure moments, which I devoted to this subject,
will not have been altogether spent in vain.
CORCAHAN, MOXAGHAN,
December^ 187S.
CONTENTS.
Chapter I.
Page
Preliminary Notice ... ... ... ... i — 5
Chapter II.
On the Nature and Origin of Pilgrimages— Their
Growth — Suppression and Revival ... ... 5 — ii
Chapter III.
Love of the Irish for the Holy Places of Pilgrimage —
Their Multiplication— Stone Crosses — Holy Wells —
St. Patrick's Purgatory ... ... ... ... 12— 15
Chapter IV.
Templecarn— Lough Derg— Origin of the Name — The
Lake — Its Scenery and Surroundings ... ... 16 — 26
Chapter V.
Saints' Island— Its Outline and Appearance— Site of
St. Dabheoc's Monastery ... ... ... 26 — 31
Chapter VI.
St. Patrick at Lough Derg — Memorials of him preserved
there — St. Dabheoc — His Genealogy — His Austerities
— His Prophecy regarding St. Columba — Records of
him at Lough Derg ... ... ... ... 32 — 47
Chapter VII.
Termon-Dabheoc — Successors of St. Dabheoc— St.
Brigid — Ancient Roadway to Lough Derg... ... 48 — 61
Chapter VIII.
Ancient Inscriptions at Lough Derg — Learned Dis-
quisition of the Right Rev. Dr. Graves — The Abbot
Patrick— Legend regarding the absence of Salmon
from its Waters ... ... ... ... 62—74
CONTENTS.
Page
Chapter IX.
Destruction of the Monastery of St. Dabheoc by the
Danes — Its Colonization by Augustinian Canons-
Pilgrimage of the Knight Owen ... ... ... 75 — 85
Chapter X.
Tiernan O'Rourke, Prince of Breffny, on Pilgrimage at
Lough Derg — Distinguished Foreign Pilgrims — Nar-
rative of Jacobus de Voragine ... ... ... 85 — 94
Chapter XI.
Dreadful Tragedy at Lough Derg — Raymond Count de
Perilleaux — The Dutch Monk — Suppression of the
Cave on Saints' Island ... ... ... ... 95 — 104
Chapter XII.
Re-opening of the Pilgrimage — Site of the Caverna
Purgatorii — Change of Pilgrimage in the Sixteenth
Century — Its Jurisdiction, in whom Vested — The
Course of Penance and Devotion there Performed
during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries ... 105 — 116
Chapter XIII.
Destruction of the Religious Establishment on Lough
Derg — Expulsion of the Augustinian Monks —
Ground-plan and Description of the Ruins on Saints'
Island — Dr. Kirwan, Bishop of Killala, Pilgrim and
Confessor at Lough Derg — Testimony of the Nuncio
Rinuccini in its favour— The Bell of St. Dabheoc ... 117 — 132
Chapter XIV.
The Franciscan Friars at Lough Derg — Confiscation and
Alienation of the Possessions of this Pilgrimage —
Writings against it — The Enactment of Queen Anne —
St. Patrick's Cross — Bishop Hugh M'Mahon Visits
the Sanctuary — Sermon of Benedict XIII. on St.
Patrick's Purgatory — Dr. De Burgo and Turlough
O'Carolan Pilgrims to this Sanctuary ... .. 133—147
CONTENTS.
Page
Chapter XV.
Inscriptions of the Eighteenth Century at Lough Derg —
Votive Gifts to the Sanctuary — St. Patrick's Church —
Boat Accidents on Lough Derg — ^Melancholy Boat
Accident of, 1795 — Prior Murray — Brief Review of
the Pilgrimage during the Eighteenth Century ... 14S— 160
Chapter XVL
The Pilgrim Tax— The Ferrymen— The Most Rev. Dr.
Murphy's Regulations for the Pilgrimage— Rescript
from Rome— St. Mary's Church — The Presbytery —
Hostile Notices of the Pilgrimage — Priors since the
year 1800 — Influx of Pilgrims — The Farewell Ode to
Lough Derg ... ... ... ..> ... 161— 176
Chapter XVII.
Routes to Lough Derg — Road from Pettigo — Thoughts
on nearing the Lake — Lithographic Views of the
Island— The Station Season— The Authorized Reli-
gious Exercises of the Pilgrimage— Explanatory Ob-
servations on the Exercises — Most Rev. Dr. Donnelly
Petitions the Holy See for Indulgences — Copy of the
Papal Indult ... ... ... ... ... 177— 192
Chapter XVIII.
The Healthful Climate of Lough Derg— Peculiar Effi-
cacy of the Exercises of this Station— The Joy and
Peace Experienced in this Pilgrimage — Benefactors of
this truly Catholic Charity— Concluding Remarks ... 193—202
Notes ... ... ... ... ... ••• 203—208
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Station Island," Lough Derg (Frontispiece).
' ' Templecarn Churchyard "
Page
... 18
" St. Dabheoc's Seat "
.
... 41
"St. Brigid's Chair" ...
• •• 57
Inscription— " OR MECI " ...
... 64
Inscription— *'MANUS COIVANI " .
... 68
" Saints' Island," Lough Derg
opposit
s page 123
*' Saint Patrick's Cross," Station Island .
... 139
Map of Lough Derg ...
at the end
PILGRIMAGE OF LOUGH DERG.
CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY NOTICE.
'j/^N this age of scepticism and unbelief, it
is refreshing, indeed,
to turn aside from
^rlKt"^ ftj the busy ways of the Avorld, in order to
^^ff't^^'* contemplate the sanctuaries of religion —
QffX those bright green spots round which are
9 encircled the sweetest associations and the
most venerable traditions. To rescue them from
the withering effects of neglect, or from the
contemptuous scoff of the unbeliever, and to place before
an admiring public their former glor}^, should be deemed
a labour truly meritorious.
Every country in Europe can point out the mouldering
ruins of church and cloister, overthrown and laid desolate
by the destroying hand of war, or the no less relentless
onslaught of heresy. But in no other country has so great
destruction befallen the sacred edifices of religion as in
Ireland — firstly, from the inroads of the Danish pirates ;
B
2 PILGRIMAGE OF
and, lastly, from the law-established religion of England
in the sixteenth century, which visited the holy places of
religion with such fell destruction as neither Goth, Vandal,
nor Dane had ever paralleled.
Hence it comes that almost every parish in Ireland
presents ruins of either church or conventual establish-
ment, which, in many instances, exhibit features of archi-
tectural design and grandeur in vain to be found in the
modern structures, which supply their places.
Nor did the ancient and extensive diocese of Clogher,
in point of ecclesiastical ruins, escape the general tide of
destruction which swept over the religious foundations of
Ireland. The ruins of the ecclesiastical city of Clogher,
of the foundations of St. Dagaeus INIacCarroll at Inniskeen
(in the County IMonaghan), of St. Fanchea at Rossory,
and of St. Molaisre at Devenish, are striking examples.
Of the Franciscan convents at Monaghan and Lisgoole,
not a stone remains upon a stone to mark their sites.
The ecclesiastical ruins at Clones even yet abundantly
attest the magnificence of its great abbey of SS. Peter
and Paul. Though these were the principal religious
houses within the diocese of Clogher (according to its
modern boundaries), yet there were others of less note,
not to speak of the parochial churches, most of which
shared the same sad fate at the hands of the Protestant
iconoclasts.
And how eloquently do not these desolate cloisters and
churches and places of pilgrimage and penance preach to
us, even in their ruins, of the prayer, piety and penance
of saint, monk and pilgrim ! The monumental ivy itself,
LOUGH DERG. 3
which is swathed round their walls, as if to preserve them
from the mouldering influence of time, waves mournfully
in the sobbing wind over their ruins, seeming still to re-
echo the solemn strains of the pious inmates who used to
chaunt w^ithin those hallowed precincts the never-ending
hymn of praise and thanksgiving. Cold, indeed, must
the spectator be whose heart is not moved at beholding
those sanctuaries of religion, on which time has left the
deep traces of its action — whose heart is not carried back
by the spirit that breathes of these holy places to the
time when prayer and sacrifice were being offered up to
heaven from within those walls !
And, as there is nothing so consoling to the human
heart as the sweetening influences of religion — those
purifying delights of the senses and of the soul — so there
is no other reflection or study more refreshing to the
mind than the consideration of the holy places of religion,
with the records of the virtue and piety of their saintly
inmates.
Of all the ecclesiastical institutions of our country, none
can lay such claim to the homage of our veneration as
the holy places of pilgrimage — those places purified by
the prayer and penances of saints, blessed by their labours,
sanctified by the sweet odour of their virtues, and conse-
crated anew to that original purity which the world
enjoyed before the Fall. But of the many places of
pilgrimage which have flourished throughout Ireland
since the introduction of Christianity, the sanctuary of
Lough Derg, in Donegal, generally entitled " St. Patrick's
Purgatory," has always occupied the most prominent place,
4 PILGRIMAGE OF
and alone merited the proud distinction of being regarded
as the national pilgrimage of Ireland. And so celebrated
was it, that during the Middle Ages it enjoyed a Conti-
nental fame. Justly, therefore, writes the Rev. Sylvester
Malone, in his Church History of Ireland^ "There was a
time, and pilgrimage to Lough Derg was scarcely less
famous than that to the shrine of the Apostle St. James
at Compostella, in Spain."
The precise date and origin of this pilgrimage, its
founder, the locale of its purgatorial cave or cell — these
and many other points in connection with the history of
Lougli Derg remain involved in considerable obscurity,
affording to the future historian of the place ample grounds
for labour and research. The destruction of this religious
estabhshment by the so-called Reformation, and the
*' Dark Ages " of Irish history consequent diereon, have
rendered it extremely difficult to make out anything like
a clear, connected and reliable outline regarding the
history of —
' ' That dim lake,
Where sinful souls their farewell take
Of this vain world, and half-way lie
In death's cold shadow ere they die."
To do adequate justice to this subject, more abundant
materials and more patient investigation than the writer
of these pages can hope to command, would be necessarily
required. But, since the subject of pilgrimages has of
late awakened a spirit of religious fervour in many lands,
and since the shrines of religion in Continental countries
are described in countless vrcrks, wliile " the cold chain
LOUGH DERG. 5
of silence '' still hangs round the sanctuaries of holy
Ireland, I hope I may claim indulgence in laying before
the public my limited store of information regarding
Ireland's greatest pilgrimage — the sanctuary of Lough
Derg. And should my observations tend towards popu-
larizing and extending the knowledge of this pilgrimage,
which dates back through the mists of centuries — even
to the very infancy of the faith in Ireland — the labour
entailed shall be truly a labour of love to me.
Before entering on the immediate subject of this work,
namely, an historical and descriptive outline of the pil-
grimage and its penitential exercises, I think it right
briefly to explain the nature and origin, or the philosophy,
so to call it, of pilgrimages.
CHAPTER II.
ON THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF PILGRIMAGES — THEIR
GROWTH — SUPPRESSION AND REVIVAL.
^"JV^^^^^^HERE is a feeling — a natural conviction—
^^>?^ deeply implanted in the heart of man that
^^^ all places are not equally adapted for the
\r ^ service of God ; that certain places, owing
to their position and other circumstances,
possess a special natural fitness for rendering
homage and adoration to the God of Nature.
For this reason mountains have been usually
selected by the servants of God, on account of their being
so adapted for the communings of the soul with the
6 PILGRIMAGE OF
Creator, for their being more free from the iniquities of
man, nearer heaven, and conveying a more subHme idea
of the Divine power and majesty. And thus, the mountain
region of Lough Derg, in Donegal, of Croagh-Patrick, in
Western Connaught, of St. Brendan's mountain, in Kerry,
not to adduce many other similar instances, were pecu-
liarly and naturally adapted for the performance of holy
exercises.
In a work by one of the Oratorian Fathers, which is
entitled Holy Places ; their Sanctity and Anthefiticity^ this
idea is thus vividly expressed — " In such places " (which
have this natural selection of place) " Nature discloses
her mysteries, echoes of contemplation arise to the Author
of Nature, and there the noblest faculties of the soul
become, so to say, spiritualized. We know that the
gloom of forests, the solemnity of night, the weird-like
mystery of caverns, the awfulness of storms, the majesty
of mountains — all have their place with the devout
servant of God in lifting his soul beyond this passing world
to his home beyond the stars."
In the wonderful harmony and order which pervade
the universe we find everything possessing its own order,
place and fitness. Even the religious orders themselves,
which are the most lively reflection, as they are the most
active exponents, of the Divine lessons of our Blessed
Lord and of His counsels of perfection — each possesses,
in its own sphere of life and action, a certain local fitness,
as it is expressed in the following distich —
' ' Bernardits valles, monies Benedicttis amabat
Oppida Franciscus, magnas Ignatms urbcs."
LOUGH DERG. ^
This fitness of place for God's service is manifested in
different ways. " At sundry times and in divers manners
God spoke to our fathers." — Heb., i. i. It is mani-
fested by visions, such as that of Jacob ; by the visits
of angels — and thus the place where the angels con-
versed familiarly with Abraham was holy ; by appari-
tions, such as that of the burning bush ; by miracles, (Sec.
Now, it is but natural to expect that men should have
set apart places thus favoured for the purpose of prayer
and* sacrifice ; and that in the lai:)se of time a network of
traditions and pious associations and sacred ceremonies
having continued in such places, should have rendered
them truly holy. Natural fitness, or, as St. Ignatius desig-
nates it, " composition of place," is not enough that a
place should be esteemed holy. It must also receive
some designation of sanctity or consecration from God or
His chosen servants.
Though God is the author and source of consecration,
yet He has frequently deputed angels and men as the
instruments of consecration ; and though we highly revere
places blessed by angels and men, yet we retain the
highest veneration for such places as receive their conse-
cration immediately from God, and bear, as it were, the
impress and sign-manual of God Himself. God frequently
makes use of the saints, His servants, to consecrate places
to His special service. For the saint is the living taber-
nacle of the Holy Ghost ; he everywhere carries about
with him the sweet odour of his virtues ; his friends love
and cherish his memory, and revere, for his sake, the
holy places with which are associated his pious actions.
8 PILGRIMAGE OF
his charity, his prayer and penance. And, even after he
quits the scene of this hfe, the memory and sweet attrac-
tions of his virtue draws them around his grave, so that
his grave comes to be regarded as possessed of a special
character of hoHness.
And thus not only the natural fitness of the place itself,
but also prayer, penance, pious custom, sacred ceremonies,
some selection of place by God or His chosen servants,
or some other special manifestation of consecration, go to
give a place a dislinctive character of sanctity, and render
it a fit resort for pilgrimage.
Such holy places there have been from the beginning,
in which men were wont familiarly to converse with God,
as did IMoses on Mount Sinai. And of these sacred
places very many have become lost to memory, such as
the places esteemed sacred by the nomadic tribes in the
desert; such as the places dignified by the visions of Job
and the Prophets — nay, even many of the places rendered
notable by the miracles of our Lord and of His Apostles.
And thus, since man's life on earth is itself a pilgrimage,
there have always been places set apart in a special
manner for the service of God, in which all that is
heavenly in man could find a sanctuary wherein to com-
mune with and draw nearer to God.
At all times there have been pilgrimages, and amongst
all nations. Even the Pagans had their temples, where
they came to adore their false gods. The Druids also
had their sacred groves. The Mahometans make pil-
grimage to the tomb of the arch-impostor, Mahomet.
In the Old Law there were Levitical cities and cities of
LOUGH DERG. 9
refuge, which God set apart for Himself in Israel. The
Jewish people, also, journeyed at fixed periods to their
temple at Jerusalem. But it was in the New Law, when
religion received its full perfection and development, that
the practice of pilgrimage became an established exercise
of religion. The holy places at Jerusalem, and the other
places made sacred in connection with the life and passion
of our Blessed Lord, occupied the foremost place in these
pious journeys. Next in order rank the shrines of the
iMadonna. After these comes the tomb of the Apostles
in Rome ; while next in importance follow the chief
places of pilgrimage in every country — in Ireland, St.
Patrick's Purgatory holding the most prominent place.
The Abbe Receveur, in his Discours sur rHistoirc
Ecdesiastique^ writes thus regarding the development of
pilgrimages : — " One can readily perceive how the spirit
of devotion came to attract people to the places sanctified
by the presence and death of the Saviour. This respect
for the holy places and for the tombs of the Apostles gave
birth to pilgrimages. They had commenced in the first
ages; and we know that St. Alexander, who became
Bishop of Jerusalem, had come from Cappadocia to visit
the holy places. But the liberty of the Church and the
discovery of the true Cross rendered pilgrimages more easy
and more frequent. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Jerome,
and the historian, Sozomene, testify that, during the fourth
century, the holy places were visited by multitudes of
pilgrims, who had recourse to them from all the nations
of the world. This devotion continued even after Pales-
tine had fallen into the hands of the Mussulmans. As to
10 PILGRIMAGE OF
the tombs of saints and martyrs, people came to tliem
even from a great distance, not only on the day of their
festival, but also at other times. Everyone knows how
celebrated had come to be pilgrimage to Rome, to the
tombs of the holy Apostles ; to Tours, to the tomb of
St. Martin ; of St. James at Compostella, &c. Princes,
bishops, monks and religious of every order, showed
great zeal for this practice of devotion. The usage also
introduced_itself, little by little, in the eighth century, of
imposing pilgrimage by way of penance. The Council
of Chalons, held in 813, under Charlemagne, approved
of this practice ; but, at the same time, warned against
the abuses of it."
The Ages of Faith were the " golden age " of pilgrim-
ages. And we are told by Hallam, a very prejudiced
writer, that, during the eleventh century, more pilgrims
went to Jerusalem than at any previous time. And the
same writer, speaking of the Crusades, says, " They were
martial pilgrimages on an enormous scale."
The Church has ahvays guarded her places of pilgrim-
age with the most jealous care. Next to ecclesiastical
doctrines and persons, there is nothing that she defends
with severer penalties than these sanctuaries. In this
cause slie has enacted laws and rules, and issued her
censures against their transgressors. In this cause she
spares not the life, the labour and the treasures of her
children. With this object has she founded religious
orders, orders of knighthood, and preached the Crusades.
The interest created by the various philosophic and
scholastic systems, by the invention of arts and sciences,
LOUGH DERG. II
by the discovery of new lands and new peoples, had,
greatly to the disadvantage of the holy places of religion,
for a long period engaged the attention of men. Above
all, the religious disruption of the sixteenth century, the
upheaval of society, the wars and countless calamities
consequent thereon, rendered it extremely difficult, if not
in some places impossible, for organized pilgrimages to
take place as of old. But as the passion inspired by
these inventions and discoveries has begun to subside,
and as the religious animosities, which have been un-
happily so long-lived, are at lengtli disappearing before
the mellowing influence of time and enlightenment, the
world, always athirst for novelty, is again fast turning its
attention to the study of the early Christian ages, of the
early Christian practices, and of the sacred places of
religion. And thus the early pilgrimages, which were
suppressed by the Reformation, are at length springing,
phoenix-like, from their ashes, and bursting forth with
renewed life into the light of day, as the seed, buried
deep in the earth during the winter, will spring into light
and robe itself in verdure when the storms shall have
passed away.
12 PILGRIMAGE OF
CHAPTER III.
LOVE OF THE IRISH FOR THE HOLY PLACES OF PILGRIMAGE
THEIR MULTIPLICATION STONE CROSSES — HOLY
WELLS — ST. Patrick's purgatory.
'^j^^^^^F Ireland we must say that her children
were always remarkable for tlie pilgrim-
spirit, the great number of places of pil-
grimage throughout the country being the
r^^^' best proof of this. In its zeal for the holy
■^V^^ places, the early Irish Church had spread the
'^ network of sanctity over the whole extent of the
land — Lough Derg, Clonmacnoise, Arran of the
Saints, Croagh-Patrick, Glendalough, and a number of
other sanctuaries, were frequented by crowds of pilgrims.
And not only were the temples of religion the scene of
these pious journeys, but also the saint's cell and place of
penance, his grave, the different objects blessed by him,
such as crosses and holy wells, became special centres
of attraction in the eyes of a devout and affectionate
people.
Pilgrimage to crosses and holy wells was once, and
m some degree still continues to be, a very popular and
cherished devotion amongst the Catholics of Ireland.
These crosses and holy wells were, in many cases,
blessed by the saints whose names they bear ; in others,
dedicated to them and placed under their invocation.
On the vigil or festival of the saint, whose name they bore,
the faithful made pilgrimage to them, and went through a
certain course of devotional exercises.
LOUGH DERG. 1 3
In an ancient Life of St. Columbkille, preserved in the
teAb!1Al^ "bixeAc. it is said of him, '* He blessed three
hundred miraculous crosses ; he blessed three hundred
wells, which were constant."
The fact of the multiplication of these holy places in
Ireland, as well as the hostility shown towards them by
the reformed creed, made it difficult to frequent them ;
and tlnis many of these cherished places have come to be
forgotten, together with many interesting circumstances
and traditions connected with them. The extermination
of the old race, and the introduction of new settlers, with
new habits and ideas, had also contributed to hasten the
decline of this time-honoured practice. Abuses also
crept in, having their origin in the penal times, which
rendered these gatherings objectionable to the ecclesias-
tical authorities ; and, in consequence, many of these
pilgrimages were discontinued. " Much, however," writes
the Rev. Dean Cogan, in his History of the Diocese of
Meath, " of the poetry of religion, of the chivalry of lively
faith — much that was grand and romantic in the heartfelt
devotion of a truly Catholic people — is intertwined with
the history of the Holy Wells of Ireland."
The oldest existing institution of the Irish Church is
the pilgrimage of St. Patrick's Purgatory. It forms a
connecting link between the days of St. Patrick and the
present day. The penitential exercises of this pilgrimage
constitute the most venerable, and, perhaps, the only
authorized surviving instance of the early Irish religious
exercises and penitential discipline — a discipline under
which had flourished so many saints and scholars. This
14
PILGRIMAGE OF
pilgrimage has been always regulated and conducted by
the ecclesiastical authorities. It has never been inter-
rupted, at least for any notable time. And even " whilst
everywhere else throughout the kingdom," writes Bishop
Hugh MacMahon, in 17 14, "the ecclesiastical functions
have ceased, on account of the prevailing persecution, in
this island, as if it were placed in another orb, the exercise
of religion is free and public, which is ascribed to a
special favour of Divine Providence and to the merits of
St. Patrick."
During the middle ages poetic imagination and romance
had invented a very exaggerated and misleading picture
of St. Patrick's Purgatory. That it was so called because
of any similarity between its exercises and the sufferings
of the purgatorial state hereafter, or because of its local
proximity to it, no one will for a moment admit.
A plausible reason for its being called St. Patrick's
Purgatory, is given in a Louvain treatise of the seventeenth
century, called the Afirror of Pena?ice. It is there said
how St. Patrick removed from the abstractions of the
world into that gloomy 'oe|\c, or cave ; and that he there
prayed that the pains of purgatory might be revealed to
him. His request was granted. Patrick was so much
awed by this vision, that^he departed from the cave, and
ordered that henceforward the island should be made a
terrestrial purgatory, where sinners could atone for their
sins by prayer and fasting.
The origin of the name, however, is sufficiently accounted
for from the fact that St. Patrick selected this island for
the performance of those deeds of penance for which he
LOUGH DERG.
15
was so remarkable, and that so many saints and pious
pilgrims imitated his example ; the island in consequence
being called St. Patrick's Purgatory, or place of penance.
This meaning is thus conveyed in the following sweet
lines, taken from Denis Florence INI'Carthy's translation
of Calderon's Purgatory of St. Patrick : —
" Where although 'twas plain they suffered,
Still they looked with joyous faces,
Wore a peaceable appearance,
Uttered no impatient accents ;
But with moistened eyes uplifted
Towards the heavens, appeared imploring
Pity, and their sins lamenting —
This in tmth was purgatory."
It is even stated, but so far as I know gratuitously, that the
original St. Patrick's Purgatory was on Croagh-Patrick ;
and that the Augustinian Canons had dignified with that
imposing title their own retreat at Lough Derg, somewhere
during the middle ages.
Though the name itself is but a matter of secondary
importance, yet in proving, as we shall endeavour to do,
in the course of this work, that the institution at Lough
Derg was founded by our Apostle, St. Patrick, and that
it has continued as a place of retirement and penance
since his day; then it will be abundantly clear how
reasonable is the designation it has received, and how
unfounded is the assertion made by Dr. Lanigan and
others, for the purpose, no doubt, of lessening the cha-
racter and antiquity of this penitential retreat.
l6 PILGRIMAGE OF
CHAPTER IV.
TEMPLECARN — LOUGH DERG — ORIGIN OF THE NAME-
THE LAKE — ITS SCENERY AND SURROUNDINGS.
p^^^^^^Jj^ honoured pilg
the scene of the time-
grimage of St. Patrick's
Purgatory, is situated in tlie parish of
Templecarn, barony of Tyrhugh, county
of Donegal, and diocese of Clogher.
is distant between three and four miles
Uk.M from the neat little town of Pettigoe, which is
\a^fi a station on the Bundoran branch of the Ennis-
killen and Londonderry railway.
In the hypothesis that the pilgrim will proceed to
Lough Derg by way of Pettigoe (which appears to derive
its name from a clan, called iniiinci]\ peA-oAcliAn, that
whilom held sway in this locality), he will pass conve-
nient to the old churchyard of Templecarn, which gives
name to the parish, within which lies Lough Derg. This
churchyard stands on the brow of a hill in the townland
of Carn, nearly midway between Pettigoe and Lough
Derg, and some distance to the left of the modern road
leading towards the lake.
Of Templecarn there is found but the following notice
in the Annals of the Four Masters : — " i497- O'Donnell,
i.e., Hugh Roe, resigned his lordship on the calends of
June, being Friday, at Templecarn, in die Termon, in
consequence of the dissensions of his sons."' Down to
this period the church of the Termon was on Saints'
LOUGH DERG. I 7
Island ; but, whether in consequence of the edict of
Pope Alexander VI., which was issued in the early part of
the same year 1497, or for the greater convenience of
those who resided on these termon-lands, Templecarn was
erected towards the latter part of the fifteenth century,
and afterwards became a parish church. When the
surrounding district came to be '• planted '' with Pro-
testant settlers, they appropriated this church to their own
use, after the fashion so generally followed at the time.
Of this old church there are hardly any traces left. The
walls have completely disappeared, and we can with
difficulty trace its outline and dimensions by means of
the hollow space which marks the interior of the church,
and the raised surface, where stood its walls. The site
of the old church is still discernible in the centre of the
graveyard. It measured 66 feet in length by about 22 in
width.
The churchyard of Templecarn has been used for very
many years as a burial-place by Protestants and Catholics
alike. It is enclosed by a substantial wall, and
approached by a convenient entrance and gateway. It
is completely studded with tombstones of every variety,
many of them as old as the sixteenth century, with raised
characters, or in aUo-re/iez'o, as was the custom during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The arms and
mottoes of the Johnstons and other local families are
inscribed on several of these tombstones. Some of the
monuments are certainly very elegant, and bespeak a
considerable amount of native art in the locality. In
the body of the old church some of the tombstones are
c
i8
PILGRIMAGE OF
almost burled in the earth; and I have no doubt but
that others more ancient are completely hidden from
view by the accumulation of earth, owing to the great
number of interments.
In Templecarn churchyard may be seen a very ancient
Celtic cross. The tradition is that it was transferred from
Saints' Island, and erected in the midst of the graves of
those who were drowned by the boat accident on Lough
Derg in 1795. That distinguished antiquarian, W. F.
Wakeman, Esq., of Enniskillen, says it must be as old as
the ninth century at least. It is supposed that this was
one of the termon crosses which marked the limits of
LOUGH DERG. I9
Termon-Dabheoc. But that it is much smaller, it exactly
resembles in form the termon crosses of Tullagh, near
Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin. This cross measures in shaft
I foot 4 inches in length of pedestal sunk in the ground ;
from pedestal to top of shaft, 2 feet ; width of the arms,
I I inches. A portion of the circlet has been broken off
the left side; and the head of the cross itself, including the
arms, has been also broken, but remains in its place so
so long as the cross is kept in an upright stationary position.
At the western corner of this churchyard may be seen
(as shown on the illustration of Templecarn already
inserted) the finest specimen I have witnessed of a
bo/iogue, in a good state of preservation, and having an
altar-table of stone. These bohogues^ or huts, which
afforded shelter and accommodation merely for the altar
and the priest, were commonly availed of throughout the
north of Ireland, even within the memory of those living,
for the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries. This
hoJiogue is sheltered by an arched or hood-like covering
of stone. Its measurements are : — Height from ground
to centre of arch, 7 Y^ feet ; width at entrance, about 6
feet; depth, 73^ feet; depth of altar-table, 2}^ feet.
On some of the monuments within this graveyard
may be seen a remnant, or imitation, of that curious
interlacing, known as opus Hibernicum^ for which the
ancient Irish monuments are so remarkable.
From Templecarn may be had an extensive view of
Lough Erne and its islands, with the Fermanagh and
Leitrim mountains in the background. There is neither
tree nor shrub within or around this churchyard. Past
20 PILGRIMAGE OF
this churchyard led the ancient roadway to Saints'
Island ; so that we may safely conjecture that before the
altar of Templecarn many a weary and footsore pilgrim
to Lough Derg had offered a prayer in passing. In tlie
neighbourhood of Templecarn the only objects of anti-
quarian interest I know of are strange megalithic remains
in the townland of Tamlaght ; also a holy well at a place
named CuUion.
It is generally supposed that Lough Derg was known
in ancient Erin under the name of Fionloch, or the fair
lake. That there was another lake of the same name,
where lower Lough Erne unfolds its spreading waters,
would appear from the following extract taken from
O'Flaherty.
*' Fordreinanus^ Fi/ilochj Lochlorgan, Stagna veiiistdy
Qiios^ qitam culta prius, fudit lerna lacus'^
The supposition that Lough Derg was anciently called
Fionloch appears to rest on the authority of the legend
regarding St. Patrick and the serpent ; setting that legend
aside, I see no reason for denying that it was always called
Lough Derg.
There are two different opinions to account for the
meaning of the denomination, Lough Derg. The first is
founded on a legend, which goes on to say that a frightful
serpent inhabited this locality, and spread terror and
destruction far and wide ; that St. Patrick, being come into
the district, put the serpent to death ; that the waters of
the lake were dyed of a reddish colour by its blood ; and
thus the name of the lake, which was hitherto called
^1011)1, fair or clear, came to be called -oeA^A^, which
LOUGH DERG. 21
signifies red. This legend, though in substance the same,
is differently told by O'Donnellan, in the notes to his
edition of the Four Masters ; by Dr. O'Donovan, in his
Donegal Letters, preserved in the Royal Irish Academy ;
and by Mr. Wakeman, in a short notice and sketch of
Lough Derg, published in the Pictorial Worlds August
28th, 1875.
This derivation of the name is not admitted by
O'Donovan, who pronounces himself quite incredulous as
to these legends and local traditions. He says : " I am
quite satisfied the name of the lake is not Loch-Dearg,
i.e. Red Lough, but Loch-Deirc, which means the Lough
of the Cave." This opinion is greatly sustained from the
way in which it is found written in early notices of it. It
is called Loch Gere and Logh Gerg, and the district in
which it lay was called Gli?m Deirg. This construction,
also, is that adopted by the Rev. John Francis Shearman
of Howth, in his Loca Patriciana.
That the waters of Lough Derg bear a reddish tinge to
this very day is beyond all doubt, which, if it be not
attributable to the legend aforesaid, is easily accounted
for by reason of its waters flowing over a boggy or
heathy surface. When agitated by a storm the water
of the lake becomes very muddy ; but when the lake
becomes calm again, the water is clear, and very pa-
latable. The colour of the water, as also its agreeable
taste when taken in a warm state, gave rise to its receiv-
ing, by a very appropriate fiction, the name of " wine.'
Formerly this " wine " was the only beverage taken by
the pilgrims while they remained "on station." Till
22 PILGRIMAGE OF
recently the large copper, in which this " wine " was
boiled, lay rusting in a corner of the island, the modern
innovation of boarding-houses and tea-kettles having
discarded its occupation. Being such a useful relic of
the past, it has been dignified with being marked on the
Ordnance Survey ^lap of the place ; and hence, though
there is now no trace of it to be seen, its memory is not
destined soon to perish.
Reserving for another place a description of the road
leading from Pettigoe to Lough Derg, as well as of the
other routes from Castlederg and Donegal, I shall now
briefly describe the lake, its islands, its situation and
surroundings.
Lough Derg is a lonely sheet of water, extending from
north to south, about six miles in length. Its greatest
width from Portcreevy to the River Derg is fully four
miles. It is thirteen miles in circuit, and covers an area
of 2,140 statute acres. It is surrounded by a chain of
mountains, some of which rise to a considerable eleva-
tion above the level of the lake. The Rev. Caesar
Otway, in his Sketches in Donegal, and other writers after
him, from w^hom we should expect a more impartial
description, if not so graphic, say that there is no gran-
deur in the scenery of Lough Derg, no variety in the
outline, the mountains without elevation, neither tree nor
green spot to relieve this sombre scenery. A more unfair
or distorted picture the greatest enemy of the place could
hardly give. Here, indeed, you have all the charms of
Highland scenery, and much in addition. The extensive
sheet of water, with rocky shores and numerous islands,
LOUGH DERG. 23
is all that can be admired. In the background the
mountains are of considerable and varying elevation.
And though heath is here the prevailing robe of nature,
yet occasional patches of trees and bushes, with many a
sunny slope and green sward and wooded island, relieve
the scenery of its stern and wild aspect. But above and
beyond all, the traditions and associations of the place
impart to it an attraction and charm which no beauty of
scenery could supply.
The lake is about 450 feet above the level of the sea ;
while the highest surrounding mountains are Crockinnagoe,
to the south-east of the lake, 1^194 feet; Ardmore and
Ougtadreen towards the north, 1,086 and 1,071 feet high
respectively ; the mountains to the south and west not
reaching an elevation of 1,000 feet.
The chain of hills towards the south of the lake forms
the watershed between northern and southern Ulster.
The streams flowing south of this chain of hills meet the
Termon river at Pettigoe, thence flowing into Lough
Erne ; while the streams flowing northward empty into
Lough Derg, and thence into the sea at Lough Foyle.
"The basin of the lake is a huge quarry of the
metamorphic rock, known as mike slate, or schist,
upheaved in ages azoic by some fiery agent, so that the
stratifaction is now almost perpendicular to the surface.
It crops up all round the shore, and through the lake into
numerous rocky islets and hidden reefs, whose projecting
points are sharp as iron spikes, and render the naviga-
tion of the lake a matter of great caution.'"''^
* From an article in the Irish HJonihly, January Number, 1878.
24 PILGRIMAGE OF
Lough Derg consists of two large sheets of water, which
may be designated the upper and lower lakes. The
upper lake is connected with the lower by means of three
channels formed by Saints' Island and an islet lying
north-east of it, called by that name of bad omen, " The
Wildgoose Lodge." The principal streams flowing into
the lake are called the rivers Fluchlynn and Barderg,
which fall into Lough Derg at its north-western ex-
tremity. The outlet is called the River Derg, which
issues from the lake at the north-eastern shore, and
pursues its winding way till it mingles with the ocean at
Lough Foyle.
Lough Derg is bespangled with numerous and pretty
islands, some crowned with stunted trees, some bared to
the mountain breezes. The principal of these islands are
Inishgoosk, alias Bilberry Island; Saints' Island, Station
Island, Prior's Island, AlHngham's Island, Ash Islands,
Boat Islands, near the quay; Stormy Islands, Kelly's Isles,
Goat Islands, near the River Fluchlynn; Derg More
Island. Derg Beg Island, Trough Island and Bull's Island.
Besides these, there are a good many other islets with no
particular designation ; and which, with few exceptions,
are mere groups of barren rocks, where cranes, cormorants
and sea-gulls nestle, imparting by their wild and plain-
tive screams a lonely and romantic charm to this island
hermitage. In the above enumeration Saints' Island
seems to have been sometimes called St Fintan's Island,
and very often St. Dabheoc's Island. Inishgoosk would
appear to be the most ancient name at present attached to
any of these islands ; and it may be taken to mean the
LOUGH DERG. 25
island of the cove, or creek, on account of its formation
at its western extremity.
In point of extent of area, Inishgoosk is the largest of
the islands of Lough Derg, containing 13 acres 2 roods
24 perches ; Saints' Island ranks next, containing 10 acres
I rood 16 perches j while Station Island only ranks
eleventh, as it contains only 3 roods and 26 perches, statute
measure. In point of history, however, and celebrity.
Saints' Island occupies the first place. Station Island
second ; while the other islands of Lough Derg present
no particular interest, or attraction to the historian ' or
pilgrim.
During the station season Lough Derg presents from
all points of view, 'mid its dreary solitude of mountain
and moorland, a singularly charming and picturesque
prospect, with the neat churches and presbytery and inns
on Station Island —
" White as a swan on the breast of its waters."
And of this scenery memory will treasure up a picture,
upon which to look back during the cold and wintry days
of life. Here the eye is filled with the charms of
mountain, lake and island. The step of the pilgrim
becomes, as it were, spellbound ; for, the island, towards
which he journeys, is, as he must instinctively feel, sacred
ground —
*' So like a temple doth it stand, that there
The heart's first impulse is to prayer."
The mind conjures up from the distant past many
conjectures regarding this island penitentiary. The finger
26 PILGRIMAGE OF
of God is truly visible in its destination and natural apti-
tude. The surrounding mountains stand like huge
sentinels round this island sanctuary, forming, as it were,
a barrier against the contaminating influences of the outer
world.
Round this island pilgrimage the waves dash and roar —
meet emblem of the troublous billows of the world, and
of the storms w^hich beset the soul ; while the heart of the
pilgrim is lured from the wild and desolate prospect on
every side to the star-set firmament, which beckons
upwards to the eternal hills — the true home of the
pilgrim.
♦
CHAPTER V.
SAIXTS' ISLAND — ITS OUTLINE AND APPEARANCE — SITE
OF ST. DABHEOC'S MONASTERY.
BOUT two miles north of Station Island
lies Saints' Island, anciently called
OileAn-nA-iiAoiii, and more anciently still,
"^^-"^'(^^ St. Dabheoc's* Island. In pre-Reforma-
y^ tion times there stood on Saints' Island a
^'^ venerable convent of Augustinians ; and, at
least down to the year 1497, tliis island would
appear to have been the place of pilgrimage.
The island is like a ring in form, and rises on all sides
in gentle acclivity from the lake, its highest elevation
being about forty feet above the level of the lake.
*This name, " Dabheoc," is usually pronounced as if written Davoc.
LOUGH DERG. 27
Saints' Island bears evident traces of agriculture, and
of having been turned to profitable account in the days
when the Canons Regular of St. Augustine were denizens
of the place. The soil of the island is rank and loamy,
and seems to have partaken of the ruin which has visited
with such destruction its holy cloisters and churches. It
is quite overgrown with coarse grass, with ferns and
rushes ; and in some parts of it a stunted covering of
heather indicates that it has, to some extent, returned to
its original state of wildness. The ruins of the sacred
enclosures, monastery, churches and cemetery, are over-
grown with luxuriant weeds. The island has very few
trees or shrubs, if we except some slender trees of moun-
tain ash, and some whitethorn bushes, which are really
worth observing, as they are hoar with antiquity. These
bushes are sparsely scattered over the island, but at its
eastern extremity a dense cluster of them overshadows the
debris of the buildings ; and, judging from the gray, dank
moss adhering to their branches, they appear to date from
the time these buildings were demolished.
On the southern sloj^e of the island were situated the
convent gardens, as we may plainly infer from the
enclosures, as well as from the superior fertility of the soil.
During the winter season these gardens present a more
marked contrast for their verdure ; and herbs and flowers
are known to grow here, which are not found else-
where through these islands and mountains.
The eastern half of the island was laid out in fields,
as the remains of the earthen fences or enclosures denote.
These fences are inhabited by a numerous colony of
28 PILGRIMAGE OF
rabbits, of different colours, brown, white and black, that
skip about in every direction, and in a variety of ways
contribute their own little best " to lend enchantment to
the scene."
The western half of the island appears to have been
used as a " common " for pasture, as it is not intersected
by fences, though here also the furrowed surface presents
indications of its having yielded to the beneficent sway
of the spade and ploughshare.
The grass and hay grown on Saints' Island are said to
be so rank and unsavoury as to be very noxious to cattle.
Formerly, I have been informed, cattle and sheep were
put to pasture on it, till the mortality which set in
amongst them awakened their owners to the dangers
of the situation. And thus, fortunately, the sacred
precincts and ruins on the island are no longer
trampled upon, dishonoured and profaned by the beasts
of the field, which in other places have occasioned such
injury to the ancient monuments of our country.
In the early ages of the faith in Ireland there appears
to have prevailed a custom, borrowed from the pagan
period, of erecting a circular earthen fort or enclosure
convenient to, or around the religious houses. Thus, in
Father O'Hanlon's Life of St. Fajichea, we read of her
brother, St. Endeus, having with his own hands raised
round his sister's nunnery, at Rossory, a large mw^, or
earthwork, strengthened by deep circular fosses, the
remains of which are still to be seen. And Mr.
Wakeman, in his Antiquities of Devenish, says that nearly
all the primitive church sites in Fermanagh bear traces
LOUGH DERG. 29
of such circumvallations. The writer of the present
subject, from his own personal observation of some of
these sites, can fully endorse Mr. Wakeman's statement.
Near the Abbey of Devenish stood a strongly-fortified
lAAcVi, remains of which are still evident. The same may
be said of Rossory, Inniskeen, &c. Outside Fermanagh
the same custom also prevailed. At Clogher and Clones
religious houses were founded, for economy sake, near forts,
of which we have sufficient evidence for saying that they
were erected during the pre-Christian period of our country.
On Saints' Island, also, the visitor will perceive a
circular earthwork of this class, on the very summit of the
island, and to the west of the monastery and cemetery.
The diameter of this enclosure measures about twenty yards.
A part of this circular earthwork has been intersected by
the cemetery, which lies to the east of it ; but as much of
it, fortunately, still remains as to leave no doubt whatever
as to the character and object of this primitive work. It
seems strange, indeed, that this interesting object escaped
the notice of the Ordnance Survey party, and even of
O'Donovan himself, who visited the island on the 28th
of October, 1835. It is much to be regretted that
O'Donovan did not devote more of his time and attention
to this locality ; as, with his rare knowledge, much that
is now hopelessly lost might have been brought to light.
He came, as we said, on the 28th of October, and on
Hallow-Eve following he wrote, from Ballyshannon, an ac-
count of his visit to the lake, having derived, as he jocosely
states, no benefit from his x:vii;\Ay save a severe cold.
Within this fort on Saints' Island, or, at any rate, in the
30 PILGRIMAGE OF
cemetery adjoining, it is not too much of conjecture to
say that the monastery founded here by St. Dabheoc, in
the days of St. Patrick, stood ; and that here his order
flourished till the time of the Danish invasion.
The object of these forts seems to hav^e been to shelter
and protect the religious houses against the storm, to
serve as places of observation wherein watch and vigil
might be kept, and as keeps, or fortifications against
marauding parties. That no remains of the original
monastery are extant is not to be wondered at, seeing
that most of the edifices belonging to this period were
built of wood. On this subject Dr. Lanigan, in his
Ecclesiastical History of Ireland {^o\. iv., p. 391), writes : —
"Prior to the twelfth century the general fashion was to
erect their buildings of wood, a fashion which in great
part continues to this day in several parts of Europe. As,
consequently, their churches also were usually built of
\vood, it cannot be expected that there should be any
remains of such churches at present."
With regard to the plan and arrangement of the ancient
Irish Monasteries, Dr. Petrie {Round Towers, p. 416)
remarks : — " It is clear that in the earliest monastic
establishments in Ireland, the abbot, clergy and monks,
had each their separate cells, which served as habitations;
and that such other houses as the house for the accommo-
dation of strangers, the kitchen, &c., were all separate
edifices, surrounded by a cashel, or circular wall, and
forming a kind of monastery, or ecclesiastical town, like
those of the Christians in the East, and known among the
Egyptians by the name oi Laura.''
LOUGH DERG. 3 1
There is an air of loneliness and desolation about
Saints' Island, which is truly affecting. Silence, still as
death, reigns round these holy precincts, where once the
prayer of the pilgrim, the pious chant of the monks, 'mid
ceremony and sacrifice, resounded. Of this island we may
repeat with truth what was said of " Arran of the Saints,"
that the living God alone knows the number of holy
persons who here await their final resurrection.
Standing on this holy island, where stood the monas-
tery of St. Dabheoc, w-here stood the sanctuary of Saint
Patrick's Purgatory, which during the middle ages became
*' the most famous shrine of penance and purification in
Western Europe/' the following sweet lines recur to
memory : —
" God of this Irish isle,
Sacred and old,
Bright in the morning smile
Is the lake's fold ;
Here Avhere thy saints have trod,
Here where they prayed,
Hear me, O saving God !
May I be saved !"
32 PILGRIMAGE OF
CHAPTER VI.
ST. PATRICK AT LOUGH DERG — MEMORIALS OF HIM PRE-
SERVED THERE — ST. DABHEOC — HIS GENEALOGY — HIS
AUSTERITIES — HIS PROPHECY REGARDING ST. COLUMBA
— RECORDS OF HIM AT LOUGH DERG.
M/J^T is a subject much controverted among
'i^S^^ ^^^^^^ hagiologists whether St. Patrick,
1*^ our national Apostle, had ever visited
?^^^^fis? Lough Derg ; and if so, whether the
ik;>i.7^ pilgrimage takes its origin from him, or
"^ from another saint of the same name, called
Patrick Junior, or the Abbot Patrick, who
flourished, according to the authority of Sir James
Ware, about the year 850.
And though we may admit with O'Donovan, that we
do not possess " any respectable historical evidence "
(that is, written evidence), as to St. Patrick's visit to
Lough Derg, yet it would be rash thence to infer that he
did not visit it. On the contrary, the presumption in
favour of his visit is so well-founded as to fall little short
of convincing evidence. In the first place, there is a vivid
and continuous tradition, that he visited it for deeds of
penance, for retreat and silent prayer ; and, seeing that
the Irish race had always regarded their patron saint
with the most affectionate veneration, and had carefully
treasured up, and handed down from generation to gener-
ation even minute particulars regarding his life and
LOUGH DERG. 33
labours, we should attach great miportance to this
tradition. Again, Dr. Lanigan records how St. Patrick,
being in Tyrconnell, went back eastward towards Lough
Erne ; as this course would bring him through the very-
locality in which Lough Derg is situated, what in-
consistency is there in supposing that he then visited it,
saw its adaptabihty for a place of retirement and peniten-
tial exercises, and there and then inaugurated it as such ?
The allusion in an old office of St. Patrick bears strongly,
also, on this point, thus — ^^ Hie est doetor benevolus,
Hibernieorinn Apostolus, eiti loea pur gat or ia ostendit Dei
gratia^' i.e. that God, by a special favour, pointed out to
St. Patrick certain places adapted for penitential exer-
cises, such as Lough Derg certainly is.
Furthermore, the constant devotion to St. Patrick
observed at this pilgrimage, the church dedicated to him,
his cross, his cave, his bed of hard penance, the name
which has been universally assigned to this pilgrimage,
viz., St. Patrick's Purgatory, are all so many traditions
and proofs in favour of his having hallowed this retreat
with his presence, and of having originated those peni-
tential exercises which the pious votaries have ever
since so lovingly imitated. And though the narrative of
the monk, Henry of Saltrey, contains many exaggerations,
his statement with regard to St. Patrick's connexion with
this pilgrimage cannot be lightly set aside. Henry lived
in the twelfth century, and related what he heard from
Gilbert of Lud, and chiefly the wonderful things that
happened to Owen, an Irish soldier, who had the courage
to enter this cave. Henry of Saltrey says — " The Lord
D
34 PILGRIMAGE OF
brought St. Patrick into a desert place, and there showed
him a round cave, dark within And since the
pilgrim is there purged of his sins, the place is named the
Purgatory of St. Patrick.''
Also, it may be added, that St. Patrick has been always
referred to as the founder of this penitential retreat ; now,
whenever St. Patrick is referred to simply, and without
any additional epithet, it is our national Apostle that is
meant ; on the other hand, the Abbot Patrick is always
called, as if to distinguish him from the Apostle of Ireland,
the Abbot Patrick, or Patrick Junior.
The question as to whether the pilgrimage takes its
origin from St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, hinges on
the previous question. For if, as we hold for certain, our
patron saint had visited the place, then it is pretty clear
that his spiritual children flocked thither to follow the
example of the austerities he there practised, and thus
rendered it a place of pilgrimage.
In a rare work, called Vita SfL Patricii a Jacobo de
Vo7'agme, sen Lo)nbardica Historia (printed at Nuren-
berg, anno 1482), the following is given as the origin of
the pilgrimage : — " Cum bcatus Pati'icius per Hibcrniani
prcedicai'ei etjructiivi pe7'modicum faceret, rogavit Doinimun
Mt aliquod signufu oste?ideret per quod vel tcrriti pccniterenf ^
jussu igitur Dei circidiun magnum in quodain loco cum
baculo designavit ; et ecce terra intra circulum se aperuit^
et putens inag7iu5 et prof undissimus ibidem apparuit. Reve-
lattimque est beato Patricio quod ibidem quidem purgatorii
locus esset^ in quern quisquis vellet descendere, alia sibi pceni-
tentia non restaret^ nee aliud pro peccatis purgatorium
LOUGH DERG. 35
sentiret. Pkrique autem inde non redireiit, et quot redircnt
eos a mane usque in sequens mane ibidem moram face?-e
oporteret. Multi igitur ingrediebantur qui de ccetero non
rei'ertcbantr
That this place was famous as a hermitage and place
of penance long anterior to the time of the Abbot Patrick
is sufficiently clear from this fact alone, that during the
interval the names of two, probably three, of its abbots
are on record, namely, St. Dabheoc, St. Cillene, and St.
Avil. As to St. Dabheoc,''' Colgan says that St. Patrick
left him at Lough Derg, in Donegal, in charge of a church,
which in subsequent ages became famous as St. Patrick's
Purgatory. And the Rev. John Francis Shearman of
Howth, in his Loca Patriciana, says, " that Colgan's state-
ment about Dabheoc is well-founded ; for when St. Kevin
was at the school of his relative, Bishop Eoghan of
Ardstra, St. Dabhioc, or Bioc, then in extreme old age,
paid frequent visits to this seminary" at Ardstra w, which
he could easily do, owing to the propinquity of his retreat
at Lough Derg. And hence, though the weight of autho-
rity forces us to admit that this penitential retreat was
originated by St. Patrick, yet it may be said that his
disciple, St. Dabheoc, by his severe austerities and pen-
ances gave great celebrity to this retreat, and added a
great attraction to its pilgrimage. Of him Colgan writes,
'• He is called Dabeocus in general, and often Beoanus in
* Dabheoc, when divested of its prefix do and oc, is the same as
^ex)h, or Hugh . In the Martyrology of Tallagh the entry is * ' <\ex)li,
Lochagerg, alias Dabheog."
36 PILGRIMAGE OF
Latin. He is the patron of a very celebrated church in
a certain lake in Ulster, called Loch-Gerg, in which is
that celebrated Purgatory of St. Patrick, whence either the
lake itself, or the place in which it lies, is called Gleann-
Gerc, where in the adjacent territory St. Dabeocus is held
in the greatest veneration to the present day, and his fes-
tivity is observed three days in every year, according to
our Festilogies, viz., on the ist of January, 24th of July,
and 1 6th of December. The Calendar of C^j^/z^?/ places
his festival day only on the 15th of December. It is re-
lated in the beginning of the Irish Life that he had fore-
told several things about the holiness and virtues of St.
Columb many years before the latter was born, from which
it follows that he flourished in the time of St. Patrick.
He is ranked among the chief saints of Ireland by Cum-
mian.'"'
Colgan traces the pedigree of St. Dabheoc to Dichu,
St. Patrick's first convert, from which he infers that he was
of the race of the Dalfiatachs, and that his country lay
about Lecale, in Down. Other authorities trace his lineage
and birthplace to Wales.
I am deeply indebted to that learned Irish scholar,
Father Shearman, of Howth, for the following genealogical
table, with several valuable notes regarding St. Dabheoc,
with which he has favoured me. Following the opinion
of Colgan, he gives the pedigree of Dabheoc thus —
LOUGH DERG.
Trichim = j = of the DalfiatacJi,
Dichu -
— converted by St. Patrick, circa 450,
1
and became a monk.
Derblis
1
Tala
1
Dibrogh
Luanim -
'T
Beoan, or Dabheoc (October 26th or 2Sth), of Glen
Geirg, who flourished about a.d. 610, and is quite dif-
ferent from Dabheoc, or Beoan, son of Brychin, the
Cambrian. In the Naemsencus leAbliA^A bpoAc occurs —
'"OAbe-o^ ^buToi 5ei|\5 c]\a
in AC tuAinim inc •oib]\o§A
ITIc UaLa mc "OiiAblif pt
mc "01 con ]ro]A mc UiMcTimi."
In Father O'Hanlon's most learned and invaluable
work, Lives of the Irish Saints (vol. i., No. i), the parent-
age of the Cambrian Dabheoc is thus given : — " St.
Dabeog was the son of Brecan, or Bracan, who ruled over
a territory in Wales, formerly denominated Brechonia, or
Brechinia. The parents of Bracan were his father Bracha,
or Bracmeoc, an Irish-born prince, and Marcella, a noble
British lady." Father Shearman thinks it must have been
the Cambrian Dabeog, who predicted the birth of St.
Columba, who was born December 7th, 521. This St.
38 riLGRIMAGE OF
Dabheoc may have been likewise at Lough Derg, though
the 7th century Dabheoc is more likely to be the patron
of it. The prediction regarding St. Columba is thus nar-
rated by Father O'Hanlon, in his Life of St. Dabheoc,
already referred to. He says : " When St. Dabheoc had
here" (at Lough Derg, probably), "protracted his vigils
to a late hour one night, in company with his clerics, a
wonderful brightness appeared towards the northern part
of the horizon. The clerics asked their master what it
portended. * In that direction, whence you have seen the
brilliant illumination,' said Dabeog, ' the Lord himself, at
a future time, shall light a shining lamp, which, by its
brightness, must miraculously glorify the Church of Christ.
This shall be Columba, the son of Feidlimid, son of
Fergus, and whose mother will be Ethnea. For learning
he shall be distinguished; in body and soul shall he
be chaste ; and he shall possess the gifts of pro-
phecy.'"
Father Shearman adds that " Bioc of Glen-geirg, is per-
haps, the same as Beon, Bishop of Tamlact McNainn
(not identified), and loc btMccenn (Loughbrickland(?)."
That St. Dabheoc, patron of Lough Derg, came to that
lonely island, long known as St Dabheoc's Island, towards
the close of the sixth, or beginning of the seventh century,
seems certain. To the austerities practised by this saint,
Cummian of Connor refers in a poem on the characteristic
virtues of the Irish saints, which is given, with its English
version, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, edited by the late
Rev. Mathew Kelly, D.D., of Maynooth College. The
stanza on St. Dabheoc runs thus : —
LOUGH DERG. 39
Mobheog, * the gifted, loved,
According to the synod of the learned.
That often in bowing his head,
He plunged it under water."
Now it is worthy of remark that the aforesaid peniten-
tial act for many centuries was practised at this pilgrimage;
and even yet it continues to be observed by some in a
modified way. Such force, we may well say, has the con-
tinuance of a pious usage in the transmission of historical
facts.
After St. Patrick, St. Dabheoc was the special patron
of this pilgrimage. There were three festivals annually
observed at Lough Derg in his honour, on the ist of
January, on the 24th of July, and on the i6th of
December. These three festivals noted three important
events in his life. The first may have been his dies natalis;
the second the anniversary of his installation as abbot ;
and the third his dies obitus. These festivals appear to
have been kept in Colgan's time ; but for many years past
they have not been observed. At the present day, indeed,
the only one of these festivals which might be observed
is that of the 24th of July, as, during the occurrence of
the others, the station is closed.
We have already seen that the site of the monastery,
founded here by St. Dabheoc, is marked by the old \a^^
which is still discernible on Saints' Island.
The name of St. Dabheoc is perpetuated in the town-
Mobheoc is the same as Dabheoc ; mo and do being prefixes
denoting affection.
40 PILGRIMAGE OF
land denomination of Seeavoc (pi-olie "OAbVieog), which
means St. Dabheoc's seat, which stone seat is still to be
seen there, much the same as in the days of the saint.
The " Seat " lies in an out-of-the-way place, and the way
towards it is difficult and precipitous. After sailing from
the Ferry-house towards the south-western expansion of
the lake, the visitor will perceive a little quay, or landing-
place, nearly midway between St. Brigid's Chair and Port-
creevy. Taking a direct line from this point straight up
the mountain side, he will reach, after proceeding about
one hundred perches, a cam-shaped eminence, on the
very summit of the mountain. Here a stone seat is cer-
tainly to be seen, with a grave-like opening immediately
in tront of it, measuring about three feet deep, and between
four and five feet in length. In this '' cave '"' one could
kneel with some difficulty. Its sides were built with stone
flags, which, after the lapse of so many centuries, must
have slided in, thus leaving the enclosed space at present
so confined. It is pretty clear that a covering of some
sort must have originally protected this seat and cave from
the storms, which, at this elevation, are occasionally some-
what alarming. Sitting on this " Seat " the lake is entirely
in the background, and nothing meets the view but a long
stretch of mountain, running south towards Pettigoe, and
the valley through which ran the ancient roadway to
Saints' Island. Standing however in the "cave," and
looking towards the north, a full view of Lough Derg meets
the eye ; and I must confess that a better standpoint
could hardly be gained for obtaining a " bird's-eye view "
of this most interesting locality.
LOUGH DERG.
41
The best view of the mound, on the summit of which
the seat is located, can be obtained as you ascend more
than midway from the lake towards it. It is evidently
artificial, and was raised by heaping together the heath
and sods of the mountain.
At the time this " seat" was constructed, the habitations
.'X7/-A
St. Dabheoc's Seat,
of the Irish were very rude. Cave-like and beehive
shaped edifices (remains of which may still be seen along
the western coast of Ireland), were more pair ice availed of
at this period of transition, having their prototypes in the
Pagan period of our country. And hence, the very for-
mation of this " seat,'' and its archaic character, are the
42 PILGRIMAGE OF
very best evidences of its antiquity, and of its having been
really, as in name, used by St. Dabheoc for the two-fold
purpose of a seat, or retired place of meditation, and of a
cave in which to do penance. At this early period not
only the saint's cell was venerated, but also his cross, his
bed of penance, and his cave. Thus we learn that amongst
other objects connected with St. Kevin in the county of
Wicklow, his cave at Glendalough is still traditionally
venerated. Here, on this mountain top, the holy Dabheoc
detached himself from earthly considerations, and drew
nearer to his Creator by the exercise of works of penance
and mortification, which indeed were hidden from the
eyes of his fellowmen, but recorded in the Register of
God.
Nor can we wonder that the saints so loved to fix their
haunts among the mountains ; for, are they not the fittest
types of fortitude and constancy, power and perseverance?
Of old the angels and the ark rested on their summits —
the Psalmist wept for Jonathan slain on his own mountains,
and he sighed in his soul for the " everlasting hills." They
look down unchanged on the changes which take place
in everything around them ; and elevate the soul above
the passing scene of this world.
St. Dabheoc's Seat gave rise to the denomination See-
avoc, the name by which the district in which it lies was
anciently known. In after ages the district was divided
into sub-denominations — Portjieillinwore {i.e. the harbour
of the large island), Poi-tcreevy {i.e. the bushy harbour),
and Ballymacava7iy, the townland in which it is now
situated. That these names are of comparatively modern
LOUGH DERG. 43
date, probably of the fifteenth or sixteenth century, it
is not difficult to guess ; whereas the term Seeavoc is
probably as old as the days of St. Dabheoc him-
self
On Station Island may be seen a fragment of an old
stone cross, which is included in the illustration of St.
Patrick's Cross given in this work. ]\Ir. Wakeman, to
whom is due the credit of being the first who bestowed
more than a passing look at this important object, says
that it is far older than St. Patrick's Cross, dating as far
back as the sixth or seventh century, if we may judge
from the style of art displayed on it. This, in all likeli-
hood, is St. Dabheoc's Cross, and was erected over his
aherla, or grave on Saints' Island. Only the head and
arms of this cross remain ; the shaft, which must have
measured about five feet, having been broken off close by
the arms. This shaft is now nowhere to be seen ; and I
have been informed by the Rev. James M'Kenna, P.P.,
Brookeborough, a clergyman who has had long and inti-
mate connection with Lough Derg, that he never could
make out even a fragment of this shaft anywhere about
the lake, though he made diligent search and inquiry after
it ; the supposition being that it must have been cast into
the lake by the iconoclasts, who, during the seventeenth
century, razed the structures on Saints' Island.
The measurements of this mutilated cross are — head,
one foot ; arms, one foot nine inches in length ; width of
head and arms, six inches ; in depth, four inches. At
each of the four corners, formed by the shaft and arms of
this cross, there is a hollow cutting, like the concave arc
44 PILGRIiMAGE OF
of a circle, which is but rarely found on old crosses, and
only on those of the earliest date.
The stone of which this cross is formed is schist, which,
with mica-slate, is the quality of stone most common in
the vicinity of the lake; the supposition being that
at this early period, the freestone quarries, which are nine
or ten miles distant from the lake, and from which the
other inscribed stones, crosses and cut stone at Lough
Derg were taken, had not then been discovered.
In the space included between the arms, head and
shaft of this cross, there is on both sides of the cross a
raised circlet, which is about four inches in diameter.
This circle may have been intended to express the
catholicity or universality of the Church; but more
probably it is a symbolical representation of the Holy
Eucharist, which, in the early ages of the fliith, owing to
the " discipline of the secret," used to be expressed by such
symbols. This was the original form of the circle which
may now be so commonly seen entwining the arms of our
beautiful Celtic crosses.
This mutilated cross was hitherto placed in the centre
of one of the saint's " beds " on Station Island, thus show-
ing the sacred character attached to it by the pilgrims,
and the care with which it was preserved.
The original site of this ancient cross, which we
will designate the cross of St. Dabheoc, was at the
saint's grave* within the cemetery on Saints' Island,
* In the Monastkon Hibernicon (edited by the Most Rev. Dr.
Ikloran), it is said that St. Dabheoc was buried in the abbey, ^Yhich
stood on Saints' Island.
LOUGH DERG. 45
which now presents such deplorable ruin and deso-
lation.
How long St. Dabheoc lived at Lough Derg, or in
what year he died, it has not been ascertained. Taking
it that the two saints of that name, the Cambrian and the
Ultonian, had both lived at Lough Derg, as appears very
probable, it would appear that the Cambrian St. Dabheoc
died during the early part of the sixth century, and before
the birth of St. Columba, which event he predicted. Hence,
if we take, as is commonly supposed, 490 as the year in
which St. Dabheoc arrived at Lough Derg, and 516 or
517 as the year of his demise, we will thus have more
than twenty-five years, during which the saint had pointed
out to the newly-converted Irish nation the bright example
of a penitential life.
Very likely his was one of the eight monastic orders
that were in the early Church in Ireland ; for, it is stated
in the life of St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, that the order
of St. jMolaisre of Devenish was one of the eight orders in
Erin, and that after completing thirty years, JMolaisre
went to heaven, a.d. 563. The memory of Molaisre is
venerated on the 12th of September in the Martyrology,
where Unguis says : — " With the feast of Laisren,* the
beautiful, of multitudinous Devenish." Speaking of St.
Laserian, Sir James Ware says, that he instituted a parti-
cular rule, but that his successors took the rule of St.
Augustine. It may have been that St. Molaisre adopted
* Molaise, Molaisre, Laisre and Laserian are but different forms
of the same name.
46 PILGRIMAGE OF
the rule of St. Dabheoc, who was almost his contempo-
rary, and whose monastic house was at that time the most
distinguished in the neighbourhood.
Besides we may reasonably suppose that there con-
tinued to exist close intercourse from the very begin-
ning, as if they were branches of the same order, be-
tween the religious establishments at Lough Derg and
Devenish. In after ages, when Imar, Archbishop of
Armagh, had introduced the Canons Regular of St.
Augustine to his church and abbey of SB. Peter and Paul,
built about the year 1126, Devenish and Saints' Island,
which had been laid desolate by the Danes, were both re-
peopled by religious of that order. And thus the fellow-
ship which existed from the beginning between these re-
ligious foundations, continued on down during the middle
ages.
Nor should I forget to add that one of the penitential
circles, or " beds," on Station Island, round which the pil-
grims proceed reciting certain prayers, is the bed of St.
Dabheoc. It is marked on a map of the place, pub.
lished in Sir James Ware's Aniiquities of Ire/and {London,
1672), and is there called lec(us vel cir cuius Abogi, the
latter being a corrupt form for Babogi, or Dabheoc. To
the saint's ''cross," "seat," "cave," and "bed," special
veneration appears to have been paid, inasmuch as they
were so intimately connected with the saint's prayer and
penance, and thus they became such a centre of pious
attraction.
As to when the seventh-century St. Dabheoc came to
Lough Derg, or in what year he died, I cannot venture
LOUGH DERG. 47
an opinion. As he seems to have been the special patron
of Lough Derg, we may infer that to him were dedicated
the seat, the cross, the bed, the island, and the termon-
lands. However, owing to the similarity of the names of
these two saints, and the want of historical evidence on
the point, it is very difficult to draw any definite conclu-
sion thereon.
Despite the absence of written historical evidence, or
at best but meagre reference, regarding St. Dabheoc, his
memory has been preserved at Lough Derg in the devo-
tion of the pilgrims towards him. His seat, also his
cross, his bed of penance, his island, his termon, are all
imperishable traditions of his virtues, and of the venera-
tion in which his memory has been held. And thus are
preserved, for the edification of remote generations, the
lives and actions of those faithful servants of God, who
abandoned the world, and, in the solitude of their retreat,
devoted themselves wholly to the Divine service, and to
the observance of the Evangelical counsels of perfection.
^_^<^.
Wr
48 PILGRIMAGE OF
CHAPTER VII.
TERMOX-DABHEOC — SUCCESSORS OF ST. DABHEOC — ST.
BRIGID ANCIENT ROADWAY TO LOUGH DERG.
pE patrimony devoted by our pious ances-
tors towards the use and support of the
rehgious foundation on Lough Derg was
known for many ages under the name of
Tcrmon-Dabheoc. In time this name ex-
tended itself to the entire parish, in which
Lough Derg is situated; hence in a Hst of parishes
^^^^ of the diocese of Clogher, together with their taxa-
tion, received into the Exchequer in the sixteenth year
of Edward II. (1323), Termondaveog is set down as one
of the churches in the decanate of Logheniy {i.e. Lough
Erne), now the deanery of Enniskillen. For the last four
centuries, however, these churchlands are called Termon-
Magrath, after the family that became hereditary termoners,
or guardians of this sanctuary and its possessions.
These termonlands are very extensive, and their rental
at the present day is said to reach the sum of ^5,000.
The limits of this ecclesiastical property were originally
marked by termon-crosses ; and vestiges of these crosses
and other termon-marks are still discernible. Relative to
termon-crosses, Dr. Lanigan writes (vol. iv., p. 386) : —
"We find some canons relative to ecclesiastical lands, or
tracts, called Terminus, and their boundaries or marks.
' Let the terminus of a holy place have marks about it.
LOUGH DERG.
49
Wherever you find the sign of the Cross of Christ, do not
do any injury. Three persons consecrate a terminus of a
holy place, a king, a bishop, and the people.' It appears
that crosses might be erected in such holy jDlaces, and that
this might have been done by either a king, a bishop, or
the people."
Though these terrnonlands did not possess the right of
sanctuary, strictly so called, the same as churches and re-
ligious houses, yet they were favoured with different im-
munities and privileges, such as freedom from impost of
taxes by the civil authorities, &c.
Of Termon-Dabheoc the following entries are to be
found in the Annals of the Four Masters : — " A.D. 1 196.
The son of Blosky O'Currin plundered Termon-Daveog ;
but in a month afterwards he himself was slain, and his
people were dreadfully slaughtered, through the miracles
of God and St. Daveog."
*' 1345. Nicholas Magrath, coarb of Termon-Daveog,
died."
" 1395. Donnell, i.e. O'^Muldoon of Lurg, was treacher-
ously taken prisoner by the sons of Art Maguire atTermori-
Daveog, and delivered up as a captive to O'Donnell."
" 1440. Magrath, Mathew, son of Marcus, coarb of
Termon-Daveog, died ; and John Boy was elected in his
s:ead."
" 1469. John Boy, the son of John !More IMagrath,
c:)arb of Termon-Daveog, died; and Dermott, the son of
iSIarcus, son of Maurice Magrath, was made coarb in his
place."
" 1496. Con O'Donnell, with the forces of Tyrconnell,
E
50 PILGRLMAGE OF
Inishowen, and Dartry-Mac'Clancy, turned in pursuit of
Hugh and Maguire, and followed them to Termon-Daveog.
Magrath, i.e. Rory, the son of Dermot, son of Marcus,
coarb of that Termon, came to them and warned Con and
the Kinel-Connell not to violate his protection, or the pro-
tection of the Termon, by attacking Maguire."
" 1562. Magrath, of Termon-Daveog, died."
According to the Rev. John O'Hanlon, in his Life of
Si. Malachy O'Morgair, the " Coarb was the vicar, a legal
representative of the patron saint, or founder of the
church ; but the word comorbha is not exclusively eccle-
siastical, for in the ancient laws of Erin it meant the heir
or conservator of the inheritance ; and it is in the latter
sense it is always used in our ecclesiastical writings.
There was an understood original compact, recognised by
the Brehon laws, which vested the coarbship of the church
and its lands in two families, namely, in that of the
patron saint or founder, and in that of the person who gave
the original site and endowment." From this it is clear
that the Magraths, so long coarbs of this Termon, were
quite distinct from the prior and community of Lough
Derg; and that it was not even necessary, by virtue of
their ofhce, that they should be ecclesiastics.
Whether St. Molaisre of Devenish had lived for any
period at Lough Derg we have no means of finding out.
At any rate it is most probable that he paid frequent
visits to it ; and in the supposition that he followed the
rule of St. Dabheoc, and that both houses were sister com-
munities, he may have actually resided for some time at
Lough Derg, for the purpose of following the course of
LOUGH DERG. 5 1
penance there practised by St. Patrick, and after him by
St. Dabheoc. St. Molaisre is yet the titular saint of one
of the seven cells or little oratories on Station Island. Two
of these cells or " beds " are so closely connected together
as to give the appearance of forming but the same " bed."
They are known to the pilgrims as the "big bed/' and they
are dedicated to SS. Dabheoc and Molaisre, very forcibly
suggesting the fraternity and close relationship which ex-
isted between these two saints and their respective founda-
tions.
In the southern gable of St. Patrick's church may be
seen four inscribed stones, which were previously lying
about Station Island, till the Revs. James and John
JNI'Kenna during the summer of i860 had them carefully
placed in their present position. Three of these inscribed
stones belong to the last century ; one of them being the
date-stone of a little church erected here by Friar Anthony
O'Doherty, of the order of St. Francis ; the other two
having been placed at oratories or " beds " of titular saints
of the place. To the fourth inscribed stone, as also an
inscription on a corbel-shaped holy-water font still pre-
served on the island, I shall refer at some length hereafter.
Now one of the inscribed stones referred to goes to
show the veneration in which St. Molaisre was held at
Lough Derg. The inscription is as follows : —
"I.H.S.
St. Patrick and St. Blosses,*
Pray for us.
P. F. Mc'GRATH."
* Blosses is evidently a corrupt form of Molaisre.
52 PILURIMAGE OF
It is difficult to say, with any degree of certainty, who
was the immediate successor of St. Dabheoc over the com-
munity on Saints' Island. Indeed the records regarding
Lough Derg for about five centuries after St. Dabheoc are
exceedingly meagre ; an entry in the A?inals of the Foiii-
Masters^ a few notices in our IMartyrologies, with some
dim traditions, being almost all we have to aid us (if we
except some ancient inscriptions and otlier objects of
archaeological interest to which we attach the greatest
historical importance) in unravelling the mystery which
surrounds Lough Derg during the early centuries of Chris-
tian Ireland.
That our early writers have not made frequent and
fuller reference to Lough Derg is not to be wondered at ;
for it was regarded to some extent as a place of private
devotion and penance ; and since this practice was only in
keeping with the general spirit and discipline of the early
Irish Church, it appeared in no way uncommon or extra-
ordinary, and hence it failed to attract the notice of our
annalists and historians, except in a very passing way.
In the Annals of the Four Masters, under the year 721,
we find reference to another abbot of Lough Derg in the
following concise entry : —
" A.D. 721. Cillene of Lough Derg, died.''
Now in the Martyrology of Tallagh we find no less
than thirteen saints of that name mentioned ; some of
them having their names merely recorded, others with
their dignity, rank and place of residence annexed ; one
of the latter, by the way, being no less a dignitary than
*' Bishop of Tehahen.'' I consider it extremely probable
LOUGH DERG. 53
that St. Cillene, \yho died at Lough Derg m 721, is the
same as St. Cillene recordeel in the Marty fology of Tallagh
under January the 8th, as " Cillene, Abbot."
Another of the inscribed stones in the gable of St.
Patrick's Church, commonly called the " Prison Chapel,"
on Station Island, has the following inscription : —
"I.H.S.
St. Avil, pray for us.
P. F. Mc'GRATH.
Hie fieri fecit.
1753."
I think we may fairly conjecture that St. Avil was abbot
on Lough Derg, and one of St. Dabheoc's successors. In
the Marty rolooy of Tallagh, under the 22nd of April, we
meet with the following entry : — '•' Abel Mac'Aedha,
potiiis Adam."
Now it seems highly probable that this Abel Mac'
Hugh and St. Avil designated one and the same indivi-
dual. Besides, Aedh, or Hugh, is the same name as
Dabheoc, when divested of its adjuncts do and oc; so that
in this way the entry in the IMartyrology may be taken to
mean — Abel Mc'Hugh, i.e. Avil the spiritual child, the
dear disciple and successor of Hugh, alias Dabheoc. St.
Avil is still held in veneration at Lough Derg ; and to
him was dedicated one of the penitential circles, or beds,
on Station Island, according to the authority of a little
handbook, which for many years past was almost the only
guide to the devotional exercises of this pilgrimage ; but
which was so imperfect and faulty as to excite our wonder
that it was not long since superseded.
54 i'iLGRi.MA(.;i: of
A St. Fintan would appear to have been numbered
among the saints of Lough Derg. One of its islands
(which of them we have no means of finding out) had
been dedicated to him, and commonly passed under the
cognomen of St. Fintan's Island. Whether this was the
same as St. Fintan of Clonenagh. we cannot determine.
By looking into the festilogies of Irish saints, we find that
St. Fintan is a very common name, there being no fewer
than seventeen saints of that name recorded in the Mariy-
rology of Tallagh. We know that St. Fintan of Clone-
nagh passed his novitiate under St. Columba, son of
Crimthan, who had a school at Tyrdaglass, near Lough
Derg on the Shannon. It may have been, indeed, that
the similarity in the names of these lakes may have given
rise to a mistake. Here at St. Fintan's monastery at
Clonenagh were " seven churches," which were first
brought under notice by the Rev. John O'Hanlon. At
Lough Derg, in Donegal, were also " seven churches/'
and they are represented at the present day by seven
oratories, or penal beds, dedicated to seven of the tute-
lary saints of the pilgrimage. This mysterious heptarchate
of churches appears to have existed at the most notable
of the religious foundations in Ireland; and would seem
to have been a very favourite institution in our country.
Hence we read of the seven churches of Clonmacnoise,
of Torry Island, of Glendalough, not to speak of many
others.
The late Rev. Dr. Kelly, of Maynooth, the learned an-
notator of Cajiibreiisis Evcrsiis, tells us in his notes to that
work : — " As to the stations around the penal beds " (at
LOUGH DERG. 55
Lough Derg), '• where Uttle churches formerly stood, the
reader will find much interestinsj information reErardine:
analogous institutions in the Bollandists, namely, stations
established by St. Gregory in the basilicas and cemeteries
of Rome, which were frequented in Lent, Rogation days,
and the four great festivals of our Lord."
As to when the number of cells or oratories at Lough
Derg was increased to seven, I cannot say. It is pro-
bable they were not established until after the Augustinian
Canons had taken possession of the place in the twelfth
century ; perhaps not, indeed, till the fifteenth or sixteenth
century. In the Marty rology of Donegal (edited by Drs.
Todd and Reeves), we find the following statement, which
has reference to the question under consideration, under
the heading of Purgatoriuni Sti. Patricii : — •' There are
five beds of hard penance there, round which the pilgrims
go, the Bed of Patrick, of Columcille, of Brigid, of Adam-
nan, and of Dabeog. This is the testimony of Ferghal.
But the t»? vc\\ ■'- says that he saw fwo beds there, viz.,
Patrick's and Colum's — 48 [hours] without food, without
drink — nine days there altogether. A pilgrimage during
the day and prayers. The baking of bread must be
without salt. Loch-Gere is its name."
That special devotion was always paid to St. Brigid at
Lough Derg no one can doubt. Her cross, her bed of
penance, and her chair are lasting mementoes of this devo-
tion. At the south-eastern corner of St. Patrick's Church
on Station Island, on a large freestone block inserted in
* Some writer whose name I have not been able to make out.
56 PILGRIMAGE OF
the wall, a cross of the Roman model is deeply inscribed.
This is known as " St. Brigid's Cross." At what date this
cross was cut it is impossible to say ; but from its style,
and close resemblance to similar inscribed crosses at
Clonmacnoise, we may infer that it is a work of the twelfth
century, if not of an earlier period. At this cross the pil-
grims go through a very solemn and impressive ceremony.
After repeating certain prayers on bended knees before
it they arise, and, with outstretched arms in front of it,
but looking towards the lake, they thrice repeat, " I re-
nounce the devil, the world, and the flesh." One of the
seven circles or beds on the island is also dedicated to the
''Veiled Nun of Kildare," and is called St. Brigid's Bed.
At the southern shore of the lake, just at the water's
edge, a massive detached block of stone will attract the
notice of the visitor. Here can be had a good view both
of Saints' Island and Station Island, together with the ex-
pansive sheet of water of Lower Lough Derg. A more
solitary spot, and withal more suggestive of soothing
thoughts and devout meditation, could hardly be found.
This large stone presents beyond question the outline and
appearance of a high-backed chair. The surface of the
seat, and also of the back of the chair, is pretty smooth.
The seat is slightly concave and reclining backwards.
The best view of the *' chair " presents itself as you ap-
proach within a few oars' distance of it. It is called by
the people of the neighbourhood " St. Brigid's Chair " to
this day.
In that full and circumstantial account of her life
written by Father O'Hanlon, in the second volume of his
LOUGH DERG.
57
Lives of the Irish Saints, we find that St. Brigid visited
many of the holy places throughout Ireland. And
St. Brigid's Chair.
though we have no authoritative evidence as to her visit
to this locality, on the other hand we have no reason to
deny that, attracted by the austere life practised here by
St. Dabheoc, she paid a visit to his retreat ; and, after the
fatigues of her journey, rested her weary limbs on this
stone seat, and from it took a survey of the island hermit-
age of St. Dabheoc.
As St. Brigid died about the year 520, it must have
been during the time the Cambrian St. Dabheoc presided
58 riLGRIMAGE OF
over the religious establishment on Lough Derg, that she
visited the place. The place selected by this holy virgin
to view this penitential retreat was singularly favourable.
The death-like solitude and stillness on all sides, inter-
rupted only by the occasional whir of the moorfowl
through the heath on the adjoining mountain, the fitful
gust of the breezes over the lake, or the beating of the
waves against the "Chair" and along the rocky shore in
its vicinity, are calculated to impress on the mind deep
and abiding recollections of the " Lake of Penance."
A little to the east of the chair, and bordering on the
shore of the lake, may be seen a spa well, largely impreg-
nated with iron. This well is marked on the Ordnance
Map of the place.
To the west of St. Brigid's Chair, and about two furlongs
from the shore of the lake, but somewhat further from the
chair, is situated on the very summit of a mountain a cam-
shaped eminence, on the summit of which is St. Dabheoc's
Seat, which has been already described in this work.
Writing on Templecarn churchyard we have already
seen that the ancient roadway to Lough Derg passed by
this old churchyard. And so it did. This ancient road,
called by O'Donovan a via strata, is given on the Ord-
nance Survey Map of the place. At the present day it is
very difficult to trace the course of this road, owing to the
fact that it has been disused for at least between two or
three hundred years ; during this time heath and bog
having accumulated over it where it led through the
mountains, and, where it wound its course along the
western shore of the lake, the waves having more effectively
LOUGH DERG. 59
destroyed almost every trace of it. Traces of this roadway
may yet be descried over the summit of Portneillinwore hill
(which is convenient to Saints' Island), also in a few places
along the shore of the lake, particularly at Portcreevy
bay, where it quitted the lake and led on through a
mountain valley towards Templecarn and Pettigoe. I
have been told that at certain parts of this roadway,
where the overlying bog has been cut away, large stepping-
stones, arranged in regular order, have been brought to
light, which leaves us to conjecture that these were hollow
parts of the roads that may have been pardy flooded.
I have also learned that where this roadway led through
the tortuous defiles of the mountains between Pettigoe and
Portcreevy, the pedestal of an ancient way-side cross may
yet be seen ; and that the ground immediately surround-
ing this pedestal is closely paved with stones which are
worn smooth; the supposition being that the pilgrims here
knelt and offered up a votive prayer either on approach-
ing or quitting the island.
Towards the south-western extremity of Saints' Island
a narrow neck of water separates the island from the main-
land ; and here, during the time the monastery stood on
Saints' Island, a bridge formed of oaken beams, and rest-
ing on stone piers, connected the island with the mainland.
Of this bridge, Dr. O'Donovan writes in his Donegal
Letters : — " The neck of Seeavoc was anciently connected
with Saints' Island by a wooden bridge, supported by stone
pillars, a part of which may yet be seen when the water is
clear. This bridge served the purpose of the present
money-making ferryboat, and was crossed gratis." An
6o PILGRIMAGE OF
embankment of stones extended out into the shallow
water on either side, while a bridge of beams spanned the
deep stream that flows in the centre of this channel, and
that here connects the iipjoer with the lower lake. Re-
mains of these piers and of the coc1ia|\ or causeway lead-
ing from them are still to be seen ; but of the bridge of
beams there is not a vestige left.
Mr. Wakeman, in his Antiquities of Devenishj says that
Devenish was in former times connected with the main-
land by a similar cocIia^ or causeway, some remains of the
stone piers which extended into the water at the eastern
shore of the island, and the place of landing opposite,
being yet apparent. And the same learned writer says
that some remains of the oaken piles which supported a
bridge of this sort, are still discernible between Inishmac-
saint and the mainland.
It is clear, as we have seen, that a paved way or bocliA^
led in former times across Portneillinwore hill, along the
shore of the lake through Seeavoc, and on to the southern
bay of the lake, called Portcreevy.
After the destruction of the establishment on Saints'
Island in the seventeenth century, and the removal
of the pilgrimage to Station Island, it seems most pro-
bable that Portcreevy {i.e. the bushy harbour, a name
which it still merits by reason of the number of trees and
bushes to be seen growing there) was used as the place
of embarkation for Station Island. It would seem that
the modern roadway was soon after established ; for, it
not only is the more convenient, direct and shorter route
rom Pettigoe, but also the lake passage from the present
LOUGH DERG. 6 1
ferryhouse is fully but half the distance as that from Port-
creevy to Station Island. On these grounds we may sur-
mise that Portcreevy was not long used as a point of em-
barkation, and, in consequence, when Portcreevy was
given up, the ancient roadway itself became disused.
To return to the point at which I diverted, this ancient
roadway, after leaving Portcreevy, proceeded through the
rugged defiles of the mountains past Templecarn on to
the wooded and fertile banks of Lough Erne. From this
road, we may suppose, a branch path turned off to Inish-
macsaint; while the main way led on to Devenish,
" Devenish of the Assemblies " having been then the chief
centre and emj^orium, so to say, of Fermanagh. Lough Erne
having been then and for many ages the higliroad and
thoroughfare of a great portion of the north-west of Ire-
land, the monks and pilgrims sailed over its waters by cot
or currach tov/ards Devenish, on their destination for the
sanctuary of St. Patrick's Purgatory : —
' ' With footsteps strong, and bosom brave,
Looking for that mysterious cave,
Where the pitying heavens will show
How my salvation I may gain,
By bearing in this life the purgatorial pain."*
* From Denis Florence MacCarthy's translation of Calderon's
Pur^atorio de san Patricio.
62 PILGRIMAGE OF
CHAPTER VIII.
ANXIENT INSCRIPTIONS AT LOUGH DERG — LEARNED DIS-
QUISITION OF THE RIGHT REV. DR. GRAVES — THE
ABBOT PATRICK — LEGEND REGARDING THE ABSENCE
OF SALMON FROM ITS WATERS.
^^y^^N Station Island there are two inscribed
stones, which have hitherto been re-
garded as perfectly undeciperable, and
have up to this completely baffled the in-
genuity of antiquarian visitors to the
place. The first of these inscribed stones is
set into the southern gable of St. Patrick's
^^^^r Church. It is a small sand stone, and most
probably was the titulus of one of the early churches at
this pilgrimage. It is very much water-worn, and most
of the characters are quite indistinct and illegible. The
second inscribed stone is of much more recent date, and
is here placed in the same connection with the first, for
this reason — that both appear to refer to the same saint.
This second inscribed stone is a corbel-shaped holy-water
font, which lies on the island.
Beincf struck with the archaic character of these in-
o
scriptions, I requested Mr. Wakeman of Enniskillen to
accompany me to the island, in order to have rubbings
of these inscriptions taken. This we effected on the
1 2th of April, 1878. Soon after, Mr. Wakeman sent
forward these rubbings to Dr. Grave?^, Protestant Bishop
LOUGH DERG. 6
of Limerick, who is admittedly one of the foremost
authorities, in the present age, on Ogham and ancient
Irish inscriptions. The result of his Lordship's investi-
gation is nothing short of a most important discovery.
Dr. Graves' learned disquisition on these inscriptions
having been very kindly communicated to me by Mr.
Wakeman, I gladly take the liberty of placing it on re-
cord. Dr. Graves writes : — " Being induced by what
you" (Mr. Wakeman) " told me to believe, that the stone
on Station Island, of which you sent me a rubbing,
originally contained the whole of the inscription, I applied
myself to the consideration of it with much care. The
result of my study has been to assure me that I have
substantially made it out, though I may yet find that my
reading requires correction in matters of detail. The
enclosed copy shows you how I deal with it. The
letters and strokes in red are what I supplied. I have
taken those in black exactly as you represented them.
'' Now let us consider the parts of the inscription in
order : — I propose to supply an I at the end of the first
line. Thus, MECI would be the Latinized form of ^lEIC,
an old, but not the oldest form of the genitive, MAC.
" After the N which commences the second line, I in-
troduce a Y, but with some doubt. In that place I
should rather have expected IS.
"At the end of the same line, I conjecture the diphthong,
M. To this I was led mainly by the little stroke going
up obliquely from the top of the vertical stroke, which
your rubbing exhibits. The A in the third line has a
square top of this kind.
64
PILGRIMAGE OF
*' At the commencement of the third line, I suggest a Q,
which I would read as QU — not an uncommon thing in
inscriptions. After SAP, I restore lENT, being per-
fectly certain that the letters were there once, whether
the traces of them remain or not.
Stone built into Wall of Old Chapel, Station Island, Lough Derg.
" In the latter half of the foarih line, I restore PR I,
admitting, however, that OPTI may possibly have stood
there originally.
'' The I at the beginning of your fifth line, I take to
LOUGH DERG. 65
be the last member of an jSI ; and at the end of the
same Hne I place the word ERAT or FUIT.
*' Now as to the meaning of the mscription, I confess
that I entertain some doubt as to the signification of OR.
The inscription plainly being in the Latin language, we
could not expect to find OR DO, or OR AR, because
DO and AR are Irish prepositions, the Latin equivalent
of which would be PRO. It may be that the OR here
is an abbreviation for ORATE PRO ; but I cannot
say that I have ever seen an instance of such an abbre-
viation. It seems to me not improbable that OR is an
abbreviation for ORATORIUM, or ORACULUjM.
Both these words are in use to signify a church or
chapel. The former occurs repeatedly with that mean-
ing in Adamnan's Life of St. Columbkille. As to the
name which follows, it seems to me that it can be
nothing else than ?^IACNISSE.
" This was the name of a very famous man, a contem-
porary of St. Patrick and Bishop of Connor ; and it is a
matronymic, for he was called after his mother, CNESS.
That would account for the termination JE in the Latin-
ized form of the name. You will find the whole history
of this eminent saint and bishop in Dr. Reeves' £cde-
siastical Antiquities of Down, Connor, a?id Dromore (pp.
237-9) ) ^nd take note especially of the fact that he was
a great traveller — in fact a pilgrim — in consequence of the
sin which he had committed. Having visited both Rome
and Jerusalem, he might thus have acquired the reputation
of being eminently j-^//<?;^j-. He died in the year 514. I
do not suppose that the inscription is so old as that, but I
F
66 PILGRIMAGE OF
regard it as being very ancient. As you say in your letter,
it must be very ancient, or comparatively modern. If it
was of the eighth, ninth, tenth, or eleventh century, we
should almost certainly have the rounded forms of the
letters E, M, N, T, U ; and the O, instead of being large,
would be rather smaller than the other capitals. The M "
(the extremities of the vertical lines of this letter are con-
nected by two lines drawn transversely) " seems to be an
ornamental initial.
*' This MACNISSE had another name. He was called
CAEMAN BREAC, the Latinized form of which is
CAEVANUS. Now if you look at the passage in the Tri-
partite Life of St. Patrick, to which Dr. Reeves refers, you
will find a very sad and strange story about this man's /land,
'Ts it not possible that the other inscription, of which you
sent me a rubbing, is to be read MANUS COIVANI ?
" This whole matter is so curious, tliat it deserves the
most careful investigation. For my part, I should not
like to publish the views which I have stated in this letter
until I had seen carefully made paper-moulds of the two
inscriptions, if only that they might enable me to pro-
nounce a positive opinion as to the mode in which the
inscriptions should be read, and the age of the writing."
Acting on Dr. Graves' suggestion, and at my request,
Mr. Wakeman paid an additional visit to Station Island
on the 23rd of May, when he made fresh and very perfect
rubbings of tlie two inscriptions, as well as two casts in
paper. These rubbings and paper-moulds brought out the
very important fact that all the letters in the inscription,
supplied or suggested by Dr. Graves, are to be found
LOUGH DERG. 67
on the stone. The last word in the inscription is
FUIT.
Now, as to the person referred to in this inscription,
there are two saints of that name referred to in our early
ecclesiastical records. One of these is thus mentioned
in the Four Masters : " A.D. 589. St. Mac Nisse, Abbot
of Cluain-Mic-Nois for a period of sixteen years, died on
the tenth of the month of June." In the Annals of Clon-
macnoise it is thus entered : — " A.D. 587. Mac Nissi, an
Ulsterman, third Abbot of Clonvicnose, died in the six-
teenth year of his place.'"' Having been from Ulster, he
may have gone on pilgrimage to Lough Derg — where he
died and was buried on Saints' Island — and in course of
time a church with this inscription was erected to his
memory. This opinion, however, is hardly probable, as
we have no evidence to sustain it.
The Mac Nisse referred to in the inscription appears to
be St. Mac Nisse, first Bishop of Connor, and Abbot there.
The Bollandists' Acta Sa?ictoru??i at the 3rd of Sep-
tember, give the Acts of St. Aengus IMac Nisse. He
was baptized by St. Patrick, and was educated by St.
Olcan, or Bolcan, to whose possessions he succeeded.
He founded the monastery of Connor j visited Rome and
Jerusalem as pilgrim ; predicted the birth of St. Comgall,
founder of Bangor ; enjoyed the friendship of St. Brigid ;
and trained to a life of sanctity St. Colman, first Bishop
of Dromore. He died September 3rd, 514. He is
entered in the " Feilire" of St. Aengus as —
triAc nifpe CO mitit)
O Clionxiepi-o mA|\Ai-o ;
68
PILGRIMAGE OF
which is rendered in EngHsh : —
Mac Nisse with thousands
From the great Condere."
He is called in a gloss on the " Feilire," CAemAti bpeAc
■niAc nip.
Now it is likely that St. Mac Nisse, through penance for
his sins, went on pilgrimage to St. Patrick's Purgatory on
Lough Derg, and that the inscribed stone already referred
to was erected in the oratory in which he performed such
severe penance ; or that a memorial church, of which this
was the titulus, was soon after erected there. The ad-
mitted antiquity of the inscription, which belongs to the
sixth or seventh century at latest, confirms this conjecture.
But this opinion is greatly strengthened by the second in-
scription, or legend, which appears on a corbel-shaped
font, which now lies on Station Island. This legend
reads : —
In the second line of this inscription a small v is inserted
after the first i, which shows that the engraver had for-
gotten it till after the remainder of the inscription was
LOUGH DERG. 69
made out, and then inserted it in its present crushed-up
position.
This inscription Dr. O'Donovan saw on his visit to Lough
Derg, and though he looked upon it as comparatively
modern, he could not understand it. His conjecture was
that it referred to one of the Coarbs of Termon-
Dabheoc.
Caeman Breac was a cognomen bestowed on St. IMac
Nisse, and had its origin in the following melancholy story,
taken from Colgan's " Trias Thaumaturga" (Septima Vita
S. Patricii, Lib. ii., cap. 134, p. 147) : — " Patricio ifi iisdem
partibiis (Soil Rathmugid, now Armoy, Co. Antrim) ageiiti
cojitigit alius, non mijius miser audits sed et magis pudendiis
casus. Mac-Nessius euim postea Antistes Connorensis, dum
in pietate et bonis disciplinis apud Patriciiun educareiur,
Magistro inscio implicavit se primo incautis, ac paulatim
suspectis alterius sexus consortiis, lapsu cutn ipsius S. Aft-
tistitis sorore vel nepte insimulatus fuerit sefatde maculasse.
Lapsus Hie ad aures Patricii perlatus ita sanctissimum
exacerbavit Magistrum, ejusque anijnum^ iramque vindicem
contra discipuluin exacuit, ut illico precatus et severe irnpre-
catus sit inanum illani, quae vie??ib?'u?n illud vivum et su7?i-
mae spei, a reliquo sancto sui sodalitii corpore, suis actibus
fcedisque contractibus segregavit, in tanti scandali publicam
vindicia?n, ccetero corpore abscissam iri. Et ecce res mira !
manus Macnessii extemplo abscissa in terram cadit, et in per-
petua77i rei mirabilis, justceque vindictce memoriam, i?i loco
quid einde Carn-lamha^i.e. tuimdus manus, appellatus, ttwiu-
latus reconditur. Macnesshis vero lapsu sanctior vitam, quant
turpi ilia not a sic /cede maculavit, egregia mox po^nitentia
70 PILGRIMAGE OF
restau7'avlt, multisque posUa signis et virtutibus testatissiince
sanditatis mirahilem reddidit et sanciissii7ie finivii."
From these inscriptions we may justly infer that the
pilgrimage of Lough Derg is of very early origin, that St.
Mac Nisse, the contemporary of St. Patrick, was very
probably on pilgrimage there, and that therefore the pil-
grimage must have been originated by St. Patrick him-
self.
In the ninth century there was a person named the
Abbot Patrick connected with Lough Derg. It appears
he was superior of the religious establishment there for
some time, and afterwards became Abbot of the principal
house of his order at Armagh. His feast is commemo-
rated on the 24th of August, and his name is entered in
the Martyrology of Tallagh as "Patrick hostiarius et Abbas
Armacanus." He is said to have written a life of our
national Apostle; and was considered by some, how
erroneously we have seen, to have been the founder of the
" Purgatory," or place of penance at Lough Derg. His
death is supposed to have occurred about the year 850.
Regarding him, or St. Patrick major (it is not stated
which), a singular tradition is preserved at Lough Derg,
which obtains implicit credence amongst the artless and
simple-minded inhabitants of that neighbourhood.
Now, as to the traditions here referred to, though I do
not profess myself so incredulous in the matter of local
traditions as Dr. O'Donovan professes himself, yet I well
know that the historical accuracy of many of them cannot
be sustained ; nor in relating them do I undertake to
establish their accuracy, merely stating them as I received
LOUGH DERG. 7 1
them, and leaving it to the readers to attach to them
whatever importance they may deem fit.
Since the Celtic race has been always a highly imagina-
tive race, we need not wonder that some historical facts,
and especially certain events in the lives of the Irish
saints, who were so affectionately venerated, became sur-
rounded and embellished by poetic and imaginary glosses,
till in the lapse of time the nucleus of fact became so en-
tangled in the network of fiction as to be hardly distin-
guishable from it. And hence it comes that many of the
popular traditions of our country are to be received with
considerable caution and reservation.
But though some of these traditions may not be relied
on as conveying historical truth, yet they are valuable in
a variety of ways, and therefore worthy of preservation.
Many of these traditions contain a grain of historical
truth, and when viewed in the light and with the aid of
contemporaneous events, are found of much advantage to
the historian ; while such as are purely imaginary and
legendary are also useful, inasmuch as they suggest what
were the manners and customs, the simple and confiding
faith, the social habits, the modes of thought, &c., of our
remote ancestors.
To return to my subject. The story is told that in
ancient times Lough Derg abounded in salmon and salmon-
trout, just the same as its next neighbour. Lough Erne.
The fishful lake gave an unfailing supply to the frugal
table of the good monks, and little were the exertions
needed in having always at hand a plentiful supply of this
delicious and highly-prized fish. On a certain occasion
72 PILGRIMAGE OF
the monks were expecting St. Patrick on his visitation,
and had been out fishing all day, in order to have some
salmon for the saint's repast. However, they failed in
catching any, and were sorely perplexed to find their hos-
pitality thus put to so cruel a test ; which, when the saint |
had heard, he foretold that salmon would no more inhabit
the waters of Lough Derg. And, as if to corroborate the
truth of the foregoing incident, the legend goes on to say
that about-sixty years ago a gentlem^an of the sceptical
school, having heard the story as already narrated, put
himself to great extremes in order to falsify the saint's
prediction. He had salmon conveyed from a distance,
carefully marked and deposited in the lake ; when lo !
the very next morning the salmon were found in a net,
which was placed in the River Derg to prevent their
escape.
Little over forty years ago Dr. O'Donovan related the
self-same legend ; and, if it be only to show how much
these legends are altered and exaggerated, even in a short
period of time, I shall give his version of it. He says ;
" No salmon come into the lake, though they come up to
the very throat of the river. Two fishermen (who had a
weir near the source of the Derg) cast two live salmon
into the lake not many years ago, to see if they'd remain
there ; and in order to know them they cut off a part of
their fins and tails, but, on their return, they found the
same salmon caught in their cochall, or net. This is
attributed to the curse of St. Patrick."
As a matter of fact, salmon cannot be found in Lough
Derg. The lake, however, abounds in trout, and affords
LOUGH DERG. 73
excellent fishing. In this respect perhaps no other laker
in Ireland can compete with it. During the summer and
autumn a day seldom passes without witnessing a number
of arrivals of those bent on this fine Waltonian sport ;
and the followers of the angle are generally rewarded with
a numerous " take." Trout weighing six or eight pounds
are occasionally hauled in ; but the class most commonly
caught do not exceed a pound in weight. When a gentle
" fresh" is blowing, no more contemplative or enticing
pastime could be desired than playing a well-trimmed
" cast" off the shoals and reefs, which are so numerous
throughout the lake. And we can well imagine how the
monks of Lough Derg in the olden time, albeit their
prayerful and penitential lives, enjoyed " to their hearts'
content " this delightful recreation, as they sailed over its
waters in their skin-covered currachs.
Eels, also, are to be found in Lough Derg. Near the
mouth of the River Derg remains of an eel-weir may be
noticed.
Of late years pike has found its way into the lake, some
large fish of this class having been caught weighing over
thirty pounds. These ''fresh-water sharks" up to this
have made sad havoc on the trout of the lake, but it is
satisfactory to find that large numbers of them, during the
spawning season each year, are netted in the streams flow-
ing into the lake, and in this way, it is hoped, they will
be diminished. Through the surrounding mountains, foxes
have been a similar source of destruction to hares and
heathfowl ; their number, however, is very much reduced,
as each year beyond a score of them are caught in traps.
74 PILGRIMAGE OF
On the northern shore of the lake, near where the River
Derg debouches, may be seen a beautiful white strand.
Smoothly-rounded pebbles, small shells and Crustacea,
such as may be seen on the sea-shore, are here to be met
with. That many of the lakes and rivers of Ireland con-
tain pearls, is beyond question ; of this the Rivers Bann
and Strule are notable instances. That Lough Derg also
produces pearls, has been lately ascertained. In the
summer of 1874, a pearl-fisher came to the lake on pil-
grimage. He was an Italian, and, like his countrymen,
possessed the gift of music in a high degree. It is said of
him at Lough Derg, that in his journey through these
mountains he wakened up many sweet echoes by his
music. Having reached the lake, he made a search for
pearls along the shore ; and was successful in collecting
some of these rare gems, which, being small and of rather
inferior quality, were worth, as he said, but a few shillings
each.
LOUGH DERG. 75
CHAPTER IX.
DESTRUCTION OF THE MONASTERY OF ST. DABHEOC BY THE
DANES — ITS COLONIZATION BY AUGUSTINIAN CANONS —
PILGRIMAGE OF THE KNIGHT OWEN.
" He next for Ireland shaped his course,
And saw the fabulous Hibernia, where
The goodly sainted elder made the cave.
In which men cleansed of all offences are ;
Such mercy there, it seems, is found to save." —
Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, translated by W. S. Rose.
ROM the fifth till the close of the eighth
^^^ century, Ireland won for herself that glori-
% ous distinction amoni^ the nations of being:
" '"^ called the Insula Doctorum et Sanctorum.
n
From the beginning of the ninth century,
however, down to the battle of Clontarf
in 1 014, the scene changed. During this
period the Danes plundered and laid deso-
late very many of the religious houses throughout Ireland.
That Lough Derg shared in the common ruin, is only too
likely ; for, we find in the Four Masters^ under the year
836, that " the churches of Lough Erne were destroyed by
the Galls" (the Danish invaders), 'Svith Clones, Devenish,
&c.'' During the long and cruel wars with the Danes,
who are called in our annals " foreigners,^' and also
" black Gentiles,'' pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Patrick's
76 PILGRIMAGE OF
Purgatory, even supposing that the place had escaped
their notice, would be certainly a most perilous under-
taking. And hence we may at least infer that this sanc-
tuary, if not altogether destroyed, had been almost com-
pletely abandoned during a considerable interval, and had
lost in the meantime much of its former lustre.
Some time after the Danes were expelled, religious of
the Augustinian Order were introduced into Ireland.
They took possession of the ruined cloisters of Lough
Derg, Devenish, Clones, and many others throughout
Ireland. Imar, Archbishop of Armagh, is, indeed, said
to have been the first to introduce them into Ireland,
about the year 1126, and to have put under their charge
the abbey founded by him at Armagh, and placed under
the invocation of the Apostles SS. Peter and Paul. It is
asserted that the monastery erected by these venerable
canons at Lough Derg was also dedicated to the same
holy Apostles. Ware states that this house of the Augus-
tinian Canons at Lough Derg, according to the Register
of John Bole (some time Archbishop of Armagh, and who
died A.D. 1470), is called "the filial place of the monas-
tery of the Apostles Peter and Paul of Armagh."
And so widespread did this order become throughout
Ireland, that, at the time of the suppression and confisca-
tion of their houses and property in the sixteenth century,
no less than two hundred and thirty-one houses belonged
to this order.
With the introduction of the Canons Regular the second
epoch in the history of Lough Derg is reached, which so
far excelled the glory of the first, as the third epoch.
LOUGH DERG. 77
dating from the Reformation, is destined, we hope, to
transcend the glory of both. Under the pious canons life
was again infused into tlie withered bones, pilgrimage to
Lough Derg received a fresh impetus, and its sanctuary
soon re-appeared in still greater proportions and beauty.
The Canons Regular appear to have tenanted Saints'
Island for about four hundred years, from the twelfth till
the sixteenth century.
Dr. Lanigan, in his Ecclesiastical History of Ireland
(vol. i., p. 368), exhibiting a want of taste and judgment
so little in keeping with his acknowledged character as an
historian, writes : — " It will not be expected that I should
waste my time with giving an account of the so-called
Patrick's Purgatory of Lough Derg, or examining if there
could be any foundation for attributing it to our Apostle.
It is never mentioned in any of the lives, nor was it, I
believe, heard of until the eleventh century, the period at
which the Canons Regular at first appeared. For it was
to persons of that order, as the story goes, that St. Patrick
confided the care of that cavern of wonders." It is easy
to understand how Dr. Lanigan has been led into this
mistake, when we consider that he spent so many years
of his Ufe out of Ireland ; and, though he was profoundly
conversant with the historical writings and records of his
country, yet its archaeology, topography, and local tradi-
tions — such fruitful sources of history — were to him a
sealed fountain. Besides, if only such facts as are related
in the early Lives and Acts of St. Patrick were to be ad-
mitted, then we should reject as spurious very many state-
ments and traditions, not only as regards St. Patrick, but
78 PILGRIMAGE OF
the other Irish saints in general, which are accepted by-
historians as estabhshed facts. Strange to say, Dr. Lani-
gan seems to base his argument against the origin and
antiquity of St. Patrick's Purgatory on the authority of a
little tract, which Colgan says he found in a MS. placed
after the end of the Vita Tripartita, and which he attri-
butes to the author of the Tripartite Life. That it was
not written by the author of the Tripartite seems certain,
from the mention in it of Canons Regular, a class of per-
sons then unknown. It appears to be a transcript of the
narrative of the monk, Henry of Saltrey. In this little
tract it is said : — '* Statiiuque Bcatiis Patricias in eodem
loco eccJcsiam constriixit, et Beati Patris Aiigustini Canofii-
cos vit.im apostolicam sectantes in ea constituit ; fossam aute7n
praedictam quae in caevieterio est extra frojitem ecclesiae
oriejitale?n^ mure circiimdedit, et janiias serasqiie apposuit,
ne quis earn aiisu temerario et sine licentia ingredi praesu-
nieret, claveni vero custodiendam comme?idavit Priori eccle-
siae ejiisdein, et quo?iiain homo a peccatis purgetur, locus
ilk Piirgatoriwn Sti. Patricii iiominaturT
As the Canons Regular re-peopled most of the monas-
teries laid desolate during the Danish wars, the custom
gradually obtained of calling their monastic predecessors
Canons Regular, and in this way St. Patrick himself was
called a Canon Regular, and his feast regularly observed
in their order.
Had Dr. Lanigan and the Spanish critic Feijoo (the
latter of whom seemed to think that the visions related of
the mediaeval pilgrims constituted the origin of the pil-
grimage) only thought of this — had they but known the
LOUGH DERG. 79
ancient remains, inscriptions, traces, traditions at the
place, as well as references in the ancient Irish writings
pointing to St. Patrick, St. Dabheoc, and other holy-
abbots who presided over the monastery of Lough Derg,
they would have been spared the opprobrium of assailing
this venerable pilgrimage, which is one of the most precious
legacies bequeathed by St. Patrick to the Irish race,
Jocel3'n also impugns the Patrician origin of Lough
Derg, for the sole reason, as it would appear, that it de-
tracts from the fame of his favourite pilgrimage on Croagh-
Patrick, that of Lough Derg having been established, as
he says, by the Augustinians in opposition to it. But the
reasons we have adduced against Dr. Lanigan's view will
also sufficiently explain Jocelyn's objection.
Touching the occupation of Lough Derg by the Augus-
tinians, the following lengthy extract, from Dr. Lanigan's
Ecclesiastical History of Ireland (vol. iv., p. 348), will be
interesting : —
"About the twelfth century the Irish monasteries very generally
adopted the rule of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine. Nor was
the transition difficult : for the old Irish rules did not, in substance,
differ much from that of the said canons, inasmuch as they were not as
strictly monastical as those of the Egyptian, Basilian, or Benedictine
monks, and allowed, without particular dispensation, the union of
the active service of the Church, such as practised by the secular
clergy, with the monastic regulations, which, although varying more
or less, were, as I have often remarked, founded on the system which
St. Patrick had seen followed at Lerins and at Tours, and which he
introduced into Ireland. Now the characteristic feature of the
Canons Regular, which distinguishes them from monks, emphatically
so called, is, that although they make vows and are bound to observe
certain laws similar to those of the monks, they are capable of
8o PILGRIMAGE OF
practising the functions which usually belong to the secular clergy.
Yet the system of the ancient Irish clergy was much more severe
than the Canons regular, as is clear from the rule of St. Columbanus,
which was taken from those of the monasteries in Ireland, particu-
larly that of Bangor, of which that great saint had been a member."
From this we can understand how certain of the Priors
of this monastery, and, doubtless, others of the community
as well, are recorded as holding parishes and other digni-
ties in the diocese within which this establishment was
situated.
Some time after the Canons Regular had come to reside
at Lough Derg, there occurred an event which tended to
give the Purgatory much of its Continental fame. It so
happened in the twelfth century, that an Irish soldier, named
Owen, who had served under the standard of King
Stephen, and who had been a crusader, on returning home
after long service, felt remorse of conscience for his sins ;
and so he resolved on making a pilgrimage to St. Patrick's
Purgatory, there to find rest for his troubled soul. This
narrative regarding the Knight Owen is to be received
with great limitation ; for it was written at a time when,
owing to the crusades, the troubadours had brought home
from the East sensational, romantic and exaggerated
accounts of the deeds of chivalry of the Christian Knights.
This taste for the sensational had pervaded the literature
of the age ; and hence the narrative of Henry of Saltrey,
the poems founded on it by Dante, Ariosto and Calderon,
must be considered as containing much that is purely
poetic and imaginary. Owen, having obtained the usual
permission from the Prior of the island, as well as from
LOUGH DERG. 8 1
the Bishop of the diocese, both of whom strove to dissuade
him from his purpose, prepared himself by a fifteen days'
fast and prayer to enter the cave. After this, ^lass was
said, the pilgrim received Holy Communion, a salutary
instruction was given, and a procession of the monks was
formed, in order to conduct the pilgrim to the mouth of
the cave, as it is thus related in the metrical version : —
** Every priest and every man
Went with hym yn processoun ;
And as lowde as they myghte crye,
For hym they songe the letanye."
The Prior having secured the door of the cave, the
knight soon found himself in a large cloistered hall, in
which were fifteen religious, clothed in white garments.
One of them, preparing him for the attacks of the evil
spirits he was to encounter, warned him to invoke the
powerful name of Jesus to his aid. This advice is thus
given in the same metrical version of Saltrey's narra-
tive : —
' ' But if they will thee beat or bind,
Look thou have these words in mind :
* Jesus, as thou art full of might,
Have mercy on me, sinful knight !'
And evermore have in thy thought
Jesus, that thee so dear has bought."-
On being left alone, the pilgrim Owen was attacked by
the evil spirits, and was preserved from the fiery punish-
ments prepared for him by uttering the prayer, "Jesus, as
thou art," Szc In this cave he saw souls undergoing the
most terrible torments. From the vision of hell and pur-
G
§2 PILGRIMAGE OF
gatory the knight was led to a gate in a resplendent wall,
which was set with pearls and precious stones. This
heavenly sight caused him to forget the dangers and suf-
ferings he had hitherto undergone. Here the most en-
chanting sights and the sweetest melody captivated his
heart, so that he desired never to depart from this para-
dise. But he was not permitted to remain there ; and on
his return met with the fifteen ecclesiastics he had seen
when first he entered the cave. Having spent a day in
their society, and being made acquainted by them witli
the future events of his life, he left the cave, and received
the congratulations of the Prior and canons on his safe
return. Having spent fifteen more days on the island,
and after relating his vision and adventures to the com-
munity of monks, he took his departure from Lough Derg,
and amongst others communicated the account of his
pilgrimage to Gilbert of Lud, an English monk, who, in
his turn, related it to Henry of Saltrey. After leading a
truly Christian life to a ripe old age, death closed the
pilgrim-soldier's career —
" He died and went the bright way,
To the bliss that lasts for aye ;
To that bliss may He us bring
That of all is Lord and King."
Henry of Saltrey thus accounts for his knowledge of
Owen's vision : — He says that Gervasius, Abbot of Louth,
in Lincolnshire, obtained from King Stephen a grant of
land in Ireland on which to build a monastery. For this
purpose one of his monks, Gilbert, was sent into Ireland
with the Knight Owen, who accompanied him as servant
LOUGH DERG. S;^
and interpreter of the Irish language. Whenever they
were alone together the monk asked him minutely con-
cerning Purgatory, and the marvellous modes of punish-
ment which he had there seen and felt; but the knight, who
could never hear about Purgatory without weeping bitterly,
told his friend, for his edification, and under the seal of
secrecy, all that he had seen and experienced, and affirmed
that he had seen it all with his own eyes. By the care and
diligence of the monk all that the knight had said was
reduced to writing, together with the narratives of the
bishops and other ecclesiastics of that country, who, for
truth's sake, gave their testimony to the facts. Lately,
also, I did speak with one who was nephew of Patrick,*
tlie third of that name, the companion of St. Malachius,
by name Florentianus, in whose bishopric, as he said,
that Purga:ory was; of whom having curiously inquired,
he answered : " Truly, brother, that place is within my
bishopric, and many perisli in that Purgatory ; and those,
who by chance return, do, by reason of tlie extreme
torments they have endured, ever look pale and languid."
The aforesaid narrative the said Gilbert did often repeat
in my hearing, according as he had often heard it from
the knight.
Henry of Saltrey wrote his account of Owen's pilgrim-
age in Latin prose, in the year 1153. The narrative was
translated into several languages in the metrical style then
so popular. According to Sister Tslary F. Clare, in her
* No such name is to be found in Ware's List of Bishops for Clogher
or Raiihoc about the dme in question.
84 PILGRIMAGE OF
Life of St. Patrick^ there are some of these metrical ver-
sions still in existence. There are two of them in the
British Museum. One is contained in the Cotton collec-
tion, and dates from the fifteenth century ; the other is a
MS. of the fourteenth century in the Auchinleck collec-
tion in Scotland. In the same valuable work of the *'Nun
of Kenmare'^ is given a vignette representing a pilgrim
entering the purgatorial cave, followed by a procession of
monks chanting hymns.
With regard to the penance performed by the Knight
Owen, there is no reason for saying that it differed sub-
stantially from the course of penance there pursued at
the present day, highly embellished though the statement
be by the chronicler as well as the pilgrim. It is even
quite possible that visions regarding the future state of
the soul — regarding the different degrees of punishment
for sin — and also the happy state of the blessed, may
have been vouchsafed to this great penitent — such visions
God having deigned to grant to many of the saints —
among others to His illustrious servants, St. Catherine
and St. Theresa.
At all events, the narrative of the Knight Owen served,
under divine Providence, to spread abroad the fame of
St. Patrick's Purgatory, and to attract to its sanctuary,
from every nation throughout Christendom, pilgrims of
every rank, from the prince to the peasant.
Henry of Saltrey's narrative had been copied from
monastery to monastery, till it became quite familiar
over the continent of Europe. It had also found its
way into the hands of the great mediaeval poets. Ariosto
LOUGH DERG. 85
had read it, as appears from the extract prefixed to this
chapter. It would also appear from the plan and various
passages in the Divina Comedia, that " the divine poet,
the inimitable Dante," had been conversant with it. It
is stated that the second part of the Divina Coviedia^ " II
Purgatorio,'"' is founded on Saltrey's account of Lough
Derg. The Spanish poet, Calderon — so celebrated for
his sacred dramas — upon this same pilgrimage, wrote
one of his most charming plays, to which we have already
referred, and shall have occasion to refer again hereafter.
CHAPTER X.
TIERNAN O ROURKE, PRINCE OF BREFFNY, ON PILGRIMAGE
AT LOUGH DERG — DISTINGUISHED FOREIGN PILGRIMS —
NARRATIVE OF JACOBUS DE VORAGINE.
|IERNAN O'ROURKE, prince of Breffny,
was one of the most warlike of Irish chief-
tains. For about half a century, from
1 1 24 down to the year 1172, when he
met with an untimely death, he took part
in the wars, predatory incursions, deeds
of daring and bloodshed, which distracted his un-
happy country, as also in the laudable attempt
to resist the English invasion. In 1152, his wife, Der-
vorgilla, that " degenerate daughter of Erin," eloped with
his rival, the infamous M'Murrough. Dervorgil, after
having reached the advanced age of eighty-five, closed
86 PiLGIUMACE OF
her ill-fated career in the convent of Mellifont in the
year 1193, after undergoing a lengthened course of
penance.
It is stated that at the time of her elopement willi
M'Murrough, her husband had been away on pilgrim-
age; and the tradition is kept at Lough Derg that it
was there he sought consolation for his troubled con-
science when he returned to find himself betrayed by
M'Murrough, Dr. O'Donovan, in his Donegal Letters,
also refers to the same tradition. This incident is
wedded to immortal verse in the well-known melody of
Moore, beginning thus : —
" The valley lay smiling before me,
Where lately I left her behind ;
Yet I trembled, and something hung o'er me.
That sadden'd the joy of my mind.
I looked for the lamp which, she told me,
Should shine when her pilgrim return'd,
But though darkness began to infold me,
No lamp from the battlements burn'd."
Nor will it militate against this tradition to say that
on the occasion referred to, Tiernan O'Rourke made pil-
grimage to Clonmacnoise, or some other of the many
places of pilgrimage which were tlien frequented through-
out Ireland; for about this period it was quite usual to
make pilgrimage, without interruption, round the most
famous sanctuaries of Ireland. Even those who journeyed
to foreign sanctuaries, fortified and prepared themselves
for such distant journeys by first making pilgrimage to
the most famous shrines of religion in their own
LOUGH DERG. 87
country. To this effect different instances are recorded
in tlie registries of Armagh ; and a remarkable instance
is there related of one ^neas M'Michael, who, by way
of penance, visited no less than seventeen places of pil-
grimage throughout Ireland, among the rest "St. Patrick's
Purgatory at Lough Derg, in O'Donnell's country."
The Rev. ^lervyn Archdall, of the Fermanagh family
of that name, and who wrote his Moiiasticon Hiberiiicoii^
about the middle of the last century, mentions a few
facts regarding St. Patrick's Purgatory, during the time
the Augustinians were in charge of it, which I have not
seen stated elsewhere.
Archdall writes : — '•' St. Dabheoc is said to have been
buried in this abbey" (on Saints' Island). "It had a
fme chapel, with convenient houses for the monks, the
remains of which may yet be seen. One of the St.
Patricks was Prior here about the year 850.
" Notwithstanding the reputed holiness of this cele-
brated monastery, it was plundered and reduced to ashes
by Bratachus O'Boyle and MacMahon, a.d. 1207. John
was Prior in 1353."'
The history of Lough Derg during the thirteenth, four-
teenth, and fifteenth centuries, is to be chiefly found in
the accounts written of it by distinguished foreigners, who
braved the dangers of a journey, then so fraught with
peril, in order to pass through the penitential exercises
of this celebrated sanctuary. Besides the history of St.
Patrick's Purgatory, printed in the works of Mathew
Paris, the author of which was Henry, Monk of Saltrey,
in Huntingdonshire, and who lived about the middle of
8S PILGRI^IAGE OF
the twelfth century, there are several other manuscript
accounts extant in different libraries. One of these is to
be found among the Barberini MSS., and is called Picr-
gatoriiun S. Patricii, narraiite Gilberio Mojiacho Ludensi^
post abbate de Basingeivereck in Anglia. Another, in the
same collection, is called Visio ejusdem Fratris co?iversi
iji Anglia^ qua?n hahiit circa a?imim 1196.
Another MS. in the Cottonian collection is called,
Opusciilii7?i de qiiada7?i visione ierribili de suppliciis ani-
mannn post obittun corporis : facta Edmundo, Mo7iacho
de Ey^iesham, reg7iaiite R. Ricardo.
In the year 1358, Edward III. gave testimonials to
Malatesta, a nobleman from Hungary, and Nicholas de
Biccariis of Lombardy, to certify their descent into the
cave of St. Patrick's Purgatory. In the year 1365, the
Prior of Lough Derg received a letter, asking him to give
a kind reception to two distinguished foreign pilgrims,
John Bonham and Guido Cessy. John Garry and Francis
Proty, priests of Lyons, and John Burgess, applied for
leave to go to the Purgatory, " sanctified by the forty
days' fast and prayer of St. Patrick." In the year 1409,
Sir William Staunton descended to the cave. He wrote
an account of his pilgrimage, which runs through several
hundred pages. It is entitled, " Here begynneth ye
revelacon ye which William Staunton saw in Patrick's
Purgatorie, the Friday next after ye feast of ye exalta-
tion of the Crosse in the year of our Lord mccccix."
Another account of this pilgrimage was written about
this period by a Knight of Hungary. It is named,
Prc^iiiiimi Me77ioriaIe super visitatio7ie Do77ii?ii Laiire7itii
LOUGH DERG. 89
Ratholdi miliiis et baronis Hiuigaricc. factum de Purgatorio
S. Patricii in insula Hiber7iicB. Froissart gives an ac-
count of Sir W. Lysle's and another knight's visit to the
cave, when Richard was m England.
In the Bodleian Library is preserved a MS., called
Tradatus bjTc'is, sed imperfectus de S. Patricii Ptirga-
torio. In the same place a MS., entitled Narratio de
pccnis Ijife?'nalibus, in which there is mention of St.
Patrick's Purgatory. In the library of Trinity College,
Dublin, there is a MS. styled Vita Saiicti Patricii
Episcopi et Coftfes sorts ; item de Purgatorio Hibernice.
There is also a MS. in the Vatican Library, by Peter
Lombard, Primate of Ireland, which is designated Re-
latio de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii in Hibernia.
Besides these there are many other manuscripts treating
of St. Patrick's Purgatory, which are still extant in some
of the principal libraries throughout Europe, which fact
of itself clearly shows how widespread was the fame of
this pilgrimage during the middle ages, and what a firm
hold it had taken on the religious sympathies of that
period.
In a work of the fifteenth centur)-, TOtten by Jacobus
de Voragine, and printed at Nuremberg in the year 1482,
under the title of Legejida Aurea^ is recorded an account
of a vision with which a certain pilgrim, named Nicholas,
was favoured at St. Patrick's Purgatory. So closely does
this narrative resemble that of Henry of Saltrey, that we
might almost suppose it to have been borrowed from
that writer. Of this narrative, which is written in Latin,
I here insert the English version, not so much because I
90 PILGRIMAGE OF
attach much historical importance to it, but principally
as an instance of the religious tales of the period.
Jacobus de Voragine writes : — '' A long time, there-
fore, after the death of St. Patrick, a nobleman, named
Nicholas, who had been guilty of a great many sins, being
smote with contrition, wished to undertake a pilgrimage
to St. Patrick's Purgatory. Having endured, as was the
custom, various acts of mortification during the space of
fifteen days, on the door having been opened by a key
wliich was kept in the abbey, he descended into the above-
named cave, on the side of which he observed a doorway.
Entering by this way he found there an oratory, into wliich
some monks, clothed in white, and repeating the office,
had entered, and forewarned Nicholas that he had many
temptations of the devil to encounter.
" When he inquired of them what help he should
have against the tempter, they replied, ' When you shall
feel yourself afflicted by punishments, immediately call
out and say, Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have
mercy on me, a sinner.' The monks referred to having
retired, the demons forthwith appear, and at first flatter
him with kind promises, saying that they should protect
him and bring him back again in safety, if only he would
obey them.
"• But when he refused to obey them, immediately he
hears the roaring of different wild beasts, wliich made
him imagine that all the elements had clashed together,
at which he exclaimed, with breathless terror, ' Jesus
Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me,' &c.,
and forthwith this dreadful tumult ceased.
LOUGH DERG. 9 1
" Being conveyed thence to another place where also
there appeared a multitude of demons, saying to him —
' Do you imagine that you have escaped our hands ? By
no means. But now you shall begin to be tortured and
afflicted the more.' And lo ! a great and terrible fire
there appears, and the demons said to him — ' Unless
you will submit to us, Ave shall cast you into this fire to
burn, ^yhich, when he refused, they took him and cast
him into the fire ; but whilst he was there tortured, he
exclaimed, 'Jesus,' &c., and the fire at once became
extinguished.
'' At length being led to another place, he beholds men
burning alive, and scourged by the demons with red-hot
iron plates, even to the very entrails, and crying out with
pain, ' spare us, spare us,' but the demons only scourged
them the more violently. Others he sees, whose limbs
serpents were devouring, and whose entrails were drawn
out by fiery hooks of iron ; but as Nicholas would not
submit to their suggestions, he is cast into the same fire,
and is tormented by the same punishments, until he cried
out, ' Jesus, have mercy on me,' &c., and forthwith he is
liberated from his sufferings; Thence, being conveyed
to another place, he sees large pools of boiling metal, in
which some had one foot, others two : some were stand-
ing up to the knee in these pools, others up to the body,
and others to the breast, neck and eyes. Seeing all these
torments, he invoked the name of God, and passed
on to a wide pit, from which issued a horrible smoke and
a most intolerable stench. Tlie demons told him —
' The place which you now behold is hell, in w^hich our
92 PILGRIMAGE OF
master Beelzebub dwells, and into this abyss we shall
cast you if you do not yield to us ; and after you shall
have been cast into it, you cannot find any means of
escape ;' but as he spurned them, they seized him, and
cast him into the pit, where he was filled with such vehe-
ment torture, that he had almost forgotten to call upon the
name of God. After a moment, however, on recollecting
himself, he expressed the name of Jesus in his heart, as
he was unable to utter it with his lips, and immediately he
escaped uninjured, and the whole host of demons, being
completely vanquished, left him.
" Having been led to another place, he sees a bridge,
over which it was necessary he should pass. This bridge
was very narrow and smooth, and slippery as ice. Un-
derneath this bridge flowed a stream of sulphur and fire.
Then, recalling to mind the words that delivered him
from so many dangers, he approached with confidence,
and placing one foot on the bridge, he says, ' Jesus, have
mercy/ &c. Then there arose a loud cry, which so ter-
rified him that he could hardly keep his foothold till he
repeated the same prayer again, which he repeated at
each step, and thus crossed the bridge in safety.
" Thence he reaches a most delightful meadow, where
the sweet odour of flowers charmed his senses. Here
two fair youths appear to him, and conduct him towards
a most beautiful city, resplendent with gold and gems.
From its gate issued the sweetest odour, which caused
him no longer to feel the sufferings and foul stench he
had just escaped. They told him that this city was
Paradise, into which Nicholas was most desirous to enter.
LOUGH DERG. 93
till the above-mentioned youths told him that he should
first return to his kindred, pass through the places by
which he had come — that the demons could not injure
him, but would fly in terror at his sight — that in thirty
days afterwards he should rest in peace, and then enter
that city as a perpetual citizen.
" Then Nicholas, returning from the Purgatory, finds
himself amongst his friends, and after telling them all
that had happened to him, after the lapse of thirty days
he calmly rested in the Lord."
This legend, as also that related of the Knight Owen,
in the twelfth century, supplied the Spanish poet, Calde-
ron, who lived in the seventeenth centur}', with the
groundwork of one of the most charming of his sacred
dramas. It is called Purgatorio de San Patricio, a metri-
cal version of which was written by our poet-laureate,
Denis Florence MacCarthy, and published in the year
1847. Longfellow's ho.d.yiixivX Song of Hiau'atha closely
corresponds with it in metre. As the concluding part of
the Purgatorio of Calderon, where he represents the pil-
grim after passing through the different stages of pun-
ishments, and arriving before the celestial paradise, is
singularly sweet and interesting, I shall give it at some
length : —
* ' Ere I reached the gates they open'd,
And the saints in long procession
Came to meet me, men and women,
Young and old, and youths and maidens.
All approached serene and happy.
Choirs of Seraphim and Angels,
94 PILGRIMAGE OF
Breathing heaven's dehcious music,
Sweetly sung divinest anthems.
After these at length approached mc
The resplendent, the most glorious,
The great Patrick, the Apostle.
iMuch that dazzling sight rejoiced mc.
For by it I was enabled
To fulfil my early promise,
In my lifetime to behold him.
He and all the rest embraced me.
Pleased at my extreme good fortune.
Bidding me farewell, he told me
That no living man could enter
That most glorious, happy city ;
But that I to earth returning.
Should await God's time and pleasure.
Back the proper way I wandered
Unobstructed by the demons.
And at length approached the entrance,
When you came to seek and see me.
Since I have escaped this danger.
Holy fatlicrs, all I covet
Is to live and die amonc: vou."
LOUGH DERG. 95
CHAPTER XI.
DREADFUL TRAGEDY AT LOUGH DERG — RAYMOND COUNT
DE PERILLEAUX— THE DUTCH MONK — SUPPRESSION OF
THE CAVE ON SAINTS' ISLAND.
^jp '%r^^'J^^ ^^^ y^^^ ^397' ^^^^^ Richard II. granted
K^'^Y/^^i a safe conduct to Raymond, Count de
»^^'i^Ji-3l ^ Perilleaux, Knight of Rhodes and Cham-
^^^^j'^ berlain to the King of France, who came
'IV^kfl on pilgTimage to Lough Derg, accom-
^:^ panied by a retinue of twenty men and
1^ thirty horses. In connexion with this event a
thriUing story is told in the Dublin Fenny
Journal of June 25th, 1836. It is there narrated how
Count Raymond and another knight, named UgoHno, had
been serving in the wars against the Moslems — that
Ugolino had been the means of saving his life, and that
at the close of the Crusade, Raymond persuaded Ugolino
to accompany him to his home. Whilst there, notwith-
standing the disparity of rank and family, a close intimacy
sprung up between Ugolino and Raymond's sister, Ma-
deline de Perilleaux. Raymond happening to find that
they were pledged to marry, in a fit of passion plunged his
dagger into his sisters breast, thus putting her to death
for the honour of his house. UgoHno, when he found
that she had been killed, vowed that he would never
rest until that same poignard should pierce the breast of
her murderer.
^6 PILGRIMAGE OF
Count Raymond, tortured in conscience for his crime,
proceeded on pilgrimage to Lough Derg, in order to
appease the wrath of heaven. The story graphically
proceeds : — " It was a beautiful evening in the autumn
of 1397, and the flood of rich yellow light from the
setting sun bathed the wooded shores of Lough Derg,
tipping with gold the waves on its surface. At this time
the naked hills, which now surround the lake, were
covered with majestic woods of oak and beech,* and
fringed with a thick copse of brushwood to the water's
edge.
" The little island on which was situated St. Patrick's
Purgatory, lay about a mile from the shore, resembling
some dark spot in the midst of flowing silver.
" The ferryman was reposing on a grassy knoll at the
verge of the lake, waiting to ferry over the pilgrims as
they made their appearance. While he thus lay, with
his bei\]\eA-o (cap or hat) thrown over his eyes, to keep
off the rays of the sun, a pilgrim, toiled and travel-
stained, arrived at the bank, and stood beside the un-
conscious ferryman. He was a fine tall young fellow,
clad in the usual garb of a religious wanderer of the
period. His face was thin and pale, but full of life and
* In a visit which the writer paid to Lough Derg, on the 4th
September, 1877, he observed, on a portion of the mountain in the
possession of a family named Gallagher, the stems and wide-spread-
ing roots of two enormous fir trees, from above which the peaty
surface had been cut. This is evidence that at a remote period,
when our climate was much more temperate, large trees grew among
these mountains, which are now so bare and barren.
LOUGH DERG. 97
animation. He was clad in the humble garments of a
palmer, yet his mien and motion were those of one used
to associate with the proud and noble. After a little the
pilgrim pointed with his staff towards the island, as if in-
dicating a wish to be ferried over, on which the ferry-
man directed his attention to the setting sun, as an inti-
mation that the hour had passed, and then pointed to a
cottage at the end of the wood, plainly intimating to the
pilgrim that he should be content with a share of the
shelter and hospitality of his humble roof till morning.
" The stranger bowed in thankfulness, laying the fore-
finger of his right hand impressively on his lips, and
raising the other towards the blue vault of heaven. He
then crossed both with an expressive gesture on his
breast, and hung down his head in silence.
"'Ay, ay!' uttered the boatman, in an undertone; 'a
vow to hold his peace — some terrible crime to be atoned
for by the severity of the penance — and in one so young
too / and with a glance upwards of astonishment and
thankfulness to heaven, he led the way to his cabin. The
evening sun had gone down behind the western hills, and
the gloom of coming night was darkening the deep brown
woods. The song of the robin and the thrush was hushed,
and the pilgrim was seated beside the cheerful hearth of
the ferryman, silent and motionless, and wrapt up in the
shadowy stillness of profound meditation.
" On a sudden, however, the ferryman was startled on
hearing the notes of a bugle-horn, which came pealing
from the woods. He started to his feet, for such sounds
were seldom heard on the peaceful shores of the Lake of
H
.98 PILGRIMAGE OF
Penance, and on going out, he observed a train of horse-
men issuing from the woods.
" The person who rode in front, and who appeared to
be the chief, was mounted on a beautiful charger of the
true Arabian breed. He was dressed in black. A mantle
of velvet, lined with silk, depended from his shoulders,
under which he wore a doublet of fine cloth, braided
with twisted cords of silk, and fitting closely to the body.
He also wore a broad-brimmed hat, from which drooped
a solitary black feather, shadowing features proud, stern,
and repulsive in their expression. The rest of the at-
tendants were clad in much the same fashion, except a
few, who were fully equipped and armed. They ap-
peared as if after a long journey. They were evidently
men from a foreign land, for they used much gesture, and
spoke in a strange tongue. Tents were immediately
pitched on the shores of the lake, and fires lighted, and a
hurry and bustle continued among the strangers till a late
hour, and a strict guard was placed on the pavilion of him
who appeared to be their chief.
" Shortly after, the noble chieftain embarked for the
island, and without an attendant, on reaching which, he
hurried for the cell at which Raymond de Perilleaux was
making his devotions. He advanced with a quick and
rai)id movement, till he came within a few feet of the
holy shrine, at which he found him. He then called out
in a loud exclamation : —
'' * We have met here alone, and face to face at last,
Raymond, Count of Perilleaux. Can you pray to heaven ?
You, with the blood of innocence crying to that heaven
LOUGH DERG. 99
for vengeance against you ! Can you ask for pardon, or
hope for mercy, whose heart was closed against the plead-
ing of the virtuous and the innocent ? Can you hope
for peace while my vow of revenge is unpaid, and the
dagger yet unstained with thy blood? Raymond of
Peril leaux, know you not that while I lived, my life was
devoted to your destruction ? Now, say your last prayer/
and he drew his blood-stained dagger.
" * Mercy, mercy, Ugolino !' uttered Raymond, in a
trembling and distressed voice. It was all soon over ;
he raised up the dagger, and buried it to the very hilt in
the heart of the wretched count.
" The murdered victim never groaned — his lips were
seen to move in prayer; he staggered forward a few
paces, and fell heavily against the steps of the little
altar, where he expired."*
According to a pretty general opinion, or popular super-
stition, which prevailed amongst the peasantry of Ireland
down to recent times, wherever a murder or other tragic
event occurred, the spot where such murder was com-
mitted was supposed to be haunted for long after by the
ghost or spirit of the victim. Hence, such ghost-stories
are generally the most reliable traditional evidence re-
specting the commission of certain dark deeds, even at a
remote period, and often indicate the scene of such crimes
with the greatest precision.
*I have transcribed the abridged account of this tragedy as given
m that highly-interesting " Handbook of South-Western Donegal,"
the author ol which is one of the most accomplished and esteemed
parish priests in " Old Tyrconnell."
100 PILGRIMAGE OF
The tragic death of Count Raymond also gave rise to
a ghost story at Lough Derg. The local residents relate
that, down to modern times, a ghost, habited in the garb
of a pilgrim of the olden time, used to pace up and down
the island during the still hours of evening twilight.
This dreadful tragedy cast a gloom over Lough Derg;
and it would seem as if it were but the forerunner of a
train of evils which were to fall upon this sanctuary, and
which were to avenge the outraged majesty of God for
the desecration of His holy place.
Such repute did this western Purgatory acquire, that
about the period at which we have arrived, its bequests
and revenues had so increased as to afford ground, not
merely for grave responsibility in their administration, but
also for considerable jealousy as to their allocation. Ray-
mond Maguire, an Augustinian, was Prior of the Purga-
tory in the year 1455. Donald M'Grath, who was pro-
bably coarb of the termonlands, and Thomas M'Creanyre,
Abbot of SS. Peter and Paul's at Armagh, probably on
account of his monastery having been the mother-house
of the establishment at Lough Derg, strove to prevent
Raymond Maguire, its Prior, from disposing of the pro-
ceeds from the Purgatory. Maguire appealed to the j\Ie-
tropolitan and to Rome, with the result that the commu-
nity at Lough Derg were confirmed in their title to the re-
ligious offerings at the place, and tlie others were ordered,
under pain of excommunication, to give no further an-
noyance.
Under the year 1462, the Four"- Masters relate, that
" the Prior of Devenish, ?>., Bartholomew, the son of
LOUGH DERG. lOI
Hugh O'Flanagan, died at Lough Derg." This was the
Prior who repaired or rebuilt the great Abbey Church of
Devenish, as appears from the celebrated inscribed stone
of Devenish, a full description of which will be found in
that highly-interesting and valuable handbook, Wake-
man's Guide to Lough Erne,
While the fame of St. Patrick's Purgatory had spread
abroad, an incident occurred which for a time tended to
mar its celebrity. A monk from Eymstede, in Holland,
hearing of the fame of this western pilgrimage, and of the
visions vouchsafed to the pious votaries at that retreat,
as related in the poetic tales of the period, came to the
determination of going thither, and of testing the accu-
racy of the sensational stories related of it. Having
arrived at the island, the Prior, before admitting him to
the cave, required that he should first obtain the Bishop's
permission. The Bishop, in granting leave, required
that he should pay the customary fee for admission.
These fees were to be expended on keeping the churches
and other buildings on the island in a suitable state of
repair. The monk, now rendered doubly censorious
and querulous, at length gained admittance to the cave,
and expected, as a matter of course, that he should be
favoured with tlie self-same visions with which others
were said to have been privileged. His expectations,
however, were not realized. The everyday painful ex-
ercises of penance were all the sights to be witnessed in
this earthly Purgatory. Disappointed and chagrined, he
went straight to Rome, and laid a most damaging report
of the Purgatory before the Pontiff then reigning, Alex-
102 PILGRIMAGE OF
ander VI. He represented the exactions of the Prior,
Prince, and Bishop of the island — ^^ omnes enim petieriuit
pecimiai7i." He mentioned his own experiences of it —
that he had not been favoured with those glimpses of
future punishment and bhss which were ascribed to it.
His words added force to prejudices already forming
against it over the Continent, and thus its temporary
suppression was determined upon, until such times as
the abuses complained of should be remedied.
In the " Annals of the Four Masters " there is found no
allusion to the closing of the cave on Saints' Island by
order of the Pope : mention is made of it, however, in
the "Annals of Ulster." The reason assigned by the
Bollandists and the ''Annals of Ulster" for the suppression
of the cave are quite difterent. The Bollandists say
it was ordered to be closed because it had become " an
occasion of shameful avarice." It would appear as if
they grounded their opinion on the report of the monk
of Eymstede, which, however it may have precipitated
the action of Rome in the matter, we have yet to learn
whether it was the only cause to draw forth that decision.
The reason for its suppression, as set forth in the " Annals
of Ulster," I hold to be much more tenable, namely, " that
it was not the Purgatory which the Lord had shown to St.
Patrick." On this subject no better authority could be
adduced than the compiler of the Annals of Ulster, the
celebrated Cathal Maguire; for he was not only deeply
versed in his country's lore above all his contemporaries,
but was also, at the time of the edict in question, a high
dignitary and official of the diocese in which the Purga-
LOUGH DERG. I03
tory is situated; and, over and above all this, he was
appointed by the Pope to assist in carrying out the Papil
decree, and hence we may reasonably presume that he
was fully acquainted with the causes which led to this
decree.
In the words of the " Annals of Ulster :" — " a.d. 1497.
The cave of Patrick's Purgatory in Lough Gerg, was de-
stroyed about the festival of St. Patrick this year, by the
Guardian of Donegal and by the representative of the
Bishop in the deanery of Lough Erne" [i.e., Cathal
Maguire], " by authority of the Pope, the people in
general having understood from the history of the knight,
and other old books, that this was not the Purgatory
which St. Patrick obtained from God, though the people
in general were visiting it."
Now, as this Cathal or Charles Maguire was one of
the most illustrious sons of the diocese of Clogher, ani
one of the most distinguished Irish ecclesiastics in any
age, I will be pardoned for giving his obit as recorded
by Roderick O'Cassidy in the " Annals of Ulster," which
were brought by IMaguire from a.d. 444 down to 1498,
the year of his death, and continued by O'Cassidy to the
year 1541. O'Cassidy writes : — "Anno Domini 1498.
A great mournful news throughout all Ireland this year,
viz., the following — Cathal Oge MacManus Maguire
died this year. He was Canon Chorister at Armagh,
and in the bishopric of Clogher, and Dean of Lough
Erne, and Pastor of Inniskeen, in Lough Erne, and the
representative of a Bishop " [i.e., Vicar-General] " for
fifteen years before his death. He was a precious stone,
104 PILGRIMAGE OF
a bright gem, a luminous star, a treasury of wisdom, and
a fruitful branch of the Canon ; and a fountain of charity,
meekness, and mildness; a dove in purity of heart, and
a turtle in chastity ; the person to whom the literati, and
the poor, and the destitute paupers of Ireland were most
thankful; one who was full of grace and wisdom in every
science to the time of his death, in law, physic, and
l^hilosophy, and in all the Gaelic sciences ; and one who
made, gathered, and collected this book from many other
books. He died of Galar Breac " (the small-pox) " on
the tenth of the calends of April, being Wednesday,
/xo. atuio aetatis sitae. And let every person, who shall
read and profit by this book, give a blessing on the soul
of MacManus {i.e., Cathal Maguire)."
In the decree of Pope Alexander VI., we can observe
the vigilant care with which the Church guards her holy
places against even the least infringement of the esta-
blished and authorized discipline. " Holy Church," says
one of our great writers, " neither admits nor encourages,
even by silence, anything contrary to truth, virtue, or
piety." Hence, in the case of Lough Derg, she did not
hesitate to interrupt that pilgrimage until the abuses com-
plained of had been removed. But, as the interval during
which it was closed was only of short duration, we may
conclude that Rome soon after lent its sanction to the
place; and thus the pilgrimage, without further let or
hindrance from the ecclesiastical authorities, has ever
since maintained its salutary influence throughout the long
ordeal of persecution which swept over and laid desolate
most of the other religious institutions of our country.
LOUGH DERG. lo:
CHAPTER XII.
REOPENING OF THE PILGRIMAGE — SITE OF THE CAVERNA
PURGATORII — CHANGE OF PILGRIMAGE IN THE SIX-
TEENTH CENTURY ITS JURISDICTION, IN WHOM
VESTED THE COURSE OF PENANCE AND DEVOTION
THERE PERFORMED DURING THE SIXTEENTH AND
SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES.
gT)^^p:^HAT the Pilgrimage of St. Patrick's Pur-
"^ ' ' ~^'"' gatory remained closed but for a brief
period seems certain. It is stated that
George Cromer, Archbishop of Armagh,
made a strong appeal to Rome in favour
of its reopening ; and that, acceding to
his solicitations, Pius III., \Yho succeeded to the
Papacy in 1503, recalled the Bull of Pope Alex-
ander, and issued another, granting indulgences to the
pilgrims and certain faculties to the community of Lough
Derg, which Bull has ever since continued in force-
Messingham (Florilegium, p. 125,) states that, on the
nature of its devotions being explained to the Holy See,
indulgences were attached to this pilgrimage before the
close of the sixteenth century.
So soon after the closing of the cave as 1504 we find
that the Prior in charge of it was the Rev. Turlough, or
Terence, Maguire, of whom the following notice is re-
corded in the Annals of the Four Masteis : — "1504.
lo6 PILGRIMAGE OF
Turlough Maguire, who had been Canon Chorister at
Clogher, Pastor of Derryvullen, and Prior of Lough Derg,
fell down a stone staircase at the town of Athboy, about
the Festival of St. Patrick, and died of the fall, and he
was buried in the monastery of Cavan."*
Nor did the edict of Alexander VT. deter foreign pil-
grims from visiting this sanctuary as of old, as we may
fairly deduce from the following notable instance, taken
from he Annals already referred to : —
"Anno 1 516. A French knight came upon his pil-
grimage to St. Patrick's Purgatory on Lough Gerg, and
on his arrival and at his departure he visited O'Donnell,
from whom he received great honours, gifts, and presents ;
and they formed a great intimacy and friendship with
each other, and the knight, upon hearing that the castle
of Sligo was defended against O'Donnell, promised to
send him a ship with great guns."
The question as to where the purgatorial cave was
originally situated remains as yet surrounded with a good
deal of uncertainty. By writers on the subject it is gene-
rally supposed to have been on Saints' Island ; but I am
inclined to hold that, before the Augustinians became
occupants of the place in the twelfth century, tin's cave
was situated on the " Island of the Purgatory," now
called Station Island. This opinion is supported by the
authority of Giraldus Cambrensis, who, soon after Henry
of Salfrey's narrative had appeared, wrote an account of
this country, in which he referred to Lough Derg. From
•Jn 1480 this was chosen as a burial place by his kinsman, Thomas
Oge Maguire, an illustrious pilgrim.
LOUGH DERG. I07
this account it would appear that the cave was not in his
time on Saints' Island, but on the smaller island, evi-
dently the present Station Island. Other v/riters, also,
inclined to the same opinion, though they may have
rested their authority on Giraldus' statement. This con-
jecture is strengthened by the reason assigned in the
Annals of Ulster for the closing of the cave — namely,
that " it was not the cave shown by God to St. Patrick" —
as well as by the fact that, after the decree of suppression,
Station Island was thenceforward chosen as the place of
pilgrimage. Hence we may fairly argue thcit the place of
purgation or penance may have been originally, as at
present, on Station Island ; here, too, St. Patrick may
have prayed and done penance ; and here those visions
regarding the future state of suffering and uf bliss may
have been witnessed. By accepting this opinion it would
follow that the Canons Regular had established another
Caverna Purgatorii on Saints' Island, for the twofold
purpose of having it convenient to their monastery, and
of saving themselves and the pilgrims from the difficulty
and danger of the lake passage.
The Most Rev. Peter Lombard, Archbishop of
Armagh, who wTote his Commentcwius de Rciio Hibe7'nicc
in the year 1600 — about a hundred years alter the edict
of suppression — says that in his time the guardianship of
the Purgatory remained in the hands of the Augustinians^
but the pilgrimage was conducted on Station Island. His
words are : — " On the other island" (Saints' Island) "is
a convent of St. Augustine, subject to tlie abbot and
monastery of SS. Peter and Paul, situated in the see of
I08 PILGRIMAGE OF
Armagh. Yet he, who on this lake is chief of the monks,
is honoured with the title of Prior of the Purgatory. Two
of these monks always reside in turn on the Island of the
Purgatory, to receive and instruct, as spiritual fathers,
those pilgrims who come there to expiate their sins."
And, speaking of the Island of the Purgatory — the
present Station Island — the same Dr. Lombard writes :
"In it are situated the 'following holy places, which are
thus separate respectively from each other. In the first
place, an elegant church, surrounded by a cemetery, in
which church, along with certain other relics of St.
Patrick, is preserved in the wall the stone on which the
saint used to repose his head instead of a pillow. Se-
condly, a grotto a few paces to the north of the church,
which is variously termed the Cave of the Purgatory, the
Purgatory of St. Patrick, and even St. Patrick's Pit,
which, though it is now almost on a level with the ground
in its vicinity, was formerly of very great depth ; but in
the lapse of time and on different occasions, as tradition
has it, both by the ordinance of successive bishops and
with the approval of the Roman Pontiffs, it has thus
become gradually raised to the surface of the earth about
it. Its length, width, and height are such as to admit of
twelve, or at most fourteen, persons arranged two and two
in order, not standing erect, but profoundly inclined. Its
walls and roof are of stone. At one side there is a small
window, at which those bound to read the canonical
hours are placed ; and at its extreme end lies a stone, on
which St. Patrick used to pray on bended knees, and
which still retains the impression of his knees. This
LOUGH DERG. I09
Stone covers the mouth of that dread abyss, which is said
to have been formed at the prayers of the saint. Thirdly,
beyond this cave, and facing the north, are seven cells or
stations, in memory of the more distinguished saints of
Ireland, which cells are called ledi ponosi. Fourthly, on
the opposite side of the church, towards the west, stand
some inns or cottages for the accommodation of the pil-
grims." Dr. Lombard then proceeds to describe the
penitential devotions of the pilgrimage, which substan-
tially correspond with accounts given by later writers,
hereafter to be noticed. His information regarding tlie
place he received from persons who made the pilgrimage
a few years previously. And he adds that the form of
penance there observ^ed was practised by such numbers
that the English Deputy could neither prevent them nor
attempt to desecrate the place itself.
In this description, as given by Dr. Lombard, we have
a fair outline of Station Island as it was about three
hundred years ago. Allowing that the church of the
pilgrims stood where St. Mary's Church now stands ; that
the cave was situated convenient to the present campanile
(and this is confirmed by the remains of a narrow build-
ing, corresponding with the dimensions of the cave,
which may be seen at either side of the campanile, and
which tradition points to as part of the cave), which
would be certainly "a few paces to the north of the
church ;" that the penal beds held the same position they
now occupy, "beyond the cave, and facing the north ;"
that the inns or cells stood where the presbytery and line
of lodging-houses now stand, '' on the opposite side of
no PILGRIMAGE OF
the church, towards the west ;" we are thus enabled to
identify Dr. Lombard's outline and references. In his
description what perplexes us most is his reference to a
cemetery, seeing that the cemetery is situated on Saints'
Island. Dr. Lombard, however, may have borrowed his
phraseology from the situation of the church and cave in
former times on Saints' Island, and to have drawn, in
this instance, on the language of Henry of Saltrey, who
describes the cave as being //; ccemeterio extra fro7iiem
ecdcsice. Besides, it is worthy of note that in opening the
foundations of St. Mary's new church in 1870, human
bones, some of which I have lately seen on the island,
w^ere discovered. These remains, which are in a remark-
able state of preservation, would sustain the statement
made by Dr. Lombard, that the church on Station Island
had in his time a cemetery attached to it.
The topography of the Island of the Purgatory during
the early part of the seventeenth century is also pretty
accurately given in Sir James Ware's Aiitiquities of Irela7id
(London, 1654), where we find a description of St.
Patrick's Purgatory, together with a map of the island on
which the pilgrimage was then conducted. The island
marked on his map must be Station Island ; for he
describes pretty accurately its extent as being scarce
three-quarters of an Irish acre, whereas Saints' Island is
fully ten times as large. This island is represented on
his map as somewhat circular, whereas Station Island is
in form an oblong strip of rock : but this may be accounted
for by the circular appearance which it certainly presents
from the shore of the lake. Ware thus describes the
LOUGH DERG. Ill
island, the church, the cave, and the circles or " beds :" —
" It is to be noted that the circles, commonly called
* beds,' enclosed with stone walls scarce three feet high,
were the places where the pilgrims performed their
penance. As to the cave itself, it was built of freestone,
and covered with broad flags, and green turf laid over
them. The door being shut, there is no light but what
enters at a little window in the corner. It is in length,
within the walls, sixteen feet and a-half, and in breadth
two feet one inch. And as the cave itself is small, so
likewise is the island, which is scarce three-quarters of an
Irish acre. The church of the island was heretofore
called Regies* whether so from the relics there preserved,
or because inhabited by Regular Canons, let others
inquire."
On Sir James Ware's map are marked the Regies, or
church — a cruciform building, the exact model and on
the site of the old St. Mary's Church ; St. Patrick's Cross ;
the Caverna^ near it to the left ; circiilus vel lectiis
S. Bj'igidce, lectus S. Catheri?ice, S. Co/umbce, S. Brendafif,
lecliilus S. Abogi et Molasri et sii Patricii ; and there are
also seven little lodging-houses represented round the
margin of the island.
It would appear that the place of pilgrimage on Lough
Derg, although territorially surrounded by the parish of
Templecarn, formed in itself a distinct and separate
jurisdiction from a very remote period. Originally,
indeed, the community at Lough Derg may have
*A church erected by St. Columbkille at Derry was kno^^^l as the
"Otiibh-fle^lef.
112 PILGRIMAGE OF
ministered to the spiritual wants of the district known as
Termon-Magrath ; but in the thirteenth or fourteenth
century a parish church was erected at Templecarn, and
a pastor appointed to the benefice, thus leaving the
monks undivided charge of the monastery and of the
pilgrimage. That this conjecture is well-founded would
appear from the fact that in 1504 Turlough Maguire, who
was Prior of Lough Derg, was then Pastor of Derryvulkn,
which clearly suggests that the priorate of Lough Derg
and the pastorate of Termon-Magrath were two distinct
offices and jurisdictions. Again, it is stated in the
Memoir of Most Rev. Peter Lombard^ by the Most Rev.
Dr. Moran, that Hugh O'Neil, Earl of Tyrone, claimed
and obtained from the Holy Father, in the year 1609,
the restoration of the right of appointment to certain
benefices, in the list of which Termon-IMagrath is included.
It is most unlikely, however, that the right of nominating
the Prior of Lough Derg was included in that concession ;
whence it would seem to follow that Lough Derg was
then, as now, a distinct jurisdiction. Nor can I find any
record in ancient or modern times of any Pastor of
Templecarn having been Prior of Lough Derg, of having
exercised any parochial jurisdiction there, or of having
exercised any spiritual jurisdiction there, except under
the sanction and delegation of the bishop of the diocese.
The Augustinian Canons conducted the pilgrimage till
their expulsion in 1632. Next, Franciscan Friars had
charge of it till towards the close of the last century, when
the Bishop of Clogher (in which diocese Lough Derg
lies) appointed one of the secular clergy of his diocese to
LOUGH DERG. II3
officiate as prior. Since that time a prior and assistant
confessors for the pilgrims are annually appointed by the
bishop of the diocese. And it is but just to add that,
under the paternal care of the bishop and clergy of
Ciogher, Lough Derg has flourished as a pilgrimage,
maintained its hold on the affections of the faithful,
braved triumphantly many obstacles and enemies, and,
after centuries of persecution, still continues to be the
proudest heritage of Ireland's faith and piety.
That Lough Derg was visited by great numbers of
pilgrims during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
is put beyond doubt by the testimony of the Bollandists
(]\Iarch 17, p. 590), who say that in the sixteenth century
it was visited by 1,500 pilgrims at the same time; and
Archbishop Fleming, of Dubhn, tells us that in 1625
many had to return without finding room to land on the
island. I here insert the account of this pilgrimage,
written by Dr. Fleming to the Internuncio at Brussels,
on the 20th of August, 1625, from which we may infer
what the course of penance at this pilgrimage then was : —
'' The pious and innumerable pilgrimages of the faith-
ful this year are a pledge of great fervour ; for, like bees
to the beehive, there daily flock such numbers from every
corner of the kingdom, for penitential purposes, to a
certain island, which is called the Purgatory of St. Patrick,
and which is situated in the centre of a lake, that many
have been obliged to return without satisfying their pious
desire, there being no room for landing on the island.
This pilgrimage, though, through the bitter persecutions
of heresy, it has been almost abandoned for many years,
114 PILGRIMAGE OF
was once so celebrated throughout the Christian world,
that many from the most distant parts even of the Conti-
nent visited it in a spirit of devotion. The manner of
performing the pilgrimage, as it is now observed from
ancient tradition, is as follows : — Each person, from the
day he arrives on the island till the tenth following day,
never departs from it. All this time is, without inter-
mission, devoted to fasting, watching, and prayer. If
they wish to give rest to their body they must sleep on
the bare ground, and for the most part under the broad
canopy of heaven. They receive but one refection, and
that consists of bread and water. It is incredible what
severe austerities and bodily mortifications females, as well
as men, and persons of every age and condition, endure
whilst they perform this penitential course. During
twenty-four hours they are shut up in certain caves, like
unto prisons, where they pass the whole day and night,
entirely absorbed in prayer, and receiving nothing to eat
or to drink.
*' I have thought it well to mention this fact, for I am
sure your Excellency will be rejoiced to see that the
natives of this island, by this so great and so unparalleled
an impetus of devotion, seek to appease the anger of
God ; and we may confidently hope that by their fervour
He will be appeased, Who listens to the prayers of those
who have recourse to Him in their afflictions."
The contemporary ^vriter, Messingham (p. 95), de-
scribes the course of penance, as then performed on
Lough Derg, more in detail : — " During the nine days of
the pilgrimage/' he says, " a rigorous fast was observed
LOUGH DERG. II5
on oaten bread and water of the lake. The pilgrim was
first conducted barefoot to the Church of St. Patrick,
around which he moved on his knees, seven times inside
and seven times outside, repeating all the while stated
prayers of the Church. He was then conducted to seven
places, or stations, known as lecti pcenosi, which were
formerly small churches, or sanctuaries, dedicated to
various saints ; and at each of these he repeated the visit
as above. The next station was around a cross in the
cemetery, and subsequently at another cross that was
fixed in a mound of stones. Thence he proceeded, over
a rough and rocky path, to a spot on the border of the
lake, to which tradition pointed as the place on which
St. Patrick had knelt in prayer. Here also certain
prayers were appointed to be recited. All this pilgrimage
and prayer was repeated three times each day — morning,
noon, and evening — during the first seven days ; on the
eighth day it was repeated six times ; confession and
communion followed on the morning of the ninth day ;
and then the pilgrims entered the cave, where twenty-
four hours were devoted to fasting and meditation. Any
that chose not to enter the cave passed these twenty-four
hours in solitude at one of the former stations."
Carve states that, besides their fasting, watching, and
other bodily austerities, the pilgrims offered prayers to
God for the common welfare of the Church, and for the
preservation of true peace and concord amongst all
Christians.
But the darkest day in the history of Lough Derg is
drawing near, when the Calvinists, under Government
Il6 PILGRIMAGE OF
orders, desecrated and demolished this sanctuary, on
which Primate Lombard bestowed the distinguished title
of being " the most celebrated and holy place in Ire-
land f when the apostate English determined to destroy
that shrine of religion, where their forefathers in the
Ages of Faith had done penance ; where King Aldfred of
Northumbria had prayed to St. Patrick before his return
to England from the schools of Mayo and Lisgoole ; and
where Harold, afterwards King of England (not to speak
of many other princes and nobles of that country, who
had done likewise), made pilgrimage about the year 1050
to the '' miraculous cave of St. Patrick." Of the doom
which awaited Lough Derg at the hands of the Calvinists,
let the following chapter bear evidence.
LOUGH DERG. 117
CHAPTER XIII.
DESTRUCTION OF THE RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENT ON
LOUGH DERG — EXPULSION OF THE AUGUSTINIAN MONKS
— GROUND-PLAN AND DESCRIPTION OF THE RUINS ON
saints' ISLAND— dr. KIRWAN, BISHOP OF KILLALA,
PILGRIM AND CONFESSOR AT LOUGH DERG — TESTIMONY
OF THE NUNCIO RINUCCINI IN ITS FAVOUR— THE BELL
OF ST. DABHEOC.
^^^B.OM an inquisition, taken at Donegal in
'^ the first year of the reign of James I., and
f^ copied by O'Donovan into his Donegal
^(^ Letters, it would appear that the Augus-
tinians were driven from Lough Derg,
and their monastery and church pulled
down, even before the year 1632. The docu-
ment in question runs thus : — " In the parts of
Ulster, near the territory called O'Donnell's Countrie, are
the walls and monuments of a certain monastery, or
priory, late house of the Canonical Friars, called the
Priory of Loughdarge, alias commonly called 'St.
Patrick's Purgatory ;' which priory now is very much on
the decay, and has these many years past been totally
abandoned and dissolved. The aforesaid priory lies and
is situate in a certain small island in the middle of a lake,
called Lochdarg, about fifteen miles from the village of
Donnagall aforesaid. The prior of the monastery afore-
Il8 PILGRIMAGE OF
said, at the time of the dissolution and abandoning afore-
said, was seized as of fee, in right of the priory aforesaid,
of the site, circuit, ambit, and precinct of the said late
house, with the appurtenances, in which are an old
church very ruinous, and walls of stone lately levelled,
with small piece of land circumjacent, containing one
and a-half acres of land ; and of the whole island aforesaid,
containing about ten acres; and of certain lands and
hereditaments to the said house and island adjacent,
called Termon-^Iagrath and Termon-McMonghan, con-
taining four quarters of land of the great measure."
That the absence of the Augustinians from this establish-
ment was but temporary, and in consequence of the per-
secution then setting in against this stronghold of Catholic
piety, we may infer from the testimony of Dr. Lombard,
as also from the report of Sir William Stewart, who found
there an abbot and forty friars in 1632. From the fore-
going document we can easily understand how the English
garrison at that time in Ireland, well aware of King
James' hostility to the Catholic religion, lost no time in
visiting with destruction this sacred retreat, in testifying
their zeal for the work of the Reformation, and in com-
forting the Royal conscience by sending forward this
very favourable report.
We have already seen how, with the troubadours, poets,
and romancists of the middle ages, Lough Derg had
become the theme of poetic tales ; and how legends and
stories regarding it formed part of the sensational litera-
ture of the period. In these tales poetic imagination
conducted those who visited the island of Lough Derg,
LOUGH DERG. II9
at first to the regions of Purgatory, and afterwards to the
abodes of the blessed or of the damned. At the out-
break of the so-called Reformation, Protestant writers
seized on these legends and tales, as if they were matters
of fact, and made use of them in order to cast ridicule on
the pious practices of the Catholic Church. By degrees
they began to level their attacks on this time-honoured
sanctuary. In the beginning of the reign of James I.
they demolished its churches and oratories. But, despite
their efforts, the faithful still continued to flock to it in
great numbers, which so enraged the enemies of our faith
that the Lords-Justices, on the 13th of September, 1632,
made a last eftbrt to destroy this pilgrimage. The author
of the Mojiasticon Hibernicon states that it was in the year
1630 the Government of Ireland decided on having it
finally suppressed, and he adds — " It was accordingly
dug up, to the no small distress and loss of the Roman
Catholic clergy."
For some centuries before the period at which we have
arrived, the Magraths of Termon-Dabheoc w^re heredi-
tary guardians of the lands assigned to the sanctuary of
Lough Derg. Their family residence was a strong keep
or castle, known as the Castle of Termon-Magrath, the
ruins of which yet remain a short distance below Pettigo,
to the left of the line of railway from Enniskillen to Bun-
doran. " The only portion of the parish of Templecarn
and county of Donegal bordering on Lough Erne is close
to this old keep of the ^Nlagraths. The soil here is very
rich ; and what with wooded shores, lake, islands, and
lofty mountains, the visitor will here behold the most
I20 PILGRIMAGE OF
charming scenery in the north-west of Ireland. The
tradition is still kept that this castle was built by the
famous Miler Magrath, the eldest son of Donogh, other-
wise Gillamagna Magrath of Termon-Magrath, of Avhich
that family had been erenachs. If built by him, it was
probably before his apostasy, which took place at
Drogheda, on the 31st of May, 1567. During his four
or five months' possession of the temporalities of Clogher,
as its first Protestant bishop, it is likely he ventured not
to revisit the family residence, but took up his abode at
Ballymacann (Ferdross ?), near Clogher. That this
patrimony of Lough Dcrg escaped the grasp of the so-
called Reformers down to the reign of Charles I. is certain.
During this reign the representatives of government in
Ireland, after publicly announcing that, in the opinion of
the " Papists," there was a passage from this island to the
other world, and an entrance to the realms of purgatory,
issued orders to have the whole island dug up, and that
especially no portion of the cave should remain un-
destroyed. With this object the Lord -Justice Boyle
ordered Sir James Balfour and Sir William Stewart to
seize unto his Majesty's use the Island of Purgatory.
On the 1 2th of September, 1632, the very day before
the Government orders were carried out at Lough Derg,
a messenger came from Donegal to forewarn the monks
of their impending fiite. He communicated to them, as
a local tradition has it, what he overheard amongst the
military at Donegal, and besought them to escape in time,
and thus save themselves from their enemies. The
monks, however, determined to remain at their post, and
LOUGPI DERG. 12 1
calmly to a^vait the consequences. In the meantime,
familiar as they now were to such hostile visitations, they
made ready for the worst, having first secreted in a safe
hiding-place in the ground the more cumbrous articles of
value — reserving only for removal such articles as they
might bring with them without attracting the notice of
the greedy soldiery. At length, after a night of sorrow
and suspense, the morning of their expulsion dawned ;
and as the day advanced a company of cavalry from
Donegal was observed making their way over the moun-
tains, and advancing quickly towards the lake. In the
most summary way possible they ordered the venerable
abbot and his community, which consisted of forty
monks — *' all fine, able men,'' as my informant tradi-
tionally learned — to take their departure. A detachment
of soldiers was directed to escort the monks as far as
Portcreevy Bay, to make sure of their departure, and to
prevent them from being eye-witnesses of that ruthless
destruction, which had already befallen their consecrated
abode. The afflicted monks, having taken their last
look, and, as it proved, their last farewell of Lough Derg,
proceeded, we may suj^pose, towards Devenish, Lisgoole,
and Clones, where flourished houses of their order, and
where stood guest-houses or hospices, which for centuries
past were chiefly occupied by pilgrims to Lough Derg.
As to the manner in which the Government orders
were carried out, Sir William Stewart informed the Privy
Council that, on proceeding to Lough Derg, " he found
there an abbot and forty monks, and that there was a
daily resort of four hundred and fifty pilgrims, who paid
122 PILGRIMAGE OF
eightpence each for admission to the island. He farther
states that, in order to prevent the seduced people from
going any longer to this stronghold of Purgatory, and
wholly to take away the abuse hereafter, he had directed
the whole to be defaced and utterly demolished. There-
fore, the walls, works, foundations, vaults, &c., he ordered
to be rooted up ; also the place called St. Patrick's Bed,
and the stone on which he knelt. These and all other
superstitious relics he ordered to be thrown into the lake,
and he made James Magrath, the owner of the island, to
enter into recognizances that he should not in future per-
mit the entrance of Jesuits, friars, nuns, or any other
superstitious order of Popery to enter therein."*
To aggravate the atrocity of this act of vandalism, it is
related that Knox, whom James I. dubbed Bishop of
Raphoe, witnessed from the shore of the lake and encou-
raged by his presence the work of destruction — a pro-
ceeding which completely casts in shade the sacrilege of
the Protestant Archbishop, who unroofed the buildings
on the Rock of Cashel.
But 'mid weal and woe the Irish heart had entwined
round the holy island of Lough Derg. Though the
Augustinian Canons were not destined to return to Saints'
Island, a place of residence for the officiating priests was
erected on Station Island ; the ruined church and crosses
and oratories were again put in some sort of repair by
loving hands ; and the pilgrimage rose again, phoenix-like,
from its ashes.
• Taken from Rev. Caesar Otway's Sketches in Donegal.
LOUGH DERG. 1 23
Before tracing the onward progress of the pilgrimage
on Station Island, I think it will not be unacceptable to
give a sketch and outline of the ruins on Saints' Island,
which have suffered little from the hand of man for the
last two hundred and forty-six years. And, even making
allowance for the " wear and tear of time," they remain
in much the same state in which they were left by the
Puritan soldiers of 1632.
The accompanying engraving of Saints' Island, which
was sketched by W. F. Wakeman, Esq., of Enniskillen,
on the 4th of September, 1877, will convey a pretty
accurate idea of how complete was the work of the
destroyer, as neither buildings nor ruined walls are to be
observed on it. In order to obtain a favourable view for
this sketch, we rowed out some distance from Saints'
Island, in the direction of Station Island. Here in the
background appeared, on the one side, Meenanellison,
which signifies the mountain meadow of the little fort (this
fort being still observable there) ; and on the other side,
Croagh Breac — ?>., the speckled stack mountain — which
derives its name from the numerous gray crags that here
and there jut out from among the heather, giving it in
reality this speckled appearance.
On the southern shore of Saints' Island the stone piers,
on which rested a bridge of beams, are still to be seen.
Between these piers there is a channel about twenty yards
wide, and from twenty to thirty feet in depth ; and
through this channel flows a strong current from the
upper lake. Some twenty yards down this channel a
boatman on the lake, not long since, observed two fir-
124 PILGRIMAGE OF
beams, with iron cranks attached ; the inference being
that they formed part of the old bridge, and were washed
down the bed of the channel by the force of the current.
A short distance to the west of this bridge, on the
mainland, and at the very shore, may be seen the foun-
dation-stones of an old building, the enclosure being
completely filled with the fallen walls. Tradition points
this out as the ferry-house of Teague O'Doherty, whose
name yet lives in the folklore of the locality. It is also
said that Teague had charge of the ferry from Portcreevy
to Station Island — remains of his boat-quay at Portcreevy
being yet in very good order, where a goodly sprinkling
of oak, ash, and sycamore trees lends a sylvan charm to
this once-frequented harbour. For four or five generations
O'Dohertys lived on the slopes of Augh-Keen mountain ;
but they are long since extinct in that locality.
On the very summit of Saints' Island portion of the old
hy, which we have already referred to in Chapter V. of
this work, may be seen. Immediately adjoining it, on
the eastern side, is the cemetery, which measures thirty-
five yards in length, by twenty-seven yards in width. It
was surrounded by a strong wall, nov/ very much in ruin.
In the centre of the cemetery may be seen the dilapidated
remains of a very small structure. It measures externally,
as far as I could make out, eighteen or nineteen feet in
length, by about twelve feet in width. This was very
probably the Caverjia Furgaforii, though on the Ordnance
Map it is marked towards the eastern extremity of the
island ; for it corresponds with the dimensions of this
ancient cave, and agrees also with the description given
LOUGH DERG. I 25
of it by Saltrey and others, -^'ho state that it was situated
/// cce??ieterio extra frontem eccksicB. About twelve feet west
of this structure I observed a circular heap of stones,
which may have been the former situs of St. Patrick's
Cross, hereafter to be noticed. Immediately adjoining
this structure, on its northern side, a long flagstone
covers what tradition points out as the grave of a friar.
East of the cemetery, but quite convenient to it, there are
two circular heaps of stones, which may have been saints'
" beds " in former times. The space here is enclosed by
an earthen fence, and south of this enclosure, what would
seem to have been a garden extended, which terminates
in a long terrace beside the shore of the lake. AVood-
bine and willows now fringe this terrace, forcibly remind-
ing us of that striking line in Goldsmith's " Auburn " : —
" Near yonder copse, where once a garden smiled."
On the eastern declivity of the island, between the
cemetery and the shore, are the ruins of what I suppose
to have been the church of the pilgrimage. The walls
now remaining are only about two or three feet high, and
its measurements are thirty-six feet long by twenty-six in
width. Immediately adjoining this church is an open
space enclosed by a wall, also in a very ruined condition,
which measures sixty-six yards round the enclosure.
This wall of enclosure is six-sided, and I strongly suspect
that the seven penitential beds of the pilgrimage were
within this. Behind this sexangular enclosure, a round
hollow may be observed in the ground. It is almost
filled up with earth, and is seldom to be seen without
water. Tradition states that this was the Pilgrims' Well,
126 PILGRIMAGE OF
and that the pilgrims used liere perform their ablutions
before departing from Saints' Island.
At the eastern extremity of the island large quantities
of building material have been thrown down the slope of
the bank. Here it is said the monastery stood ; but
everything is in such a ruined state as to baffle identifi-
cation or trace of either walls or foundations. The trees
and bushes, which have here taken such deep root, render
it an easy matter for rabbits (here so numerous) to burrow
amongst the debris, thus adding to the ruin already
existing. The natives of Lough Derg relate how treasure-
seekers tore up the ruins at the eastern shore of the lake,
as it was supposed the monks buried here their valuables.
This story may have been occasioned by the search which
a certain Frenchman (of whom more hereafter) is said to
have iliade here for the ancient Purgatorium, An under-
ground passage is said to have connected the monastery
with the church ; and from the churcli to the cemetery a
narrow cloister, which is still quite distinct, extended.
Amongst the debris referred to, some freestone coigns,
door-blocks, and flags, well dressed and chiselled, are to
be found ; and it is said that many of the ornamental cut
stones on Saints' Island were long since carried off by
peasants throughout the surrounding mountains, and con-
verted to mean and profane purposes — a species of
vandalism that cannot be too highly reprobated.
A little farther down the bank, facing Station Island
and bordering on the margin of the lake, stood a small
building, the object of which I cannot conjecture. It
measured fifteen feet in width, by twenty-two in length.
LOUGH DERG. I 27
It should be added that Saints' Island was enclosed all
round by an earthen fence ; and in addition to this, at the
eastern extremity, there was an outer wall of enclosure
(the outline of which is still discernible), built a few
yards from the shore, out in the shallow water, and
reaching round the eastern extremity of the island. This
wall, which is of horseshoe form, has a convenient
landing-place at either extremity, and from its extremities
a strong earthen fence ran across the ridge of the island,
thus securely enclosing the church and monastery.
Amongst the natives of Lough Derg the opinion prevails
that the purgatorial cave was situated at or near the
eastern extremity of Saints' Island, where the large quan-
tity of rubbish lies scattered about. The Ordnance
Survey party, strange to say, confounded it with the
church of the pilgrimage, whicli they have marked as the
Purgatory. But the opinion I have already advanced as
to its site — namely, that it corresponds with the little
ruined structure in the middle of the cemetery — is, I
think, the most tenable.
From the outline we have given of Saints' Island, we
hope that pilgrims and tourists will be enabled to form a
pretty fair estimate of the extent and celebrity of the
pilgrimage, whilst here conducted ; as also to recognise
the singular interposition of Divine Providence, which
has enabled it to survive so many vicissitudes and so
much persecution.
During the reign of James II. respite was afforded to
the pilgrimage. A church with a thatched roof^ts
dimensions 40 by 1 1 feet — was erected, having an aisle
128 PILGRIMAGE OF
on the south side i6 feet square. This church was
ruinous in 1727, when Richardson wrote of it; but, he
says, the aisle was then lately repaired. The presbytery
and cabins for the pilgrims were equally humble, and
quite in keeping with the church. Hence it does not
surprise us to hear that the winter storms each year had
such ruinous effect on them, and that at the opening of
each station such labour was needed to put them in
suitable repair.
In the Life of Dr. Kirwan, Bishop of Killala, by John
Lynch, Archdeacon of Tuam, and first printed in 1669,*
we have a faithful description of the austerities then
endured at this penitential retreat, as well as of the
motives which induced the faithful to flock thither in
such numbers. Dr. Lynch writes: — "That he'' (Dr.
Kirwan) " might not be wanting in any species of piety,
he reverenced in his soul the custom of undertaking
pilgrimages. Nor was he satisfied with visiting such
places in Connaught as were consecrated by the sojourn
of the saints, and, above all, the rugged mountain called
Criiagh-Padrick, which he was wont to frequent. . . .
But often, too, did he go into Ulster, to the far-famed
Purgatory of St. Patrick, in which the pilgrims were wont
to abstain from meat for nine days, using no food save a
little bread and water from the lake. During one of the
nine days they are shut up in the dismal darkness of a
cavern, and, therein fasting, partake of nothing save a
little water to moisten their throats when parched with
* This work, called Icon Antistiiis^\vz.s republished with a trans-
lation in 1848 by Rev. C. P. Meehan.
LOUGH DERG. I 29
thirst. At noontide and evening they go on bended
knees over paths beaten by the feet of saints, and strewn
with sharp stones. In other quarters they walk bare-
footed over rugged ways, in the olden time frequented by
holy men to satisfy for their transgressions. Sometimes
walking and sometimes on their knees, they advance to
a considerable distance into the water. Thus do they
spend the day, pouring out their prayers to God, and
listening to holy discourses ; nor in this sacred place is
there to be seen or heard anything scurrilous or ludicrous.
When night comes on they lie down, not to enjoy
repose, but to snatch a few moments' sleep ; their beds
are of straw, nor do they use any pillow but their gar-
ments. Thrice each day did Francis, with tlie other
pilgrims, punctually perform these duties, and, in addi-
tion, he diligently applied himself to hearing confessions
and preaching sermons."
One of the most favourable testimonies regarding the
renown and sanctity of this pilgrimage is that furnished
by the Papal Nuncio, Rinuccini, in the report of his
nunciature, made to the Holy See on his return to Rome
in 1649. After stating how much he desired to rescue
from the hands of the heretics the far-famed Purgatory of
St. Patrick, he adds : — " The devotions of this deep cave
are of great antiquity, though their first origin is uncer-
tain. It is agreed that the saint chose that spot for his
holy retreats ; and the visions with which he was there
favoured by God, were well known and approved of by
succeeding generations. At present the fury of the
Calvinists has levelled everything with the ground, and
130 PILGRIMAGE OF
filled up the cave ; and thus they destroyed every vestige
of the spot, so do they seek to cancel every trace of its
memory. It seemed to me that my mission from Rome
should embrace this, too, as one of its special objects ;
and I would have been, in part, content, could I have
planted the cross on that island. But I was not blessed
with the fulfilment of this design."*
The Rev. John Richardson, Rector of Belturbet, in
the year 1727 wrote an account of Lough Derg, entitled
the Folly of Filgrif?iages (a most bigoted and hostile pro-
duction), in which he relates that a certain Frenchman,
named Ludovicus Pyrhus, of Bretagne, came to Lough
Derg about the year 1693, for the purpose of discovering
the ancient purgatorial cave. Mr. Richardson's words
are : — '*' In order to do this he employed labourers to dig
and search for it throughout both these islands, the
neighbouring priests giving their assistance. He con-
tinued two summers at this work, and after he had spent
all the money he brought with him, fell a trafficking, and
applied the profit to the same use. At last, as he was
searching among the rubbish of a dwelling-house in the
largest island" (Saints' Island), "he found a window with
iron stanchers. Mr. Art MacCullen, Popish priest of
the parish ; Mr. Mark iMacGratli, and Mr. James Max-
well, a Protestant, who gave me this account, being
present. There happened to be a dark cavity under the
window, and, after digging a little deeper, they found it
to be a cellar window; whereupon Ludovicus Pyrhus
ceased from searching any more, and returned to his
'•'Xunziatura, p. 414.
LOUGH DERG. I3I
native country. Among the rubbish they found a little
bell, which is now in the College of Dublin; and an
image, which is said to be the image of Caoranach, and
is kept on the lesser island for the satisfaction of the
pilgrims."
Whether this Ludovicus Pyrhus had been in search of
the ancient purgatorial cave, or, rather, of the valuables
secreted here by the Augustinian monks, I cannot say ;
but it would seem that this incident it was which gave
rise to the popular tradition still existing here, namely,
that a good many years ago treasure-seekers had torn up
the ruins at the eastern extremity of Saints' Island, but
failed to discover the much-coveted treasure-trove.
The bell said to have been found in the ruins on
Saints' Island by Ludovicus Pyrhus was probably the
Bell of St. Dabheoc. I have heard that many years ago
a square bronze bell, purporting to be St. Dabheoc's Bell,
was preserved on one of the altars at Lough Derg ; but
there is now no trace or record of its whereabouts. If
this be the bell found by Ludovicus Pyrhus — and it is
very likely — then, if it be true that in Mr. Richardson's
time it was preserved in the " College of Dublin " (i.e..
Trinity College), I think it may yet be discovered.
The other object of antiquity, namely, the image of
Caoranach, found in the cellar on Saints' Island, is still
preserved on Station Island. This is an image or repre-
sentation, cut in stone, of that fabulous monster, called by
some Caol, by others Caoranach, which, before its
destruction by St. Patrick, is said to have been such a
cause of terror to this whole neighbourhood. This
132 PILGRIMAGE OF
mythological figure somewhat resembles a wolf with a
serpent's tail entwined around it. On the stone on which
it is cut Father Anthony O'Doherty, of the Order of St.
Francis, inscribed the date and purpose of a house which
he founded here in the year 1763, for the accommodation
of the Franciscan Friars then ministering to the pil-
grimage. The stone, with this figure and inscription, is
preserved in the southern gable of St. Patrick's Church
on Station Island ; and we shall hereafter have occasion
to refer to its inscription.
As we have already described the expulsion of tl.e
Augustinian Canons, and the destruction of their monas-
tery on the " Holy Island,'' we shall consider in the next
chapter the progress of this pilgrimage under their pious
successors, the Franciscans.
LO'JGI-I DERG. I^
CHAPTER XIV.
THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS AT LOUGH DERG — CONFISCATION
AND ALIENATION OF THE POSSESSIONS OF THIS PIL-
GRIMAGE — WRITINGS AGAINST IT — THE ENACTMENT OF
QUEEN ANNE — ST. PATRICK'S CROSS — BISHOP HUGH
M'MAHON visits the SANCTUARY — SERMON OF BENE-
DICT xiiL ON ST. Patrick's purgatory — dr. de burgo
AND TURLOUGH O'CAROLAN PILGRIMS TO THIS SANC-
TUARY.
'HEX the community of the Franciscan
]Monastery at Donegal were forced to
abandon their cloisters in 1601, the
greater part of them found a home and a
refuge in Louvain, Brussels, and Antwerp.
Yet some of them preferred remaining in
their native country, hoping that the dawn of
better days might see them restored to their
plundered home by the banks of the Esk. Of these we
may suppose some afforded the consolations of religion
to their persecuted fellow-countrymen ; whilst others, to
supply the void created by the expulsion of the Augus-
tinians, volunteered their services in the difficult and
dangerous office of ministering to the pilgrims, who still
came flocking to the ruined sanctuary of Lough Derg
About the time in question, many of the Augustinian
houses in the north of Ireland had passed into the hands
134
PILGRIMAGE OF
of tiie Franciscans ; many of tlie missionary clergy were
also Franciscans, and even some of the bishops. In a
Relation of the northern dioceses by Primate Oliver
Plunket, dated INIarch 6th, 1675, we find the following
reference to Clogher and Raphoe, which fully carries out
what we have said regarding the Franciscans : — " The
diocese of Clogher is about fifty miles long and sixteen
wide ; it has thirty-five parish priests, two convents of
the Franciscans, and one of the Dominicans. The bishop
is Dr. Patrick Dufty, formerly a Franciscan friar." Of
Raphoe it is said that it has one Franciscan convent.
From these convents, we may rightly conclude, some of
the friars were deputed each season to minister to the
spiritual wants of the pilgrims, as down to the time of
Father Anthony O'Doherty (1763) the friars do not
appear to have had a permanent residence on the island.
Towards the latter part of the seventeenth century,
amongst the Franciscans labouring at Lough Derg,
should be mentioned Friar Conway, who was a maternal
relative of Mr. Edward Nicholson, of IManchester (of
whom more hereafter). It is probable the Rev. Art
IMacCullen and the Rev. IMark M'Grath, who assisted
Ludovicus Pyrhus in his explorations, were also Fran-
ciscans. When Bishop Hugh M'Mahon visited the
island in 1714, he found the Franciscans in charge; and
later on, in the eighteenth century, we find Father
M'Grath and Father O'Doherty, Franciscans, in charge of it.
We have already seen that the church-lands of Lough
Derg were vested in the iMagraths of Termon-Dabheoc :
and that, at the expulsion of the Augustinians in 1632,
LOUGH DERG. I35
James IM'Grath was confirmed in this office, under certain
conditions and stipulations. It appears that this James
]\rGrath was friendly towards the pilgrimage, if we are to
give credit to Richardson, who states that in 1727 there
stood, on the south-eastern part of Station Island,
" St. Patrick's Altar," with an old cross within a circle on
it, inscribed — J^acobus M^'Grath fieri fecit, 1632.* It is
stated in the Auchinleek MSS. that this James M'Grath
afterwards disposed of his right in these termon-lands to
Dr. Spottiswood, Protestant Bishop of Clogher (who died
in 1644). The extract from the Auchinleek ]\ISS. runs
thus : — " Nowe had the Bishopp " (Dr. Spottiswood)
'' gott eight or nyne Townelandes lying contigue to his
new howse in Clogher, which he destinat to be a per-
petuall Demeasnes for his succeeding Bishopps, and gott
an Act ot Estate past thereon. He recovered also other
lands his predecessor, Bishopp Montgomerie, was never
in possession of; as, namelie, the Isle of Devenish, from
the Lord Hastings ; the greatest part of the Island of
Inishmore, from Sir Ralph Goore, Baronet ; the lands of
Termongrathe, from James jMagrath," &c.t These
termon-lands thus became part of the see-lands of the
Protestant bishops of Clogher; and probably at the
union of this bishopric with Armagh by Act of Parliament
(1834), they were purchased by Mr. Leslie, of Glasslough,
County Monaghan (who was the lineal descendant of Dr.
John Leslie, fifth Protestant Bishop of Clogher), their
*0f this inscription I could find no trace at the island.
tSee Rev. \Y. H. Bradshaw's EnnisJzillen Long Ago.
136 • PILGRIiMAGE OF
present owner being Sir John Leslie, Bart, of Castle-
Leslie, Glasslongh.
The pilgrimage of Lough Derg very much exercised
the zeal of the Protestant bishops of Clogher. Dr. James
Spottiswood wrote a treatise on it, intituled St Pati'ick's
Purgatory. His successor. Dr. Henry Jones, also took
it to task in his Patricks Purgatory (London, 1647).
Richardson, in his Folly of Pilgriuiages {T)v\h\m, 1727),
acknowledges in his preface to that work the helps he
received from the " present and late bishops of Clogher.
The draught of the whole island, and of all the super-
stitious things (sic) in it, was sent to me by Bishop Ashe,
being made by an ingenious and worthy clergyman, the
Rev. Joseph Story, pursuant to his lordship's direction.''
We also find that the Rev. Philip Skelton, Rector of
Fintona (in his works, 6 vols., Dublin, 1770), dedicated
his Account of Lough Derg to the then Protestant Bishop
of Clogher (probably Dr. Robert Clayton, of Arian
notoriety). We may here include the Description of
St. Patrick's Purgatory, by the Rev. Mr. Hewson, Pro-
testant Archdeacon of Armagh (Dublin, 1727).
Of all these and kindred notices written of, or rather
against, this pilgrimage in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, we are bound in justice to observe that they
are all animated by a similar spirit of hostility to this
institution of Catholic piety ; and they clearly show how
the Protestant clergy, not content with seeing its churches
and cloisters levelled with the dust, still continued to
pour out the vials of their wrath upon its ruins, and sought
to hold up to the ridicule of the iconoclasts of 1632 and
LOUGH DERG. I37
their sympathizers the devotion and piety of the perse-
cuted faithful, who, albeit their many privations and suf-
ferings, found consolation for their souls in the austere
penances of this holy retreat.
From the destruction of the sanctuary of Lough Derg,
in 1632, down to the second year of the reign of Queen
Anne (1704), the pilgrimage continued each year in-
creasing in the number of its pilgrims, and in its repu-
tation for sanctity. In this year, however, an Act was
passed prohibiting pilgrimages in general, but especially
that of St. Patrick's Purgatory, in the following words : —
" And whereas the superstitions of Popery are greatly
increased and upheld by the pretended sanctity of places,
especially of a place called St. Patrick's Purgatory, in the
County of Donegal, and of wells, to which pilgrimages
are made by vast numbers at certain seasons ....
Be it further enacted, that all such meetings and
assemblies shall be deemed and adjudged riots and
unlawful assemblies, and punishable as such, in all or any
persons meeting at such places as aforesaid. And all
sheriffs, justices of the peace, and other magistrates, are
hereby required to be diligent in putting the laws in force
against all offenders in the above particulars in due
execution." And further on in the same enactment it is
decreed that a fine of ten shillings be inflicted on any
offender, and, in default of payment, that he be publicly
whipped. Also that persons who at such assemblies
build booths or cabins for the sale of victuals or any
other commodity, shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty
shillings, to be forthwith levied by distress. The docu-
138 PILGRIMAGE OF
ment thus concludes : — " And all and every the said
magistrates are hereby required to demolish all crosses,
pictures, and inscriptions that are anywhere publicly set
up, and are the occasions of Popish superstitions."
Regarding the numbers making the pilgrimage in the
commencement of the eighteenth century, the Rev. ]\Ir.
Hewson, who wrote his account of St. Patrick's Purga-
tory, on the ist of August, 1701, says : — "There were
near 5,000 there last year, as the Prior told me, who
registers their names ; but not 2,000 had been this year,
when I was there, and commonly more men than
women." And he afterwards adds — " There were about
300 of these devotees (sixty of which were in the caves)
when I was there." The better to put a stop to the pil-
grimage, the mountain district leading to Lough Derg
was " planted " by Protestant settlers. In tliis district,
extending from Pettigo to Lough Derg, the posterity of
these settlers remain to this day ; and, thougli in former
times tliey and their co-religionists in the neighbouring
counties gave the utmost annoyance to the poor pilgrims,
they are now kindly disposed tOAvards the pilgrimage.
One of the oldest relics of the ancient sanctuary of
Lough Derg is the Cross of St. Patrick. This undoubtedly
stood on Saints' Island when the religious establishment
was there ; and, judging from its style and art, dates as
far back as the twelfth century at least, though Mr.
Wakeman seems to think it may be as old as the ninth
century. The sketch of this cross (which we here pre-
sent to our readers), drawn on the spot by Mr. Wakeman
on the 4th of September, 1877, and engraved by Mrs.
LOUGH DERG.
139
Millard, includes also the fragment of St. Dabheoc's
Cross, described at page 43 of this work. St. Patrick's
Cross exhibits more art, and consequently must be of a
later date than the fragment referred to ; yet it cannot be
questioned that it also is of great antiquity. The shaft of
St. Patrick's Cross, Station Island.
St. Patrick's Cross on Station Island is octagonal at the
base and capital ; between the base and capital it is
circular, with a raised band of spiral tracery running
round it. Its dimensions are — Height of shaft between
capital and pedestal, 3ft. yin. ; height of capital, 4jin. ;
I40 PILGULMAGE OF
diameter of capital, Sin. The capital is formed by three
raised parallel bands and two hollow ones running round
it octagonally. A small portion of the capital has been
broken off; as also the shaft a little above the pedestal,
which, however, is kept together by means of a strong
iron band or clasp. Evidently it was thus broken when
the iconoclasts invaded Saints' Island, and it still presents
the most forcible proof of how complete was the work of
the destroyer. This cross is set into a mound of stones,
or cii'culiis, near the southern gable of St. Patrick's, or
*' Prison " Chapel. Clearly this shaft was surmounted by
a stone cross, which rested in the hollow space whicli
still remains at the top of it. This w^as broken, but in its
place there is a plain iron cross, made fast by lead.
Round this cross the usual ex votis shreds and offerings may
be seen suspended. The popular legend relative to this
cross is that it was transferred miraculously from Saints'
Island, where it formerly stood ; and that the event con-
firmed the selection of Station Island as the place of
pilgrimage. The statement* that this stone cross is the
identical Clogh-Oir, is so reckless and unsupported by
the least evidence as not to deserve any notice ; for even
the merest tyro in Irish history knows full well that the
Clogh-Oir stood at the royal and ecclesiastical city of
Clogher ; and it is still pointed out leaning against the
side of the Protestant church at that place.
What incalculable good Lough Derg has contributed
to religion and morality since its origin, and with what
*This statement has been hazarded in the Irish Monthly, January
number, 1878.
LOUGH DERG. I4I
oil of comfort it soodied the bleeding wounds of our
persecuted country during the long and dismal penal
days, will never be fully realized till the great Accounting
Day. The learned Balmez, in his Europeaii Civilization,
speaking of the advantage to society of the retreats of the
solitaries, and of pilgrimage thereto, justly says : — " It is
impossible not to understand how much these communi-
cations must have contributed to correct and elevate
ideas relating to religion and morality, and to amend and
purify morals." Notwithstanding the enactments so
cruelly enforced against this venerable retreat, it still
remained firmly as ever rooted in the hearts and affec-
tions of the Irish race ; it has outlived the penal days,
and still continues to flourish with increasing life and
renewed vigour.
To give the names of all the distinguished persons who
made pilgrimage to Lough Derg within the last two
hundred years would, indeed, fill many a page. Though
no regular registry of them has been preserved, yet the
names of some of the most distinguished amongst them
we have been able to glean from different sources. From
the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, vol. i.. No. lo (a source
on which I have drawn for many facts and documents in
this work), we learn that Dr. Hugh IM'Mahon, Bishop of
Clogher,* presented to the Sacred Congregation a Relatio
*He was appointed to Clogher in 1707, and translated to Armagh
in 1715. In Dr. Renelian's Collections he is erroneously marked as
appointed to Clogher in 1708, and translated to Armagh in 1709.
In the same work he is said to have been the brother of his successors
in the primacy, Bernard and Ross, v/hereas he was but their uncle.
142 PILGRIMAGE OF
Status of the diocese of Clogher ; and, amongst other
matters, refers in detail to the pilgrimage of Lough Derg,
of which he had personal experience. He visited the
Island of Lough Derg in the disguise of a merchant from
Dublin j for, owing to the temper of the times, it was not
yet safe for a bishop of the Catholic Church to appear in
public. I here give a translation of the Latin copy as
given in the Record^ from which it will be seen that cer-
tain changes had been introduced into the ritual of the
pilgrimage since the time when Peter Lombard wrote of
it. This most important document runs thus : —
" In the northern part of this diocese of Clogher, that
most celebrated place, commonly called St. Patrick's
Purgatory, is situated, in a small island, completely sur-
rounded by a lake, towards which, from the beginning of
June till the end of August, there crowd each year, from
all parts, even the most remote, of this kingdom,
thousands of men and women of every age and condition,
who there spend nine days, living on one meal each day
of oaten bread and water. They lie upon the cold
ground, walk barefoot, and their feet are frequently cut
and bleeding. Thrice each day do they visit the different
stations over a rougli path strewn with sharp pebbles, a
considerable part of which is covered with Avater knee-
deep. At length, on the nintli day, having first made a
general confession, having expiated all the faults of their
life, and being nourished with the Bread of Life, they
enter before twilight a subterraneous pit, which is called
the purgatory, and here they remain four-and-twenty
continuous hours, all the time awake and engaged in
LOUGH DERG. I43
prayer, without any refreshment either of food or drink.
When the same hour arrives on the following day they
go forth, and dip their heads thrice in the cold water.
And thus is completed that pilgrimage, to which idle
inventors of fables have added so many exaggerations
about spectres and visions, which never had any existence
save in the distorted imagination of such story-tellers.
For the three months during which this pilgrimage lasts,
Masses are celebrated from dawn till midday ; confes-
sions are heard ; twice or three times each day a sermon
is addressed to the people, who, with copious tears, sobs,
lamentations, and other marks of penance, frequently
interrupt the preacher. And with such sweetness of
interior grace does our most merciful Lord enrich this
arduous and very austere pilgrimage, that they who before
appeared obdurate and plunged in the mire of vice, come
to feel the strongest stings of compunction. Nor are they
satisfied with approaching this island once or twice ; for
I have found in this diocese persons who made the pil-
grimage as often as fourteen times. The plenary indul-
gence accorded by the Holy Father, Pope Clement X.,
to those visiting this pilgrimage (which will soon expire,
and requires a renewal), has added no small increase to
the fervour of the pious pilgrims. It is regarded by all
as little short of a prodigy how this pilgrimage, though
prohibited by name, in the foremost place, and under the
most severe penalties by Act of Parliament, suffered little
or no interruption from the bitter Scotch Calvinists living
in the neighbourhood and elsewhere. When I myself
visited the place, under the guise of a Dublin merchant
144 PILGRIMAGE OF
(for under the disguise of a trader or tradesman the
prelates and non-registered priests of this country gene-
rally find it necessary to conceal themselves), the minister
of that district received me very kindly. Though every-
'where else throughout the kingdom the ecclesiastical
functions have ceased, on account of the prevailing per-
secution ; in this island, as if it were placed in another orb,
the exercise of religion is free and public, which is
ascribed to a special favour of Divine Providence, and to
the merits of St. Patrick. When I was there, an English
Protestant, induced by the fame of the place and out of
curiosity, came there ; and, being moved to compunction
at the example of the penitents, forthwith abjured heresy.
The Franciscan Fathers, beyond all the other ecclesiastics
who came there, labour the most strenuously. At this
pilgrimage I remarked one custom (not to call it an
abuse), namely, that they who are about to enter tlie
cave have iNIass celebrated for them, which is always a
missa de requiem^ just as if they were dead to the world,
and ready for sepulture ; which, when I was anxious to
abrogate, at least on Sundays and the principal festivals,
on which should be said the Mass conformable to the
office, they claimed the authority of immemorial posses-
sion and of custom to the contrary, first originated, as
tradition says, by St. Patrick himself ; which, being con-
stantly asserted by learned and scrupulous men, has per-
plexed me, and therefore I beg to be instructed by your
Eminences as to what I am to do thereon."
Soon after Dr. I^I']\Iahon sent his Relatio to Rome,
supplicating a renewal of the indulgences accorded to this
LOUGH DERG.
145
pilgrimage by the Sovereign Pontiff, the Cardinal Arch-
bishop of Benevento, subsequently raised to the Papal
chair under the name of Benedict XIII., addressed a
homily to his flock on the subject of St. Patrick's Pur-
gatory. The Most Rev. Dr. Donnelly, Bishop of
Clogher, when attending the sessions of the Vatican
Council in 1870, saw in the library of St. Clement's
Dominican Convent, Rome, a copy of the sermon which
Benedict XIII., while yet Cardinal, preached in praise of
this pilgrimage. The sermon is classed Number 13
amongst several other sermons treating of the various
purgatories, or places of purgation, throughout the world.
Since the time of Benedict XIII. the devotions of this
pilgrimage have been specially cherished and encouraged
by the Holy See.
In the year 1748 that learned prelate of the Irish
Church, Dr. Thomas De Burgo, author of the Hibe7'iiia
Dominical la^ visited Lough Derg, and in that work gives
us his impressions of it : — " So great," he says, "are the
penitential deeds performed there, that they exceed, in
my opinion, those of any other pilgrimage in the world.''
And he adds :— " I do not relate mere matters of hear-
say, but what I have witnessed with my own eyes ; for I
had the great happiness to visit, in the year 1748, that
island, which was consecrated by the habitation and
miracles of the most holy Patrick, and which still affords
an illustrious example of the austere penances of the
primitive ages of the Church" (Hib. Do?fi., p. 4, et seq.).
He says that each pilgrim repeats each day the Lord's
Prayer and Angelical Salutation nearly three hundred
146 PILGRIMAGE OF
times, the Apostles' Creed about one hundred times,
together with the entire Rosary of the Blessed Virgin
three times. He further states that the pilgrims, by-
going through each station, travelled over the distance of
two miles.
Some time before this, the exact year is not recorded,
another distinguished Irishman came here on pilgrimage.
This was no less a personage than Turlough O'Carolan,
^' the last of the bards" —
" Who erst our halls with melody did fill."*
The remains of O'Carolan (as stated in Hardiman's
Mi?istrelsy) await the final resurrection in Kilronan, the
church of the Duigenan family, in MacDermott Roe's
vault. In his youth the bard became acquainted with
one Bridget Cruise, but he afterwards got married to
Mary Maguire, of the Maguires of Tempo — once a noble
and powerful family, but now quite degenerate. The
well-authenticated tradition still lives at Lough Derg how
O'Carolan, when old and blind, occupied the pilgrims'
boat on his return from the island. At the landing-place
a number of the pilgrims were eager to offer their services
to the helpless one to land. O'Carolan had no sooner
touched a hand, which was stretched out to guide him,
than he paused for a moment, and exclaimed with
emotion, " This is the hand of Bridget Cruise." And
Bridget Cruise, indeed, it was, to whose praise his harp
had first resounded, who stood before him, and the clasp
*For an account of his last resting-place see The Legend of Kil-
ronan^ by " Lageniensis " (Bollard, Dublin, 1877).
LOUGH DERG. I47
of whose hand he had recognised, though they had not
met for years ! On this subject the late Samuel Lover,
of facetious and harmonious memory, has written a
cliarming song, sung to the sweetest of airs, from which
I here cull the following stanza : —
*' When the minstrel sat alone.
There that lady fair had gone ;
Within his hand she placed her own.
The bard dropped on his knee,
From his lips soft blessings came,
In trembling tones he named — her name,
Thou£jh he could not see."
148 PILGRIMAGE OF
CHAPTER XV.
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AT LOUGH
DERG — VOTIVE GIFTS TO THE SANCTUARY ST. PATRICK'S
CHURCH — BOAT ACCIDENTS ON LOUGH DERG MELAN-
CHOLY BOAT ACCIDENT OF I 795 PRIOR MURRAY — BRIEF
REVIEW OF THE PILGRIMAGE DURING THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY.
'E have already referred to the inscribed
stones, which are set, for preservation, in
'^t^ the southern gable of St. Patrick's Church,
}^ on Station Island. Two of these inscrip-
tions are given at pages 51 and 53 of this
^ work ; and from them we may reasonably
conjecture that a Franciscan Friar, named Father
Magrath, was Prior here in 1753. These two
inscribed stones were originally placed within two of the
penal " beds," or circles, on this island. Side by side
with these stones, in the same wall, is placed that most
ancient and most valuable inscribed stone, which is fully
described in chapter viii. of this work.
In addition to these is the stone with the figure of
Caoranach, in alto relievo (already referred to). Before
this mythical representation a cross is inscribed, and
underneath it the following inscription, in the quaint style
of the period : —
LOUGH DERG. 1 49
*' Ys house
was built Fr. Anth : Do
herty for ye use of
ye Conv : of Donegal
his age 68 ye 8 Sep :
A:D: 1763."
From this it would appear that Father Anthony
O'Doherty was Prior of the island at the date mentioned —
namely, the 8th of September, 1763. In that valuable
liandbook named South- Western Donegal (already re-
ferred to), we find that this same Father O'Doherty came
by one of the silver chalices, which is said to have for-
merly belonged to the Donegal Convent, in which con-
vent, as appears from Father Purcell's account, given by
the Rev. C. P. JMeehan, " there were sixteen silver
chalices, all of which, two excepted, were washed with
gold." On this chalice the following inscription ap-
pears : —
'' Fr. Ants. O'Doherty, T.S.D. promravit
Hiinc Calicevi pro iisit fratricm minoruvi
Saiictae nostrae fraternitatis
Conventus Dongaliensis"
That this chalice was used in the celebration of the
Divine Mysteries at Lough Derg we can hardly doubt.
In 1850 it was brought to America by the Rev. John
Donnelly, whose native place adjoined the venerable and
historic churchyard of Aghalurcher, County Fermanagh.
At his death the chalice came into the possession of the
Rev. Edward M'Gowan, of Penn Yann, U.S.A., who
presented it to the Rev. Mr. Stephens, P.P., Killybegs, in
whose keeping it now remains.
150 PILGRIMAGE OF
Another of the Lough Derg chaHces is that long pre-
served at Corduff chapel, parish of Carrickmacross. This
was a votive offering made to the sanctuary of Lough
Derg by a lady named Clara Nugent, alias Cusack, of
Carlanstown, in the County Meath. She was closely
related to Dr. Thomas Dease, Bishop of IMeath, whose
mother was Lady Eleanor Nugent, of Carlanstown, a
noble branch of the family of Delvin. How this chalice
came to Corduff I cannot say, if it be not that the altar
plate of Lough Derg was removed for better security, at
the close of each station, to the episcopal residence,
during the time when three of the bishops of Clogher
found a secure abode within the loyal and devoted
" Dominion " of Farney. This small silver chalice is of
great beauty of workmanship, chaste and simple in
design, and of very graceful proportions. Its measure-
ments are — Height, 6|in. ; diameter of cup, 2|in. ;
pedestal, 3|in. in diameter. On the upper part of the
pedestal of this chalice a crucifix is inscribed ; underneath
it the following legend : —
** Clara Nitgent, ah Cusack de Carlanstown, pro Loghdarig
me fieri fecit, i'/2i.^'
On the outside of the cup is inscribed a harp indistinct,
also a harp with crown. On the principle that 7'es claviat
dominiim, we venture to express a hope that these chalices
may again be restored to the sanctuary of Lough Derg.
During the summer of 1878 another inscribed stone
was discovered in the floor of one of the cabins on the
island, and for its preservation it was set in the wall of
LOUGH DERG. 15I
St. Patrick's Church, along with the stones already
noticed. Its inscription reads : —
*' Perjjiissu Stiperiortim,
Pro publico bono conditoris,
Aiitonms O'Fla/ierty.
' A.D. ijdsr
We have no means of knowing who this Anthony
O'Flaherty was. He was probably of the lordly family of
the O'Flaherties of H-Iar Connaught, who, in the day of
their power, were friends and benefactors of many a
church and cloister. It is clear he rendered invaluable
aid and assistance in the erection of buildings at the
pilgrimage, in conjunction with the Prior, Father
O'Doherty, for which service permission was obtained to
erect a stone on the island to perpetuate the memory of
his pious liberality. What the buildings at this time
erected were I cannot positively say. It seems most
likely that St. Mary's Church, which was replaced about
forty-nine years after by a new structure, was one of the
buildings then erected. To this conclusion I am led
mainly by a " j\Iap or Plan of the Island, and of St.
Patrick's Purgatory," which I find in the Antiquities of
Ireland, by Edward Ledwich (Dublin, 1790). Here we
have " the church, or monastery," marked near the pre-
sent site of St. Mary's — but a little to the west of it. The
date-stone of this old church was found in the walls of
St. Mary's Church, which were taken down in 1870 to
make room for the fine Gothic edifice which now crowns
its site. Though not at all ancient, yet I think this
152 PILGRIMAGE OF
inscription certainly belongs to the last century. Unfor-
tunately, the date of the year in which it was erected is
broken off this stone, thus leaving us somewhat in doubt.
It is set, the same as the others, in the gable wall of St.
Patrick's Church. The inscription reads : —
*' THIS : CHAP :
WAS: DEDI
GATED. TO
Ye; B:V:M:
OF ANGELS
& GONSEGd
JULY : Ye 20."
Our conjecture is that this latter inscription was tlie
tiiuliis or date-stone of the church erected at this time by
Friar O'Doherty ; and that the stone first noticed in this
chapter was erected in an aisle attached to this church,
which was used as a dwelling-house by the officiating
clergymen; whilst the stone commemorating Anthony
O'Flaherty may have been erected in an oratory or chapel
raised by him over " St. Patrick's Altar,"* which, accord-
ing to Hewson and others, stood at the farther end of
Station Island.
The purgatorial cave down to the year 1781 or 1782
(the year of the Catholic Relief Act) was, according to
Richardson, ''10 feet distant from the church ; it was 22
feet long, 2 feet i inch wide, and 3 feet high. It hath a
bending within six feet of the far end, where there is a
very small window, or spike-hole, to let in some light and
*Galled by Richardson the " Altar of Gonfession."
LOUGH DERG. 1 53
air to the pilgrims that are shut up in it. There is Httle
or none of it under ground, and it seems never to have
been sunk deeper than the rock. It is built of stone and
clay, huddled together, covered with broad stones, and
all overlaid with earth.'' This cave was closed up about
the year 1781 by the Prior, who considered it insufficient
for the number of persons who sought admission to it.
A new church, 72 feet long by 24 wide, called St.
Patrick's Church, or " Prison" Chapel, so-called from the
fact that it was intended to supersede and serve the pur-
pose of the ancient purgatorial cave, was built about this
time. This church was re-roofed and slated in 1796 by
the then Prior, the Rev. Mr. Murray. With the excep-
tion of the following additions and repairs, it is still sub-
stantially the same church as that erected in 1781. In
1835 an aisle was added to it by the Rev. Patrick Moyna.
In t86o it was remodelled internally ; its galleries, which
were approached by stone steps from the outside of the
gables, were removed, besides other very necessary im-
provements effected by the Rev. John M'Kenna. Further
extensive repairs have been made to it during the summer
of 1878 by the Rev. James M'Kenna, P.P., Aughavea.
Taking into account what angry storms sometimes
sweep over the lake, lashing its waves into great fury, it is
a merciful dispensation of Providence that more accidents
have not occurred here ; and this more especially when
we consider not only the proximity of the Atlantic, which
is but five or six miles west of it, as likewise the high
elevation of the lake itself above the level of the sea, but
also the frail nature of the barks, which in days gone by
154 PILGRIMAGE OF
used to ply over its waters. Whilst the religious estab-
lishment stood on Saints' Island, there is no tradition of
any boat accident having occurred, though the barks then
in use were currachs, or canoe-shaped boats, formed out
of a hollowed tree.
Many years ago, it is handed down, two priests went
out for a sail on the lake, in a boat of the latter descrip-
tion ; and when but a short distance south of Station
Island, where there is a round rock almost hidden under
water (since called " The Priests' Rock "), the boat cap-
sized, and its occupants were drowned. This, they say,
was the first boat accident on Lough Derg.
A second boat was lost here, between Saints' Island
and the River Fluchlynn, about forty years ago. The
boatman was Doherty, from Augh-Keen, who, in com-
pany with two or three others, were returning home
from Kelly's Islands in the month of March, when the
boat, which was small and unsafe, capsized a little from
land, and all met with a watery grave ; not even Doherty,
who was a good swimmer, being able to escape. This sad
accident inspired the muse of a local bard, who com-
memorated the event in a mournful lay, still sung in the
locality.
But the most lamentable catastrophe of all happened
here in 1795 — ^ catastrophe which for many years cast a
gloom over the place, and the recital of which, even yet,
fails not to evoke from the pious pilgrims many a tear
and prayer for those who met with such an untimely end.
Sunday, the 12th of July, 1795, is a day long to be
remembered in connection with Loupfh Derg^. On that
LOUGH DERG. 155
day, which set in fresh and breezy, but by no means
very stormy, there was the usual bustle and hurry about
the " cabin," or ferryhouse, from an early hour of the
morning, amongst pilgrims and the neighbouring inhabi-
tants, who were anxious to hear Mass on the island. A
few boats had already taken full cargoes to and fro, when
the dread hour of eleven o'clock arrived. Johnston, the
ferryman, had already allotted place for ninety-three pas-
sengers, all told, most of whom were pilgrims. It ap-
pears that some of the passengers took exception to the
boat, as being old and unseaworthy ; but their fears were
made light of A very fortunate escape is related of a
young man, a pilgrim, who had actually taken his seat in
the boat, when he was summoned back by his father, who
had dreamt the previous night of some terrible fate about
to befall his son, followed him to the lake, and thus
saved him from certain death.
At about the hour of eleven o'clock MacTeague, the
principal boatman (who is said to have been somewhat
under the influence of drink at the time), pushed off from
shore, and all went well till they came alongside Prior's
Island. At this time it was observed that the boat had
sprung a leak, and was fast taking in water. The boat-
men, however, took no heed of this, thinking they could
reach Station Island without any difficulty. As they had
reached about midway between Prior's Island and Station
Island, the water was now fast gaining on the boat,
which alarmed the passengers, and rendered them quite
restive. In this confusion and dismay the boat capsized,
and all went down in about ten feet of water. It is said
6 PILGRIMAGE OF
that at this time they were so convenient to Station
Island that nine or ten good strokes of the oars would
have easily taken them to land. Station Island itself at
the time was crowded with spectators, who were so
thunderstruck by the accident that they had not the pre-
sence of mind to push off to the rescue, though a boat or
two were within reach at the island. If this had been
done, there is no doubt whatever but that very many of
the victims might have been saved. It is consoling to
record that one of the priests then on the island waded
out some distance into the water, gave conditional abso-
lution to those drowning, and repeated aloud certain
prayers for the occasion. All the priests then on the
island offered up Mass for the souls of the deceased ; and
the Prior (Father Murray) is said to have declared, in a
funeral oration on the occasion, that had the accident
happened them when leaving the island, there would be
room for more consolation indeed.
A few moments after the capsizing of the boat, a large
mass of human beings, having grasped each other with
the tenacity of death at the bottom of the lake, came to
the surface, where they remained struggling for a little,
when they sank to rise no more. Out of the ninety-three
passengers but three escaped — one of them a man named
Mulharty ; the others were a man and his mother-in-law
from the County Monaghan. The boatmen were also
lost, as well as some of the people of the neighbourhood,
who were going to hear Mass on the island.
At the time the accident occurred it is said that John-
ston, the ferryman, was giving tickets at the ferry-house
LOUGH DERG. I57
to a batch of fresh arrivals ; he is reported to have made
h'ght of the matter, and to have said that it would by no
means prevent the station from proceeding as usual.
All the bodies of those drowned were recovered from
their watery grave. Tvlany of them were conveyed home
by their sorrowing friends to the family burial-places.
About twenty or more of them were buried coffinless on
the topmost part of Prior's Island, earth having been
carried up and heaped over their grave ; and here a dense
cluster of firs may be observed waving their sombre
heads over their lonely grave. Others of them, again,
were buried in Templecarn churchyard. The sight of
the dead bodies, as they were conveyed on horseback
over the rugged mountain, was most heartrending ; and
those who witnessed the sad ordeal (and there are some
of them still alive in the vicinity of Lough Derg) could
never after refer to the subject without shuddering at the
recollection of it.
In connection with this sad accident a remarkable
instance — if instances were wanting — is handed down of
the affection and veneration of the Irish for their departed
relatives. It is said how a young girl, the only child of
her widowed mother, happened to be in the ill-fated boat,
was drowned, and her body was buried in Templecarn
graveyard. The following summer her aged parent came
nearly one hundred miles to perform the " station " for
her, and brought with her a monument, which she had
erected over her daughter's grave in Templecarn. This
monument, or gravestone, is, I understand, still pointed
out to the visitor.
158 PILGRIMAGE OF
Though these were the only boat accidents known to
have taken place at Lough Derg, yet there were times,
some of which are fresh in my memory, when the pil-
grims' boat ran considerable risk from the waves, and
when the skill and energy of such experienced boatmen
as Pat M'Kane, of Seeavoc, were taxed to the utmost in
making headway against the triple waves, which are, I
believe, peculiar to this lake. There were days also, but
very few, when, owing to the storm, the work of ferrying
the pilgrims had to be suspended, and when the pilgrims
approaching the lake had to find shelter as best they
mig't in the "cabin" by the shore. I cannot help
thii.King that, with no very great expenditure, a small
steamboat might be provided for the accommodation of
this pilgrimage, which would thus render the work of
transit not only more expeditious, but also quite secure
in every state of the weather. If this were an English or
a Continental lake, instead of an Irish one, can we doubt
but that its waters would be traversed by yacht and
steamer, and that hotels and villas would look down from
the surrounding heights on its delightful expanse of
water ?
We have seen that the old cave or caves (there being
at times two or more of them) had been superseded about
1 782 — the year of the passing of the Catholic Relief Act —
and a commodious church, called St. Patrick's Church,
erected to supply its purpose, as well as to serve for
general worship. Who built this church I cannot say, if
it be not Father Murray, P.P., of Errigle-Truagh, who
about this time became Prior, in the room of the Fran-
LOUGH DERG. 1 59
ciscans, who, owing to the reduction of their numbers,
could no longer minister to the pilgrimage. Whether
this church was erected by Father Murray or not, it is
certain that he slated and repaired it in 1796 — the year
after the boat accident. From his venerated successor
in the parish of Truagh, I have it that Father Murray had
not then the luxury of a church in his own parish, having
to rest satisfied with those substitutes, then pretty com-
mon, called " Mass-gardens.'' He is described as of a
mild and quiet disposition, and wath the close of the cen-
tury his term of office as Prior of the pilgrimage drew also
to a close.
Towards the latter part of the eighteenth century the
course of penance at Lough Derg was considerably
modified. The incarceration in the cave or prison,
which formerly lasted during twenty-four hours, was now
reduced to twelve hours. The period of remaining on
the island, which formerly extended to nine, or at least
six days, was now reduced to three days. Since this
time three days constitute the term of a station, though
cases are not unfrequent where pilgrims remain on the
island for six, or even nine days.
Hewsonsays that in his time (1701) "there were many
priests in the island, and every day they have a sermon
preached in Irish, about one o'clock." Richardson (1727)
says there were twenty-four priests engaged there every
station season. But this is probably an exaggeration.
Skelton says that in 1770 there were about 4,000 pilgrims
annually frequenting the island j and he states that the
pilgrims had then sufficient shelter and accommodation
j6o pilgrimage of
on the island. Immediately before the boat accident of
1795, the arrivals each season must have reached the high
figure of between ten and fifteen thousand. The boat
accident, however, together with other reasons, which we
shall notice hereafter, caused the influx of pilgrims at the
close of the century to become considerably reduced.
Yet, through all its vicissitudes, the Holy Island conti-
nued still to be regarded with love and devotion by the
faithful children of St. Patrick, who before this sanctuary
renewed themselves in piety and the love of God.
LOUGH DERG. l6l
CHAPTER XVI.
THE PILGRIM-TAX — THE FERRY-MEX — THE MOST REV. DR.
murphy's REGULATIOXS for THE PILGRIMAGE — RE-
SCRIPT FROM ROME ST. MARY's CHURCH — THE PRESBY-
TERY — HOSTILE XOTICES OF THE PILGRIMAGE — PRIORS
SINCE THE YEAR iSoo — INFLUX OF PILGRIMS — THE
FAREWELL ODE TO LOUGH DERG.
NE of the most remarkable remnants of
the feudal laws, or of the penal laws (it
matters little which), that I know of, is the
tax or tariff which each pilgrim has to pay
towards the "lord of the soil" for the
privilege of obtaining access to the Island
o.ulS^ of Lough Derg ! Not content with obtaining
z-'^'&^. possession of the lands given as a perpetual
endowment to this sanctuary, and of which it held undis-
puted control for over a thousand years, the Protestant
bishops of Clogher, after doing their utmost to disparage
and to utterly exterminate this pilgrimage, formed the
idea of turning it to profitable account, by exacting from
each pilgrim a fine for liberty to approach the shrine o f
his devotion. And thus they who in theory condemned
this institution, did not hesitate in practice to appropriate
to themselves this iniquitous tax.
The more easily and the more securely to collect this
M
l62 PILGRIMAGE OF
tax, the ferry was rented at a fixed annual sum to a
ferryman, who, after paying the stipulated amount to his
master, had to depend on the balance of the proceeds
for his own behalf. The rent of the ferry generally rose
or fell according to the number of pilgrims visiting the
island; so that from the rent imposed each year we may
form a proximate idea of the number of arrivals at this
sanctuary. Towards the latter part of the last century a
Protestant family of the name of Johnston rented the
ferry at ;£'2 5o each year. About the beginning of this
century one of these Johnstons, who was the ferryman,
gave great dissatisfaction, as we shall afterwards see.
After him a man named Travers managed the ferry for
about ten years. Next came Robert Johnston, who
rented the ferry down till 1844. At this time Catholic
ferrymen came into ofiice, the first of whom was Daniel
Campbell, who conducted the ferry in 1845. After him
his son John, who rebuilt the ferry-house and also erected
a building on the island, which was never completed. It
reverted next to his brother, Peter Campbell ; then to his
brother William, who held it down to the year 1862-3,
when Thomas Flood, of Pettigo, got charge of it. He
held it till 1876, when his brother Patrick (the present
ferryman) secured his right in the ferry. The rent of the
ferry was reduced for the Campbells to ;£^i5o ; and since
then it has been still further reduced to ;£'50, which is
the present rent of the ferry, yearly payable to the present
owner of Termon-Dabheoc — Sir John Leslie, Bart., M.P.
In order to make up this tax, a fine of 6 ^d. was for-
merly imposed on each pilgrim for the " right of way" to
LOUGH DERG. 163
the island. Latterly, however, in consequence of the
diminished number of pilgrims, it was deemed necessary
to raise this tariff to 8d.
In INIay, 1798, Dr. James ^Murphy was appointed
Coadjutor Bishop of Clogher, and on the death of Bishop
Hugh O'Reilly (November 3rd, 1801) succeeded to the
mitre oi Cloghtr per coadjidoriajn. One of his first cares
was to look after the administration of the pilgrimage of
Lough Derg ; and with this object in view he addressed a
list of regulations to the Prior, Father Bellew, and his
principal assistant, the Rev. Peter M'Ginn. The docu-
ment in question is headed — " A few of the many regu-
lations necessary for the orderly administration of the
Station of Lough Derg," and bears date — " Tydavnet,
May 26th, 1S02." This document sets out with a regu-
lation which for many years was strictly adhered to, but
which is now obsolete ; and it is as follows : —
'' I hereby prohibit, under pain of suspension ipso facto,
any confessor already approved, or who may be approved
of this season for Lough Derg, not excepting even the
Prior himself, to receive the confession, give the absolu-
tion, or admit to the indulgence of the Station of Lough
Derg, any pilgrim or penitent who has not complied with
his Easter duty this year in his own parish, or who can-
not produce a certificate, signed by his own parish priest
or ordinary confessor, permitting him to be admitted to
the benefit of said indulgence, though he has not com-
plied with said Easter duty.
'' And further, I hereby order, under the same pain of
suspension, said certificate to be submitted to the Prior
164 PILGRIMAGE OF
for his approbation of its authenticity before the bearer of
it is admitted to confession," &c.
After giving other regulations regarding investing the
pilgrims with cords, scapulars, and other religious badges ;
also with regard to the selling or blessing of such reli-
gious badges, &c. ; and likewise concerning the allocation
and discharging of intentions for Masses received on the
island, next comes the following regulation : —
" Fourthly — This regulation regards the teaching of the
Catechism on the Island of Lough Derg."
And the communication thus concludes : —
" As these, however, or any other regulations that may
be adopted, must prove useless if the Messrs. Johnston
and their boatmen persevere in their monopolies and in
their severities towards the clergy and stationers, you will
take care to speak to and settle matters with them if you
can ; otherwise suspend the station instanter."
What the particular severities and monopolies here
complained of against the Johnstons were, I have not
learned; but I heard that they estabUshed "patterns" at
the shore of the lake, where music, dancing, and drinking
were introduced, thus tending to bring the place into
disrepute, and giving great annoyance and scandal.
Father Bellew, however, grappled at once with this diffi-
culty, immediately put a stop to these " patterns," and by
his energy and prudence upheld the discipline and order
of the pilgrimage. Unlike the first of these Johnstons,
who was so harsh and severe towards the pilgrims, and
who is said to have admitted to the island all visitors
ndiscriminately, against the orders and remonstrances of
LOUGH DERG. 165
the Prior, the last of the Johnstons, namely, Robert
Johnston, was, on the other hand, both courteous towards
the pilgrims and amenable to the wishes of the Prior.
With regard to the admission of visitors, the rule at pre-
sent observed is— that visitors be furnished with written
permission from the Prior before the ferryman is at liberty
to land them on the island. The reasonableness of this
rule will be apparent to all when they consider how
limited is the area of the island, how much both priests
and pilgrims are occupied with their respective duties,
and how much frequent visits of this sort would interrupt
and distract the devotional exercises of the pilgrims.
One of Dr. IMurphy's regulations, as we have seen, en-
joined the teaching of the Catechism on the island. For
this purpose two catechists were retained here for many
years, one of whom taught the Irish Catechism, the
other the English Catechism. Besides instructing the
rude and illiterate in their Christian doctrine, these
catechists lent valuable aid to the clergy in helping to
prepare and dispose the pilgrims for the sacraments. In
addition to these were the Prior's Clerk and also the
Director of Devotions, whose special duty it was to main-
tain order during the night of the " prison," or " vigil."'
Early in the year 1805 Bishop oMurphy applied to the
Holy See for a renewal of the usual faculties and in-
dulgences attached to this pilgrimage, to be available for
the space of fifteen years. Cardinal Jugnani, Secretary
of the Sacred Office, sent a rescript to Dr. :Murphy,
bearing date the i6th of March, 1805. From this
rescript we give the extracts bearing on our subject : —
1 66 PILGRIMAGE OF
" Tain vera siipplicem lihclluni Amplitudinis tiice nomine
R. P. Magister Lucas Concanen* Ordinis Pfaedicatonnn,
ad Jios detuiif, qiwpostulabas, ni indulgentioi ad quindenniiun
pro statiojiibus peregrinationis^ qiice Purgatoriuni Sti.
Patritii appellatur impertitce, ad illud quindenniiun reno-
ventur. At quoniani in Archivis hujusce S. Congregaiionis
codicibus ejusvwdi cojicessionis indicium indium repei'tum
est, exemplum rescripts alias impetrati, in quo dies, me?isis,
et annus concessio?iis adnotaius sit ad nos miliere ne gravere,
ut ad illius no7'mam indulgentiarum renovationcm obtinere
valeamus. Eo exemplo eo inagis indigemus, quod in tua
is tins dio^ccsis relatione nobis significaveris, quibus con-
ditio nib us indulgentice. acquirajitur, non dissimulans ab
aliquibus hujusmodi pii exercitii praxim fuisse improbatam.
Visum est etiam nobis circuitiones quasdam^ nisi probabiles
earum causcB afferantur, posse jure meritoque notari ; pra^~
sertim cum non modo pedibus, sed cruribus etiam nudis fieri
in more sit positum ; quod si a fidelibus utr ins que sexus fiat,
tiinejidum est ne aliquod inde scandalum oriatur. . . .
Qiiod si forte in ista Sti. Patritii peregrinatione eJus?nodi
abusus irrepserit, tuce partes erunt omni studio ac contentiojie
eosdem elimijiare ne mala potius quam bona a tali pere-
grinatione exorianturT ....
*Fatlier Luke Concanen, to whom reference is made in this
rescript, was the first Bishop of New York. When in Rome he
acted as agent to the Irish bishops, and lived in the Dominican con-
vent attached to the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. It is
worthy of note that this is the titular church of his successor, Car-
dinal M'Closkey, the first Cardinal in the United States.
LOUGH DERG. 1 67
This document has also the signature of Dominicus
Archiepus. Myran., Secretarius.
From the foregoing rescript we can understand with
what vigilance the authorities in Rome had watched over
this sanctuary, and how the report (probably gratuitous
and groundless) which had reached them of the pilgrims
here making the circuits of the " beds " on their bare
knees, had been inquired after and corrected. When Dr.
]\Iurphy gave the required information to the Sacred
Office, the indulgences postulated for were granted ; and
when the same bishop again applied for their renewal in
1S14, they were also accorded, as we can infer from the
form of postulation on this head, presented to the Holy
Father in 1870, a copy of which, together with a copy of
the Papal Indult, will be found in this work.
In the year 18 13 the church built by Father O'Doherty
in 1763 was taken down, and anew church, also called
St. Mary's, erected a little to the east of it by the Very
Rev. Patrick Bellew, then Prior, afterwards parish priest
of Monaghan and Dean of Clogher. In 1835 the Rev.
Prior IMoyna enlarged this church by the erection of an
aisle, the contractor for the improvements then effected
being the late Daniel Campbell, builder, Pettigo.
This church underwent additional repairs in i860 ; and
in 1870 it was found necessary to have it taken down
entirely, when it was replaced by a very substantial and
handsome Gothic edifice, through the exertions of the
Rev. James M'Kenna, P.P. (who has done so much in
erecting, enlarging, and repairing the buildings on Station
Island), and solely with the aid of the voluntary contri-
l68 PILGRIMAGE OF
butions of the pilgrims. St. ^Mary's new church was
dedicated in August, 1870, the year in which it was
erected, by the Most Rev. Dr. Donnelly. To those who
have admired this pretty litde church, with the campanile
and bell hard by, erected at the same time, it will afford
surprise to learn that all cost little over ;£'5oo. In this
church a number of confessionals are located, where the
officiating priests labour most of the day in the sacred
and sublime work of reconciling sinners to God. To this
sacred use and purpose the church is, I may say, entirely
devoted. The presbytery, which was a substantially-
built and commodious house, was erected by Prior
Bellew in 1816. It was afterwards, in i860, considerably
remodelled internally ; and finally, in 1864 it was in great
part rebuilt by the Rev. James IM'Kenna, at the cost of
^164.
If it be a mark of the sanctity of a place to be made the
constant object of attack by heretical and infidel writers,
then surely must Lough Derg, independent of any other
reason, be regarded as very holy, inasmuch as never yet
was there an institution more bitterly and more per-
sistently assailed than this pilgrimage. Misrepresentation,
calumny, invective, ridicule, and all the other artifices of
the enemies of our holy religion, have been all employed
against this exercise of Catholic piety. Besides the many
charges brought against it, all of which might with equal
force be directed against any Catholic practice or place
of Catholic worship throughout the -world, Richardson,
and others after him, have devised a new and ingenious
objection, showing the loss of time and the waste of
LOUGH DERG. 1 69
money, both to the individual and to the State, by the
toleration of this pilgrimage — an objection which clearly
demonstrates with what spirit the enemies of pilgrimages
are inspired — by making, forsooth, temporal interests of
more paramount importance than those spiritual interests
which the pious pilgrim so anxiously labours to compass !
During the present century the sanctuary was resorted
to by ^Titers of this class, whose object was to gratify the
prejudices of the enemies of our holy religion by repre-
senting in the darkest colours this time-honoured retreat.
Principal amongst this class stand Caesar Otway and
his protege, Carleton. William Carleton, the novelist,
having abandoned the faith of his fathers for the sake of
lucre, devoted his distempered genius to ridicule and
malign the faith in which he was baptized, and the reli-
gious practices of his countrymen. Born in the townland
of Kilnahussogue, parish of Clogher, in 1795, he came to
Lough Derg about 1820, as if on pilgrimage. Soon after
he renounced his faith, he wrote a most ludicrous and
absurd story, in which he himself figures as the Lough
Derg Pilgrim. Another ^Titer, Mr. Inglis, takes a very
ultra-Protestant view of the pilgrimage in his J^ourjiey
throughout Irelajid, in 1834. In the same strain writes
Philip Dixon Hardy, in his Holy Wells of Ireland (Dublin,
1836), who by his pencil not less than by his pen has left
behind him a very poor caricature of the place. Wright's
St. Patrick's Purgatory (London, 1844) is a tissue of
bigotry from beginning to end.
Amongst the accounts of this pilgrimage ^■\Titten by
Protestants, the notice of it in Household Words of
170 PILGRIMAGE OF
October, 1852, is an honourable exception. At first it
was thought that Charles Dickens had been the writer of
this notice, and that he visited the island in person. The
authorship of the article is, however, now generally-
ascribed to Allingham, the poet. This account of the
pilgrimage was very impartial and favourable ; it praised
Prior IMoyna's lectures as being learned and practical,
and bestowed a fitting eulogium on the deep piety and
devotion of the pilgrims.
In the year 1829 Father Bellew was Prior for the last
time. After him came Father Boylan, who held the
office for two years. He afterwards became P.P. of
Enniskillen and Dean of Clogher. He was succeeded as
Prior of Lough Derg by the Rev. Patrick IMoyna, who
continued in this office for about twenty-nine years. The
present venerated Prior, Very Rev. Edward Canon
]\I*Kenna, P.P., Dromore, has filled the position, with
but little interruption, since the death of Father IMoyna
in i860. Thus it will be seen that the Priors of Lough
Derg, as a rule, were very long-lived, and that they were
favoured with a lengthened term of office.
During the present century many illustrious pilgrims
and visitors have been at Lough Derg. Foremost
amongst these may be recorded the names of the following
prelates — Dr. Patrick I^PGettigan, Bishop of Raphoe ;
Dr. M'Loughlin, Bishop of Derry; Dr. Kilduff, Bishop
of Ardagh; the Most Rev. Daniel M'Gettigan, now Lord
Primate ; and, in addition, the Bishops of Clogher, in
which diocese the sanctuary is situated. Besides these
distinguished ecclesiastics, a great many of the clergy of
LOUGH DERG. 171
Ireland, and not a few from other countries also, have
made during this century pilgrimage to Lough Derg —
some even selecting it for the annual ecclesiastical retreat.
Members of the religious orders throughout Ireland visit
this sanctuary time after time, and express the greatest
admiration not only at the earnest piety and penitential
spirit manifested by the pilgrims, but also at the order,
regularity, and efficiency with which the devotional exer-
cises of the station are conducted. It will interest the
readers to learn that in 1875 Father Dalgairns, who,
under God, was instrumental in converting the x»»Iarquis
of Ripon, came on a visit to Lough Derg, and there
caused prayers to be offered up for the conversion of a
distinguished statesman, whose name he did not commu-
nicate, but which was soon after fully made known by
the event.
The bright example of penance and humility, as shown
by these pious ecclesiastics, who passed through the
curriculum of this station, gave great edification to the
lay pilgrims, and conduced to swell the stream of pilgrims
towards this venerable shrine. During the first half of
the present century the number of pilgrims to Lough
Derg each year was much in excess of the numbers since
attending. From the year 1800 down to 1824 the average
yearly number was about 10,000. In 1824, I have it
from the oldest pilgrim to this sanctuary, Mr. Edward
Nicholson, architect and engineer, Manchester, that, on
the occasion of his first visit in that year, there were
1,100 pilgrims on the same night keeping vigil in
"Prison" Chapel. This Mr. Nicholson was a disciple
172 PILGRIMAGE OF
and most intimate friend of the late Mr. Pugin ; and
having made it a regular custom to spend his annual
holidays in Ireland, he never failed, during these intervals
of relaxation, to visit the sanctuary of Lough Derg, of
which he has proved himself a constant friend and bene-
factor. From this and other sources we infer that in
1824 the number of pilgrims must have been in excess
of 15,000. In 1834 Mr. Inglis tells us that the number
of arrivals must have reached 19,000. In the beginning
of the famine years (1846) there arrived in a single day
the extraordinary number of 1,300 pilgrims, the greatest
number, it is said, that, during this century, came to
Lough Derg in one day ; and we learn that during this
year the total number of arrivals could not have been
much under 30,000. During these seasons from twelve
to fifteen priests were engaged in hearing the confessions
of the pilgrims and attending to the other station duties.
Since 1846 there has been a gradual decline in the
number of arrivals each year down to 1870. For this
falling off in point of numbers various reasons may be
assigned. Foremost amongst these is the famine of '47,
and the consequent depopulation of our country by
emigration and extirpation ; also the facilities of missions
and retreats, which have of late multiplied to such a
degree throughout Ireland ; and, perhaps too, the les-
sened fervour of the faithful. The closing of the station
in i860, while repairs were being made on the island, the
building of St. Mary's in 1870, and further building and
repairs during the season of 1878, may have had some
effect in diminishing the number of pilgrims of late years.
LOUGH DERG. I 73
Beginning with 1870, the numbers are each year
steadily increasing. Since then between three and four
thousand pilgrims annually perform the station here. Of
these the great majority are Irish, or of Irish parentage.
A great many of them come from America, many from
England and Scotland, and not a few from Australia,
New Zealand, and the other distant colonies — in a word,
from wherever the exiled Celt has found a foothold. The
Island of Lough Derg would seem to be the common
meeting-place of the Irish race, whither they journey
from the most distant parts to keep vigil, to fast and pray
at the " Holy Island," even as the Jews were wont to
journey at fixed seasons towards their holy city of Jeru-
salem. Occasionally pilgrims of foreign nationalities
kneel before this sanctuary, and pour out their prayers in
strange tongues. But it is of the faithful Irish race the
pilgrimage is almost wholly composed, who will here be
met with, not only from all parts of Ireland, but from
many foreign places as well. And though the devotions
are now conducted in the English language, yet before
this shrine many a prayer is still offered up in "the
sweet-tongued language of the Gael."
Instances are numerous of persons who, drawn by the
holy attractions of the place, repeat the pilgrimage year
after year. j\Ir. Nicholson, who may justly be styled the
patriarch of the pilgrims, has been here on pilgrimage for
the last fifty-four years, with very few exceptions. A
worthy Belfast-man, Mr. Henry, in company with an
organised party of pilgrims from Belfast, has been here
close on fifty seasons. Many others have been here
174 PILGRIMAGE OF
twenty or thirty times ; and, out of the aggregate number
each season, it is true to say that about one-third of the
number is composed of pilgrims who have been previously
to the island. The same as in former years, the majority
of the pilgrims still consists of men ; while persons of
every class and age and condition in life may be here
observed, performing with the greatest humility and piety
the devotional exercises of the pilgrimage. It is a
remarkable fact that all those, who have once made the
pilgrimage, have left the island with sorrowful regret, and
with the most lively hope of returning some other season,
and of tasting again those sweet pleasures of soul which
the pilgrimage, albeit the apparent severity of its exer-
cises, occasions. The sorrow of the pilgrims at parting
from the island is faithfully depicted in the following ode,
which is so full of pathos, and sung to a sweet and
plaintive air : —
FAREWELL HYMN TO LOUGH DERG.
" Oh ! fare thee well, Lough Derg,
Shall I ever see you more ?
My heart is filled with sorrow
To leave thy sainted shore.
Until life's days have passed away,
No pleasures can beguile
j\Iy thoughts from often turning
Back to thy sacred isle.
II.
'* Saint Patrick was its founder,
At Heaven's express command,
To cleanse away the sinful stains
Of his own loved Ireland ;
LOUGH DERG. T75
In hopes by prayer and penance here
God's mercy to secure,
Lest punishments hereafter
For them we may endure.
III.
He blessed with sweet devotion
This penitential isle ;
He chose as its director
St. Dabheoc, Avithout guile ;
While hosts of saints and hermits here
Time happiness did find,
By leaving home and worldly joys
And kindred all behind.
IV.
Throughout each station season.
From every distant clime,
The children of St. Patrick
Frequent this holy shrine.
Each pilgrim here is edified
With piety sincere.
And it's here each soul is purified
By penances severe.
V.
But when the Holy Island
Is fading out of view,
With tears the grateful pilgrims
To it they bid adieu ;
Saying, ' May its name still spread abroad.
Its fame grow greater still.
Its Patron Saint still honour'd be,
And crowds its cloisters fill.'
176 PILGRIMAGE OF
VI.
" So fare you well, Lough Derg ;
Shall I ever see you more ?
]\Iy heart is filled with sorrow
To leave thy sainted shore.
Until life's days have passed away,
With pleasure shall I dwell
On the happy days I spent with you,
Lough Derg, fare thee well !"
Formerly this was chanted at the departure of each
boat from the island, by a person who volunteered her
services for that purpose ; but latterly it has been dis-
continued, and has become almost quite forgotten, like
many other glorious memories of this ancient retreat.
LOUGH DERG. I 77
CHAPTER XVII.
ROUTES TO LOUGH DERG — ROAD FROM PETTIGO —
THOUGHTS ON NEARING THE LAKE — LITHOGRAPHIC
VIEWS OF THE ISLAND — THE STATION SEASON — THE
AUTHORIZED RELIGIOUS EXERCISES OF THE PILGRIMAGE
EXPLANATORY OBSERVATIONS ON THE '-'EXERCISES" —
MOST REV. DR. DONNELLY PETITIONS THE HOLY SEE FOR
INDULGENCES — COPY OF THE PAPAL INDULT.
^&*'>^ORMERLY a pilgrimage to Lough Derg
^ must have been attended with much hard-
^}j/^ ship and inconvenience, when we consider
^ ' that pilgrims travelled, in many cases bare-
foot, from the most remote parts of the
kingdom. Considering, however, the facilities
of travelling which we enjoy at the present day,
the journey is now regarded as little more than
a pleasant excursion trip. Good roads lead towards the
lake, though, we regret to say, not to its shore ; a line of
railway runs pretty close to it; well-appointed cars in
connection with each train ply between the lake and rail-
way ; in a word, pilgrims have now-a-days little to com-
plain of from fatigue or inconvenience, till they are landed
on the island of Lough Derg.
There are three routes by which pilgrims reach Lough
Derg. The first of these starts from the town of Donegal,
and, after proceeding for about five miles along a good
178 PILGRIMAGE OF
county road, it enters on a mountain track leading in a
direct line towards the lake, passing along the side of
Augh-Keen Mountain, and reaching the lake at a head-
land close to Saints' Island. By this route come many
of the sons and daughters of old Tyrconnell ; while others
of them, less observant of the ancient usage, and prefer-
ring the more easy mode of travelling by car, take the
roundabout way by Pettigo. Some years since a project
was in contemplation of running a boat on certain days
to the mouth of the River Fluchlynn, for the greater con-
venience of the Donegal pilgrims. This would be to
them a saving of about three miles across a difficult
stretch of moorland, and would make the journey from
Donegal to the lake only about six miles. Should the
number of arrivals warrant it, I see no reason why this
project may not hereafter be put in operation.
The second route leads from Castlederg, past Killeter,
on through the district of Aughayarran, and terminates at
the " cabin," or ferryhouse. This route leads by a very
good road till within view of the lake, when (the same as
on the previous route) the pilgrim has to tread the re-
mainder of the way over a well-beaten mountain track.
Very many pilgrims from the counties of Derry, Tyrone,
and part of Donegal come by this way ; though many
others prefer travelling from Castlederg to Pettigo by car.
The third and principal way is that from Pettigo. All
the pilgrims, who come by train or car, proceed to the lake
by this route. Nor will it be out of place here to state
that "Lough Derg return tickets" available for return
within fourteen days, and at a reduced rate of fare, are
LOUGH DERG. I 79
furnished to pilgrims at the principal stations of the dif-
ferent lines and branches of the Great Northern Railway.
On the arrival of each train at Pettigo, there are cars in
waiting to convey the pilgrims to the lake. Those who
prefer remaining over night in Pettigo will find there good
hotel and inn accommodation, and will meet with, on all
sides, kindness and attention from the inhabitants. The
same may be said of the accommodation, courtesy, and
civility to be experienced both in Donegal and Castlederg.
From the map of the lake and its surroundings, which we
append to this work, the reader will be able to compre-
hend these three routes to Lough Derg, with the respective
distances of these towns from the lake.
A good road leads from Pettigo in the direction of
Lough Derg ; but, when within about half a mile from
the lake (through whose fault I do not inquire, though it
cert-ainly redounds but little to the credit either of the
local magnates, or of the Donegal Grand Jury), the road
stops short at the mountain side, and the pilgrim has
to enter on a boggy path, which in wet weather baffles de-
scription. And yet these pilgrims pay their share of
county cess, and the island itself is also assessed ! And,
again, these pilgrims pay a tax of eightpence each to the
lord of the soil for permission to cross the haunts of the
hare and moorfowl, and thence to be ferried to Station
Island ; and for these no road has been hitherto allowed,
even at the public expense ! Verily might we here
moralize with Burns on '*' man's inhumanity to man ;" but
we will rest content with asking, if it were the merest Pro-
testant conventicle of which there was question, would
l80 PILGRIMAGE OF
this condition of things, think you, be allowed to continue
for a single day ? At length, I understand, an effort has
been made to have this track converted into a good
county road, and thus the old reproach will be finally got
rid of.
A portion of the mountain adjoining this track has been
planted with firs in 1847, which, together with some of the
islands planted the same year, gives a pleasing variety to
the otherwise wild scenery of this locality ; and where
eagles and wild geese (as Richardson states) used to fre-
quent about a century ago, the sweet notes of feathered
songsters of the grove may now be heard.
The feelings of the pilgrim, when a sudden turn in the
road brings him within full view of the lake and of Station
Island, may better be imagined than described. On reach-
ing the " cabin," as the ferryhouse is commonly called,
may be witnessed the spectacle referred to by Mr. Inglis,
a writer by no means friendly to the pilgrimage : — " As I
descended towards the shore of the lake, I could see that
the island was entirely covered with persons, and on the
bank I found upwards of two hundred pilgrims waiting to
be ferried over. They were generally respectably dressed ;
some were sitting, some lying on the grass ; some, more
impatient, were standing close to the water, waiting the
arrival of the ferryboat ; and some, more impatient still,
had been warmed into devotion by the distant view of the
holy place, and were already on their knees."
The large pilgrim's boat is appropriately called the " St.
Patrick/' it is manned by steady and experienced boatmen,
and is capable of accommodating about sixty pilgrims.
LOUGH DERG. l8l
A smaller boat is called the " St, Brigid," and another the
" St. Columba." Any of these can make the passage from
the ferryhouse to the island — distance something under a
statute mile — in ten or fifteen minutes. The pilgrims will
receive strict attention from the ferryman, Mr. Patrick
Flood, than whom a more competent person for that re-
sponsible position could hardly be desired.
When the pilgrims arrive on the island, they proceed to
one or other of the lodging-houses, which are six in
number, and there they divest themselves of shoes and
hats, in order to perform the station both barefoot and
bareheaded.
Station Island is in length 126 yards; in the broadest
place 45, and in the narrowest 22 yards in width. In the
summer of 187 1, IMr. Edward Nicholson, of Ivlanchester,
obtained permission to take a sketch of the island, and to
have, at his own expense, lithographic printings of it struck
off. This work was effected in 1873 by the firm of Mac-
Gregor and Company, ;N[anchester. The lithographs,
together with the lithographic blocks, were presented by
Mr. Nicholson to the bishop of the diocese, the Most
Rev. Dr. Donnelly, for the use of the island. It is a very
beautiful work of art, and a number of copies of it are ex-
posed for sale each season on the island. This sketch,
which is furnished with a reference table in the margin,
will be found invaluable as a map, as a guide, and as a
picture of Station Island. It clearly represents the two
churches on the island, St. Patrick's and St. Mary's, the
campanile, St. Patrick's cross, the penitential beds, or
oratories, dedicated to Saints Dabheoc, Molaise Columba,
l82 PILGRIMAGE OF
Catherine, Brendan, and Brigid; the stations at the water,
the presbytery, the boarding-house, and the boat-quay.
Even the sohtary sycamore tree, which formerly served the
purposes of a belfry, and which is the only tree or shrub
on the island,'" is accurately represented on this drawing.
Mr. Wakeman, of Enniskillen, has also published a beauti-
ful lithographic view of the lake and island, with the pil-
grims' boat on its passage : from this our frontispiece
illustration for this work has been taken.
The station season at Lough Derg formerly extended
from June the ist till the 1 5th of August. In 1869, how-
ever, it was limited from ist July till the 15th of August,
which is still the period during which the island is open
for pilgrimage. With the increase in the number of pil-
grims it may, we hope, be soon rendered advisable to
recur to the old station period.
We have already seen that the pilgrimage, according to
modern custom, lasts for three days, though some continue
their station for six, and even for nine days. It is customary
for the pilgrims to arrive fasting, and to perform at least
one station before taking food; hence it is that most of the
pilgrims arrive in the earlier part of the day. Should the
pilgrim not arrive fasting, this will necessitate his remain-
ing an additional night on the island, as he cannot com-
mence the station till the next day. During the pilgrimage
three stations are performed each day. For the conve-
* That there were a number of trees on the island durhig tlie last
century, where the presbytery now stands, appears from^^the 'plate of
the island given in Ledwich's Ajit'upiities of Irdand.
LOUGH DERG. 183
nience and guidance of the pilgrims a large number of
copies of the authorised devotional exercises of this pil-
grimage were printed in the summer of 1876, and each
pilgrim can obtain a copy at the island, with the aid of
which he will have little difficulty in going through the
routine of the station exercises. I here insert a copy of
these exercises.
DEVOTIDXAL EXERCISES OF THE PILGRIMAGE OF
LOUGH DERG.
" Unless yoL shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish." Luke, c. xiii., v. 3.
*' The station commences with a visit to the Blessed Sacrament in
St. Patrick's Church.
"The p.lgrim then proceeds to 'St. Patrick's Cross,' near the
same churci, and kneeling, repeats there one Pater, one Ave, and
Creed.
"Next he goes to ' St. Brigid's Cross,' where kneeling, he recites
three Pateis, three Aves, and one Creed. Then standing with his
back to the Cross, and outstretched arms, he thrice renounces the
Devil, the World, and the Flesh.
"He then makes seven circuits of St. Patrick's Church, repeating
in eaci circuit one decade of the Rosary, and adding a Creed to the
last dtcade.
" He next proceeds to the Penitential Cell or Bed, nearest to St.
Mary'; Church, called St. Brigid's Bed, and says three Paters, three
Aves, and one Creed, whilst thrice making the circuit of this Bed on
the ouside. The same prayers are repeated while kneeling outside
the en ranee of the Bed, the same repeated while making three cir-
cuits oi it on the inside, and the same prayers are repeated while
kneelirg at the cross inside the Bed.
"The same penitential exercises are performed successively at St.
Brendai's Bed, St. Catherine's and St. Columba's.
* ' Anund the large Penitential Bed nine circuits are then made on
the outsde, while repeating nine Paters, nine Aves, and one Creed.
184 PILGRIMAGE OF
The pilgrim then kneels at the first entrance of this Bed, and recites
three Paters, three Aves, and one Creed. He next repeats three Paters,
three Aves, and one Creed, while making the inside circuit of it ; and
again, three Paters, three Aves, and a Creed, kneeling in the centre.
He now proceeds to the second entrance of this Bed (which entrance
is the one nearer to St. Patrick's Church), and kneeling, recites three
Paters, three Aves, and one Creed. The same prayers are recited
whilst making the inner circuit of it, and the same kneeling in the
centre.
*' The pilgrim now goes to the water's edge, where five Paters,
five Aves, and one Creed are repeated standing, and the sane prayers
kneeling.
" After this he returns to St. Patrick's Cross, from which lie had first
set out, and here the station is concluded by saying on his knees one
Pater, one Ave, and one Creed.
"Three stations with the foregoing prayers are performed each
day, each station being usually followed by five decades of the
Rosary of the Blessed Virgin.
*' The pilgrim enters ' Prison ' on the evening of the first day, and
there he makes the stations for the second day by reciting the prayers
of each station as already given.
" On the second day of the pilgrimage each one goes to confusion,
and on the morning of the third day to Holy Communion.
" In addition to the foregoing exercises, the pilgrim assist? each
day at morning prayer, Mass, meditation, visit to the Blessed facra-
ment, spiritual reading, evening prayer, sermon, and benediction
with the Blessed Sacrament.
"Any information regarding the fast, &c., may be easily oUained
on the island.
"The station opens each year on the 1st of July, and clcses on
the 15th of August, the festival of the Assumption of the Jlessed
Virgin." l
According to the Papal Indult (a copy of which is in-
serted in this chapter) it is required, in order to gan the
LOUGH DERG. 185
indulgence attached to this pilgrimage, to offer up prayers
on this island for the propagation of the Faith and accord-
ing to the Pope's intention. No particular prayers are
enjoined, but Bouvier, Traite des Indulgences (p. 73), says
that in such a case five Paters and Aves will suffice, or one
of the litanies or some psalms, or two decades of the
rosary, &c.
The better to enable pilgrims to understand how to
get through with their station, I shall here add some
explanatory information.
The pilgrim enters " prison"' (/>., St. Patrick's Church,
so called because it serves the purpose of the ancient pur-
gatorial cave) the first evening after he commences his sta-
tion, and remains there till next morning. During the night
"in prison" strict vigil is kept ; the stations for the follow-
ing day are gone through, some person well acquainted with
the routine of the exercises directing the attention of those
present to the different beds or oratories, &c. ; and the
intervals of the night are occupied with reciting rosaries,
going round the stations of the Cross, &c.
At six o'clock, at latest, each morning, morning prayer
commences in St. Patrick's Church, followed by the com-
munity Mass. At twelve o'clock, noon, there is a visit to
the Blessed Sacrament in St. Patrick's Church, followed
by a spiritual lecture. At six o'clock each evening the
bell summons the pilgrims to evening prayer in the same
church, after which a sermon is preached, and this is fol-
lowed by benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. The
religious discourses here delivered are of the most practical
kind, are well calculated to awaken in the hearts of the pil-
l86 PILGRIMAGE OF
grims a sense of the eternal truths and of their rehgious
obhgations, and are of great aid and benefit to the pil-
grims in preparing for confession and Holy Communion.
Moving round the churclies and saints' beds (which is
a distinctive feature in this pilgrimage, which is of very-
great antiquity, and which, though not peculiar to Ireland,
was formerly in this country a very common form of pen-
ance and devotion) is clearly explained in the "Exercises''
given above. These beds are the oldest buildings at pre-
sent on Station Island, they are pretty closely grouped
together, and very probably they have received no material
alteration for the last three hundred years, when they were
first constructed here after the model of the little oratories
on Saints' Island. Four of these beds are surrounded by
a low circular wall, not over one foot in height ; while the
walls round two others are about three feet high. They
do not exceed ten or eleven feet in diameter, with the ex-
ception of St. Molaise's Bed, which is sixteen feet in
diameter. A small gap in the circular wall forms an en-
trance to each of these beds, the inner space is paved with
stones or formed of the bare rock, worn smooth by the
feet of pilgrims for so many generations; and in the centre
of each bed stands a crucifix, having underneath the name
of the saint to whom the bed is dedicated. Three of
these bronze crucifixes inscribed respectively "St. Patrick,"
^'St. Brigid," and "St. Columbkille," were presented to
the island by the late John Donegan, jeweller, Dublin ;
while the remaining three crucifixes were ordered from
Munich by Mr. Edward Nicholson, of Manchester, and
presented to the island during the present year.
LOUGH DERG. 1 87
A large stone at the verge of the lake, and partly sub-
mersed in water, is called leAc ha mbonn (which signifies
the broad stone under the feet), and here the station at
the water is performed, as it is popularly credited that St.
Patrick and the other saints of this retreat used here to
pray and to suffer penance.
The fast from immemorial custom consists of one meal
of meagre food each day; but wherever any just cause
exists for a relaxation in this, or in any other of the peni-
tential austerities of the place, the prior and the other con-
fessors on the island, will afford every reasonable conces-
sion, according to each particular case. To the credit,
however, of the genuine faith and piety of the Irish people
be it said, that the great majority of the pilgrims cheer-
fully undergo all the austerities of this pilgrimage, wisely
considering a three days' mortification and penance as but
light and easy in comparison to the temporal punishment
due to sin.
On the second day of the pilgrimage, each pilgrim goes
to confession in St. Mary's Church, and if he should live
a considerable distance from the lake, he usually gets per-
mission from his confessor to perform one or two of the
stations for the following day, in order to permit him to
leave the island at an earlier hour. On the third day Holy
Communion is received, the nine stations are completed,
the prior's blessing is obtained, and the pilgrim leaves for
home, unless he wishes to prolong his stay for six or nine
days. The sum of about three shillings will cover the ex-
penses of each pilgrim while on the island, and this includes
the tribute paid to the ferryman, and also the offering paid
1 88 PILGRIMAGE OF
by each pilgrim towards the support of the clergy minis-
tering to the pilgrims, and to defray the other incidental
expenditure of the place.
Pilgrims are forbidden, by a special rule, the use of
intoxicating drinks on the island, or within three miles of
it ; and they are also forbidden to carry away with them
any pebbles or water from the lake, lest they should attach
to these things any undue value.
Our readers will be able to form some idea of the piety
and devotion practised at this holy retreat, when we tell
them that a station at present consists, besides the visit
to the Blessed Sacrament, of 97 Paters, 160 Aves, and
29 Creeds ; that three of these stations are performed each
day; and that at the end of each day's stations five
decades of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin are said.
There are some who perform the station according to the
old practice (the ritual of the pilgrimage having under-
gone some mitigation in modern times), and in their case
II Paters, 11 Aves, 3 Creeds, and 10 decades of the
Rosary are said, in addition to the above. Ov^r and
above this, the pilgrim assists at Mass, morning and
evening prayer, meditations, the Afigdus three times daily,
sermons and benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. It
will thus be seen that the time of the pilgrims, while on
the island, is fully occupied, and that there is no room
here for worldly or idle conversations.
The throng of pilgrims greatly increases towards the
festival of the Assumption, when the station closes ; and
we here venture to suggest that if the pilgrims should
come in greater numbers at an early part of the station
LOUGH DERG. 1 89
season, they would very much consult for their own com.
fort and accommodation.
We have already seen that this venerable sanctuary
w^as greatly cherished by several of the Roman Pontiffs,
and that they enriched it with indulgences, which, in
latter ages, were granted anew after the lapse of every
fifteen years. The last renewal of this plenary indulgence
was granted on the 26th of June, 1870, by the late Holy
Father, Pope Pius IX,, of holy memory. Through the
kindness of the venerated Bishop of Clogher, the Most
Rev. Dr. Donnelly, I am enabled to enrich the pages of
this work with copies of the Postulatio, and also of the
Papal Indult itself.
The form of postulation is written in Italian, and is
countersigned, "D. B. Smith. J 25, 1870."
This Postulatio is as follows : —
"Beatissimo Padre,
" Giacomo Donnelly, Vescovo di Clogher, in Irlanda, religio-
samente espone alia Santita Vostra quanto seque.
" Nella sua diocesi avvi un santuario detto il Purgatorio di S.
Patrizio, frequentato dai divoti non solo d'Irlanda, ma d'lnghilterra
e di Scozia ; ogni pellegrino passa almeno tre giorni in detto
santuario in pii esercizi, e frequenza dei sacramenti della Confessione
ed Eucaristia, secondo la direzione dei preti secolari, che diriggono
quel luogo : di essoparla ancora Benedetto XIIL, nel Sermone 13,
de Purgatorio ; egle storici dicono che un tal pelegrinaggio sia state
instituito da S. Patrizio stesso. Benche nel tempo della perse-
cuzione dei Protestant! si adoperasse ogni sforzo per rovinar detto
santuario, pure non vi si vinsci ; ed esso dura ancora con immenso
vantaggio della salute spirituale dei prossimi, e religione Cattolica.
" Secondo il Relatio Status fatto nel 18 14 da Monsigr. Murphy,
igo PILGRIMAGE OF
Vescovo di Cloglier la S. Sede aveva concessa una indulgenza alia
visita del Purgatorio di S. Patrizio.
"Quindi S. Oratore supplica la sanctita vostra degnarsi di
accordare I'indulgenza plenaria, applicabile alle anime del purgatorio,
a tutti i fideli, die premetti i sancti sacramenti della Confessione e
Communione visita un detto santuario, e cio Mies qnotics ripeteranno
dette prattiche della SS. Communione durante gli esercizi che ecc."
The following may be regarded as a pretty accurate
translation of the foregoing document : —
*' jNIgst Holy Father,
"James Donnelly, Bishop of Cloglier, in Ireland, respectfully
submits to your Holiness what follows.
" In his diocese he has a sanctuary called St. Patrick's Purgatory,
which is frequented by the devout not only of Ireland, but from
England and Scotland also. Each pilgrim spends at least three
days at the said sanctuary in pious exercises, and frequentation of
the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist, under the direction
of the secular priests, who have charge of the place. Of it, like-
wise, Benedict XIII. speaks in the 13th Sermon on Purgatory.
Historians say that such a pilgrimage was established by the said St.
Patrick. And although at the time of the persecution by the Pro-
testants, every effort was made to destroy the said sanctuary, yet they
could not destroy it ; and it still subsists with immense advantage to
the spiritual welfare of the surrounding people, and to the Catholic
religion.
*' According to the Relatio Status, made in 18 14 by Dr. INIurphy,
Bishop of Cloghcr, the Holy See had attached an indulgence to the
visit of the Purgatory of St. Patrick.
'* Hence Petitioner begs that your Holiness will be pleased to
grant a plenary indulgence, applicable to the souls in Purgatory, to
all the faithful who shall have previously received the Holy Sacra-
ments of Confession and Communion, and visited the said sanctuary,
LOUGH DERG.
191
and who repeat toties qtioties the aforesaid practice of Holy Com-
munion during the exercises," (S:c., &c.
The following is a copy of the Papal Indult, granting
the prayer of the above petition by according a plenary
indulgence to this pilgrimage : —
" Ex audientia SSimi, die 26 Junii, 1870.
"SSimusD. N. Pius Divina Providentia PP. IX. referente me
infra-scripto S. C. de Propaganda Fide Secretario, benigne proro-
gavit Indulgentiam Plenariam lucrandani ab omnibus Christi
fidelibus, qui confessi ac sacra Eucharistia refecti prcedictam capel-
1am vulgo Purgatorium S. Patritii visitaverint, ibique per aliquod
temporis spatium pias ad Deum fuderint preces pro S. Fidei propa-
gatione, et juxta summi Pontificis intentionem.
** Dat. RomcE ex oed. die. S. C. die et anno ut supra.
" Gratis sine ulla solutione quocumque titulo.
"Joannes Simeoni, Secretarius."
This Indult may be translated as follows : —
" From an audience of His Holiness, on the 26th day of June, 1870.
** Our Most Holy Father Pius IX., by Divine Providence Pope,
at the representation of me, the undersigned Secretary of the Sacred
Congregation de Propaganda Fide, has graciously prolonged the con-
cession of a plenary indulgence to be gained by all the faithful, who,
having confessed and being nourished by the Holy Eucharist, shall
have visited the above-mentioned sanctuary, commonly called the
Purgatory of St. Patrick, and there, during some space of time, shall
have offered up pious prayers to God for the propagation of our holy
faith, and according to the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff.
** Given at Rome, from the Office of said Sacred Congregation,
on the date and year above named.
*' Gratis, without any payment under whatever title.
"John Simeoni, Secretaiy."
192 PILGRIMAGE OF LOUGH DERG.
From the foregoing Indult it will be seen that the
indulgences accorded to this pilgrimage are given for an
indefinite period, and consequently they may be under-
stood to continue annexed to the pilgrimage until with-
drawn by the Holy See.
To the pious pilgrim to Lough Derg, it cannot but be a
source of the most heartfelt satisfaction to read the above
Indult, which shall ever be regarded as the title-deed of
the sanctity of this penitential retreat, and as the endow-
ment of it with spiritual graces by a Pontiff, whose career
was so glorious, and who loved the Irish race so much
because of their constant faith and fervent piety.
PILGRIMAGE OF LOUGH DERG.
19:
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE HEALTHFUL CLIMATE OF LOUGH DERG — PECULIAR
EFFICACY OF THE EXERCISES OF THIS STATION — THE JOY
AND PEACE EXPERIENCED IN THIS PILGRIMAGE BENE-
FACTORS OF THIS TRULY CATHOLIC CHARITY — CON-
CLUDING REMARKS.
^'^ISITORS to Lough Derg speak in the
ji highest praise of the saUibrious quahty of
YP its chmate. Nor is this to be wondered
^^ at ; for, situated as it is within about four
miles, in a direct hne, from Donegal Bay,
it enjoys the advantage of the sea air,
tempered by the mountain breezes ; so that
during the dry, warm days of summer the atmos-
phere of Lough Derg is the most heakhful, bracing, and
invigorating perhaps of any other locahty in Ireland.
And to this circumstance may be, to a great extent,
ascribed the almost total immunity from mortality which
the island has enjoyed; for the oldest inhabitants of the
place can only remember one or two deaths to have
occurred here out of such crowds of pilgrims, many of
whom were old and feeble persons, who travelled very
long journeys to the island, and there performed the dif-
ferent exercises in all their rigour. It is now nearly forty
years since the last death occurred on the island ; and
o
194 PILGRIMAGE OF
that was in the case of an aged woman, who was interred
in the cemetery of the pilgrimage on Saints' Island, and
whose fmieral was accompanied to her last resting-place
by the pilgrims then " on station." So genial is the
atmosphere of the locality, that few are heard to complain
of the slightest indisposition while they remain here ; and
if this be owing in some part to the healthful climate of
the place, it cannot be denied that the practice of penance
and mortification here observed has a great deal to do
with this happy state of things ; the practice of mortifi-
cation not only being of salutary advantage to the soul,
but contributing, likewise, towards the health of the body.
It is a remarkable fact, upon which many comment,
that the devotional exercises of this pilgrimage have a
wonderful efficacy in securing the necessary dispositions
for worthily receiving the sacraments of Penance and
Holy Communion. Hence it is that many persons, after
having attended missions and retreats elsewhere (such
persons regarding missions as only a preparatory course
for properly entering on this pilgrimage), come here in
order to secure that interior happiness which its exercises
are so calculated to produce. Nor are there wanting
many and convincing reasons to show the peculiar
efficacy of these exercises. In the first place, that crucial
test of the sanctity of a place, the noime cor iwstriun
ardens erat m nobis^ here forces itself on the mind. One
feels in this place, as it were instinctively, that he walks
upon holy ground; that here the prayer blessed by
penance is certain of being heard ; that here the soul is
allowed close converse with God; that here Heaven
LOUGH DERG. 1 95
bestows its choicest blessings, and that here God enriches
the pious pilgrims with copious graces.
Besides, every penitential exercise here practised
increases in the soul veneration for the sanctity of the
place, coupled with love and reverence for God — the
Author of all sanctity. At the very outset of the station,
the pilgrim divests himself of his shoes, out of respect
for the sanctity of the place, through a spirit of penance,
and in conformity with the admonition given by God to
Moses — " Come not nigh hither ; put off the shoes from
thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy
ground" (Exod., c. iii,, v. 5). In addition to this, the
men wear neither hat nor cap while on the island.
Again, are not the observances of fasting, vigil, and
prayer, as here observed, in direct keeping with the con-
stant teaching and precepts of our Blessed Saviour ? And
where, may I ask, are these salutary precepts so faithfully
followed as on the holy island of Lough Derg? Need
we wonder, then, that they are such powerful helps in
disposing the pilgrims for a worthy reception of the
sacraments? Next, walking round the churches and
saints' beds, over the uneven surface of the rock, rough
stones, water gravel, &c., does it not convey the very
idea of pilgrimage, and suggest very forcibly man's mortal
pilgrimage through the desert places of this world — of
this " vale of tears ? " In going round the saints' beds
we are reminded of the penitential and mortified lives led
by those great servants of God, who, within these little
cells, or in others of similar construction at this hallowed
retreat, are said to have done penance during the day, and
196 PILGRIMAGE OF
to have reposed their weary limbs during the night Going
through these stations also reminds the pilgrims of that
infinitely more painful journey, the way of the Cross,
along which our Blessed Lord bore the heavy weight of
the Cross, for our sake, up the rugged hill of Calvary.
And when the pilgrim stands with outstretched arms in
front of the cross, set in the eastern wall of St. Patrick's
Church, does he not thereby signify that, having re-
nounced the devil, the world, and the flesh, he is pre-
pared to take up his cross and follow in the footsteps of
his Divine Master?
By going into '' prison," or the fast-cave, or sepulchre,
as it is differently named, the pilgrim is reminded that he
is now dead to the world and its vanities ; and that having
buried, so to say, his past transgressions, he may rise
again to the supernatural life of grace, or to a higher
degree of perfection. The ablution usually performed
after leaving " prison," is expressive of the interior
cleansing which the penitential works of the station and
the reception of the sacraments operate in the soul of the
pilgrim.
The symbolical meaning of the different exercises of
the station, is given more fully and at considerable length
in a little guide-book to the pilgrimage, the initials of its
author, "B. D.," being only given. This little handbook
was very defective and faulty, and is now superseded by
the " Authorized Exercises " referred to in our last
chapter. Richardson also gives a copy of the " Instruc-
tions," which directed the pilgrims in his time (1727).
These " Instructions '^ are more diffuse and circumstantial,
LOUGH DERG. I97
but substantially the same as those given in the little
guide-book by " B. D." What I have said, however,
regarding the scope and effect of the different exercises
of the pilgrimage, sufficiently explains how efficacious
they are in awakening religious sentiments in the hearts
of the pilgrims, in producing feelings of compunction and
sorrow for sin, and in worthily disposing for the sacra-
ments.
The sermons here preached are of the most practical
kind, and are followed by the pilgrims with the most
devout attention throughout ; so that we can safely say,
never did Gospel-seed fall on more congenial soil than
is to be found in the congregation assembled before
St. Patrick's Sanctuary on Lough Derg.
And even the ringing of the island bell, as it summons
the pilgrims to the various station duties ; the wild
screaming of the trumpet announcing the departure of
the ferry-boat ; the solitude, desolation, and surroundings
of the place — " all kindle in the soul feelings of awe and
reverence, and fill it with a keener sense of the power of
God, and of the strict account which He will require of
each one, when his brief term of life is brought to a
close," — writes the distinguished annotator of the Monas-
ticon Hibeniicon.
Hence, seeing the peculiar efficacy of the exercises of
this pilgrimage towards renewing and increasing the
spiritual life, the sanctity of the place, and the graces and
indulgences there received, what wonder is it that the eye
of the pilgrim is charmed, his heart elevated, his faith
enlivened — nay, even his love for holy Ireland increased—
198 PILGRIMAGE OF
when first the Island of Lough Derg meets his view ?
And what wonder is it that the Irish people should so
love this sanctuary? We love it on account of its asso-
ciation with the name of our National Apostle ; on
account of the number of saints who here practised the
Gospel counsels of perfection, and whose names are in
benediction in the Irish Church ; we love it because of
the traditions which enshrine it in the Irish heart ; because
of the numberless sinners here reconciled to a life of
holiness, and who here " chose the better part ;" and
finally, we love it because of the numberless graces here
received, and the blessings it obtains for its numerous
pilgrims, and because it excites in us lofty desires of
becoming holy.
As the island has passed through times of persecution,
and as its fine monastic buildings and noble churches were
demolished in the common ruin, we need not wonder to
find that most of the glories of its worship had fled during
this sad period, and that the buildings on the island in
the meantime were of so unpretentious a character. Of
late years a decided reaction has set in, buildings more in
keeping with the dignity of the place have been erected,
and the ceremonial of our holy religion is here observed
with more befitting splendour and solemnity. Extensive
improvements are also contemplated in the near future,
such as additional accommodation for pilgrims, &c. ; and
we fondly entertain the hope that at no distant day, the
religious generosity of the Irish race will erect here a
temple in every way worthy of this venerable pilgrimage.
The late John Donegan, jeweller, Dublin, fully reaHzed,
LOUGH DERG. I99
as SO few besides have done, the huportance of this sanc-
tuary, and its claims on the generosity of the Irish race.
In the summer of 1858 he made a present to the sanctuary
of certain church requisites to the vakie of £1^0. In
connexion with this presentation, the following extract
from the Nation of August 14th, 1858, will be interest-
ing : — " John Donegan, whose munificence to the Catholic
Church at home and abroad ranks him amongst the
greatest benefactors to Catholicity, of whom we may be
justly proud, has made the following valuable offerings to
the chapel of Lough Derg — a remonstrance, chalice,
ciborium (of solid silver), cope, veil, suit of vestments
(cloth of gold), set of candlesticks, fine brass crucifix,
bookstand. Missal (beautifully bound), thurible, incense
boat, altar linens, incense, chime of bells, brass lamp, and
M'ax candles. The chapel on the island, such a famous
resort of pilgrims for many ages, stood in great want of
these holy requisites, and priests and pilgrims shall ever
more be bound to pray for this truly Catholic Irishman,
whose gold and silver now adorn an altar annually visited
by thousands. An inscription on the sacred utensils re-
cords the name of the generous benefactor, and states that
they are presented to the Right Rev. Dr. M'Nally, Bishop
of Clogher, and that they are to be henceforth the pro-
perty of that ancient diocese, and to be used in the chapel
of Lough Derg."
A large present of altar linens and other requisites was
made to this sanctuary by the late Rev. Mother Beale,
Superioress of the Convent of St. Louis, Monaghan, who
in company with some of the sisters of her community
200 PILGRIMAGE OF
came here on pilgrimage about ten years ago. Several
other kind benefactors, also, have not forgotten Lough
Derg in their charity, and we cherish the hope that their
bright example will be followed in future by many others,
until the sanctuary of St. Patrick's Purgatory shall have
regained the celebrity it formerly occupied, and which at
present it has such claims to occupy, amongst the cele-
brated places of pilgrimage throughout the world.
Before drawing to a conclusion, I should not forget to
mention that at two o'clock each afternoon, the pilgrims'
boat starts for Saints' Island, which is about two miles
distant from Station Island ; and a more delightful little
trip can hardly be imagined. During the voyage the pil-
grims while away the time most agreeably by singing
litanies and hymns, and occasionally the sound of in-
strumental music may be heard. Having traversed Saints'
Island, they start on their homeward trip, after having
spent about two hours in this charming little excursion.
At seven o'clock each evening, immediately after the
sermon, benediction with the Blessed Sacrament is given
in St. Patrick's Church. For this ceremony the altar is
very richly decorated with numerous lights and with a pro-
fusion of wild flowers gathered from the islands — woodbine,
variegated heath, water lilies, various species of ferns,
purple rockets, and with many other ornamental plants and
flowers indigenous to these rocky islands, the odour and
beauty of which are very pleasing to the senses. A choice
choir, also, can be easily improvised from amongst the
pilgrims ; and, as there has been lately a fine harmonium
purchased for the use of the island, both Mass and Bene-
LOUGH DERG. 201
diction are generally accompanied with very excellent
sacred music. And I may here observe that the cere-
mony of benediction, and the other ceremonies of our
holy religion here practised, seem to possess on this island
retreat a peculiar charm, and to impart a more solemn
effect than they do elsewhere.
In future we liope to see pilgrimages to Lough Derg
organized in most of the towns and parishes throughout
the kingdom under the direction of the parochial clergy,
the same as takes place to the Continental places of
pilgrimage. And in this every priest should take the
warmest interest; for we all well know what lasting
fruits of penance are produced by this pilgrimage ;
how the rough stone is worn smooth by the generations
of pilgrims who here did penance ; and how many a sin-
ful, sorrow-laden heart found here in this '' prison " chapel
and on those "beds" of stone, light, and grace, and con-
solation. Nor can we estimate how much these religious
gatherings will tend to promote piety and fervour, and to
quicken the pulse of religion throughout the length and
breadth of the land. For proof of this, we have only to
look at Lourdes, and the many other holy places latterly so
much frequented.
And now, after having given what little information I
was enabled to collect concerning the holy island of Lough
Derg, I will briefly conclude by hoping that the fame of
this venerable pilgrimage may long continue to increase,
that its churches and other buildings may come to rival
the proportions and beauty of those fine monastic build-
ings which stood here during the ages of the faith ; that
202 PILGRIMAGE OF LOUGH DERG
crowds of votaries may long continue to feel before this
sanctuary that interior happiness which its penitential
exercises are so calculated to effect; and that the pilgrim-
age of Lough Derg may always remain as a fountain of
mercy, grace, and salvation to the faithful children of St.
Patrick.
-^
NOTES.
Note to p. 20.
This legend of the serpent, and the change of the name of the lake
in consequence of its death by " Conan the Bald," are referred to
in an ancient poem called the ** Finnian Hunt on the borders of
Lough Derg." From this poem I extract the following stanzas : —
' ' A serpent there was in the Lough of the mountain,
Which caused the slaughter of the Fianna ;
Seventy hundred or more
It put to death in one day.
" Fionn-loch Deirg was the name
Of this lake, in the beginning, O Just Cleric \i.e. St. Patrick] ;
But Lough Dearg remained since that time.
From the slaughter of the Fianna on that day."
Transactions of the Ossianic Society, vol. vi., p. 155.
Note to p. II.
St. Patrick very probably visited Lough Derg on his way from
Ballyshannon through Tyrhugh on to Tyrone. St. Patrick's sojourn
at Ballyshannon is very fully described in the Vita Tripartita, Part
II., where it is said, " St. Patrick went to Es-Ruaidh. He desired
to establish himself there, where Disert- Patrick is, and Lec-Patrick.
Cairbre opposed him, and sent two of his people, whose names were
Carbacc and Cuangus, to seize his hands. ' Not good is what you
do,' said Patrick ; ' if I were permitted to found a place here, the
second to Rome of Latium, with its Tiber running through it, would
be my establishment with its Es-Ruaidh through it ; and your de-
scendants would be comarbs in it.'"
After leaving Ballyshannon, St. Patrick entered Tyrhugh, where
Lough Derg is situated, on his way northwards. This journey is
thus mentioned in the Tripartite : —
*' After Patrick had blessed the Cenel-Conaill, and had left a bless-
204 NOTES PILGRIMAGE OF
ng on their forts and rivers and churches, he went into the country
of Eoghan, the son of Niall, across Bernas of Tir- Aedha into Magh-
Itha." On this journey it is not unlikely that he visited Teach'
Dabheoc on Lough Derg.
Note to p. 46.
Regarding the second St. Dabheoc or Beoan, of Lough Derg, the
following extract from a legend given in the Leabhar na h-Uidkrc,
will be interesting : — " It happened that St. Comgall of Bangor de-
spatched Beon, son of Innli, of Teach Dabeog, to Rome, on a mes-
sage to Gregory [Pope, A.D. 590-604], to receive order and rule."
A fabulous story is there told of Liban, daughter of Eachaidh, son of
]\Iuiredhach, having been metamorphosed into a salmon, caught in a
net on the return of Beoan from Rome, and drawn by wild oxen from
Caj-n Airend to Teach Dabeoc, where she was baptized by Comgall,
with the name Muirgen, i.e., " born of the sea." Another name for
her was Fidnchi. This legend is given at length in Dr. Reeves'
Down and Connor, p. 376. From it we can leam, making due
allowance for fable, the parentage of St. Beoanus, or Dabheoc, the
period at which he lived, and his journey to Rome to have his rule
confirmed by Pope Gregory ; we also learn that a monastery stood
here at that time, named Teach Dabheoc ; and that it was founded
by St. Patrick, the name would imply, seeing that other foundations
styled Teach were established by him. In pi"oof of this may be ad-
duced the following passage from the Tripartite Life, Part III., not to
mention other similar passages : — " Patrick did not visit Ard-macha
on that occasion, but went into the territory of Hy-Cremthand,
where he founded churches and residences,'' the corresponding Irish
for "residence" being Teach, e.g. Teach-Talain (Tehallen), i.e. the
house of Thalain — sen Cillene.
Note to p. 67.
As the inscriptions at Lough Derg relating to St. MacNisse are so
curious and interesting, I shall here add a few extracts, chiefly from
Dr. Reeves' Down and Contior, pp. 237-39, regarding this remark-
able saint. In the Acta Sanctorum, by the Bollandists, it is said that
LOUGH DERG.
205
he was baptized by St. Patrick: — " Qiiem venerabilis sanctus Patnchis,
Hiber}ioricm Apostolus, baptizavitP
And of his education by St. Bolcan it is added : — '^ Bolcano vera
episcopo altndmn atqtce docendum dedit.^^
Of his intimacy with St. Patrick, the Tripartite Life assures us,
where it says : — "And iNIacNisse, of Condere, read his psalms with
Patrick."
Of his pilgrimages it is said in the Acta Sanctorum, at the 3rd of
September: — ^^ Pc7'fecttis autem vir f actus, atqiie bcato Fati-icio in
episcopttni suae gentis ordinatus, Ihnina Apostoloruni adiit, Jenisaleju
quoque, aliaque sancta tcrrae repromissae loca visitavit."
On his return home after his distant pilgrimages, he founded the
church of Connor : — " Connerense monastenum construitur, in quo
usque hodie sedes episcopalis habctur. "
The triendship of St. Brigid towards him is sufficiently conveyed
in these few words : — " Hacc dc sancta Brigita dixit, qucB pro utilibus
causis eiiJ7i zisitavit."
That St. Colman, Bishop of Dromore, profited largely by his coun-
sels, w( may learn from the following passage, taken from his life by
the Bolandists, at the 7th of June : — '■^ Deinde saepe venerabilcm
Macny. mm Conderetisem episcoptcm petiit, qui Jiospitum prcesciens ad-
ventu77i eis necessaria jussit p7-c€pa7'a7'i. Ille itaque illuc pe7'veniens,
hila7'itate susceptus est : ibique paucis diebtcs i7iansit. Deinde
i7iito C(ksilio, venerabile77i se7ic77i ubi loctcm se7'viaidi Deo funda7-e
deberet.
Coba tid C07ist7'uas monaste7-iu77i.^
ronsulit. Qui respondit : vohaitas Dei est, ut i7ifi7iibiis Campi
Note to p. 88.
Amoig the archives of England are certificates issued by Edward
III,, declaring that Malatesta Ungaro, Lord of Rimini, Fano,
Pesano,and Fossombrone, and Nicolo de Beccario, of Ferrara, had
perform ;d pilgrimage to St. Patrick's Purgator}^ Lough Derg. The
foUowir J is a copy of this certificate, taken from Gilbert's History of
The Vic'7-oys of l7-ela7id. " Whereas," wrote the King of England,
"Malatista Ungaro, of Rimini, a nobleman and knight, hath pre-
sented llimself before us, and declared that, travelling from his own
2 06 NOTES — PILGRIMAGE OF
country, he had with many bodily toils visited the Purgatory of St.
Patrick, in our land of Ireland, and for the space of a day and a night,
as is the custom, remained therein enclosed, and now earnestly be-
seeches us that, for the confirmation of the truth thereof, we should
grant him our royal letters. We, therefore, considering the dangers
and perils of his pilgrimage, and although the assertion of such a
noble might on this suffice, yet we are further certified thereof by
letters from our trusty and beloved Almaric de St. Amand, knight,
Justiciary of Ireland, and from the prior and convent of the said
Purgatory, and others of great credit, as also by clear evidence that
the said nobleman had duly and courageously performed his pilgrim-
age ; we have consequently thought worthy to give favourably unto
him our royal authority concerning the same, to the end there may
be no doubt made of the premised; and that the truth may more
clearly appear, we have deemed proper to grant unto him these our
letters, under our royal seal."
Note to p. 95.
As an instance of the fame of the Purgatory during the fourteenth
century, may be noticed the following letter, to which my atten.ion was
drawn through the kindness of Mrs. Atkinson, of Fairview, Dublin,
a literary Catholic lady of great ability. Mrs. Atkinson writes : —
" This is a letter of St. Catherine of Siena, addressed to a certain
Don Giovanni, a monk in the Certosa at Rome, who was sorely tempted
and in great trouble of mind, because he could not obtain pe^-mission
to make a pilgrimage to St. Patrick^ s Pu7gatory in Irelatd. The
letter is a beautiful discourse on obedience and patience, and is of
considerable length. In the end she strongly counsels the iroubled
religious to surrender his own will in everything, but especially in
the matter which she has heard of from the visitor. The editor of
' Le Lettere di S. Caterina da Siena' (Fizenza, i860), gives a short
account of the legend of St. Patrick's Purgatory in a note to this
letter, which is in vol. iii,, and numbered 201."
Note to p. 112.
The only instance I can find of a parish priest of Templecarn hav-
LOUGH DERG. 20/
ing been also Prior of Lough Derg, is that given by the Rev. Mr.
Hewson, who visited the island in the beginning of August, 1701.
He states : — "On the ninth day (about two in the morning), the
titular priest of the parish (whom they call Prior) puts them into the
caves, one of which holds thirty, another sixteen, and another four-
teen persons, the men and women separately."
1 Note to pp. 1 1 8- 19.
With regard to the mediaeval tales related of St. Patrick's Pur-
gatory, and so eagerly seized upon by Protestant writers to justify
their attacks against this venerable retreat, the following extract
from Frederic Ozanem's work, intituled, *' Des Sources Poetiques
de la Divine Comedie," will prove interesting. After praising the
perspicacity and erudition of Mr. Wright's work, this writer adds : —
" Mais poui-quoi porter I'amertume de la controverse Protestante et
la rancune Anglaise contre I'lrlande dans I'etude d'une innocente
tradition qui ne fut jamais qu'un recit poetique, qui n'entra jamais
dans 1^ croyances theologiques de I'Eglise, et que les Papes ne
laissireit pas introduire dans le Breviere Romain ?"
Note to p. 1 70.
Amo|gst the clergymen who officiated at Lough Derg during the
present century, and who are now deceased, we have only been able
to ascefltain the following names : — The Very Rev. Dean Bellew,
P.P., ]|[onaghan ; Dean Boylan, P.P., Enniskillen ; Very Rev,
Patrick IMoyna, P.P., Donagh ; Rev. Anthony M 'Sherry, P.P.;
the Rev| Henry M 'Phillips, P.P. ; Rev. Peter Gordon, P.P. ; Rev.
Ross MjMahon, P.P., Derrygonnelly ; Rev. Father Mullan, P.P.,
Errigle-truagh J Rev. Thomas Smollen, P.P., Blackbog ; Rev.
Peter M^ginn, P.P. ; Rev. Father Keown, C.C. ; Rev. Neil Ryan,
P.P., Eettigo ; Rev. Patrick Carolan, P.P., Clogher ; Canon
Cassidy, P.P., Dromore ; Rev. Charles Cassidy, P.P., Tydavnet ;
and the Rev. Ardell Connolly, Adm., Clogher.
Of the clergymen still living, who ministered to the wants of the
pilgrims jit Lough Derg, I have been able to make out the following
list, whicp, I suspect, will be found incomplete :— Very Rev. Canon
2 08 NOTES — PILGRIMAGE OF LOUGH DERG.
M'Kenna, P.P., Dromore, Prior ; Very Rev. Dean MacMahon,
P.P., Carrickmacross ; Canon M'Donnell, P.P., Donaghmoyne ;
Canon Smollen, P.P., Clones; Very Rev. Anthony M'Geough,
P.P., Ematris ; Rev. James M'Kenna, P.P., Brookeborough, who
officiated as Prior during the seasons of 1867, 1875, and 1878 ; Very
Rev. Dean Owens, Maynooth College ; Rev. James M'Quaide,
P.P., Cleenish ; Rev. John O'Reilly, P.P., Blackbog ; Rev. Peter
Maguire, P.P., Maguiresbridge; Rev. Peter Byrne, P.P., Kilmore
and Drumsnatt ; Rev. M. Carney, P.P., Derrygonnelly ; Rev. B.
Duflfy, P.P., Aghabog ; Rev. Daniel O'Connor, C.C, who assisted
here during the seasons of 1869, 1876, and 1878 ; Rev. Joseph
V^oods, C.C, Clones; Rev. T. M'Ardle, C.C, Eskra : Rev.
Eugene M'Kenna, C.C, Dromore; Rev. Felix Hackett, C.C,
Enniskillen ; Rev. Patrick Hackett, C.C, Aughnamullen, E. ; Rev.
John Maguire, CC, Blackbog; Rev. ^Yilliam Downey. C.C,
Pettigo ; Rev. Patrick Callan, CC, Fintona ; and the Rev. Daniel
Smyth, now a Passionist.
Note to p. 182.
In the year 1S60 the station was closed, owing to the repairs and
improvements effected on the island by the Rev. John M'Kenna,
now parish priest of Pettigo. After these repairs had been com-
pleted, about the beginning of August in the same year, pilgrims
were admitted to the island ; and, with the sanction of the bishop
of the diocese, the station was continued till the 8th of September
following, during which time a considerable number of pilgrims had
visited the place. This is the only case I know of in vhich the
station was kept open after the 15 th of August. , ,
THE END.
S B Ji D A
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