Sacred Journeys: Why Ireland?

"In Ireland our oldest rock near Rosslare in Wexford has an age of 2300 million years (Mitchell, Shell Guide, p.1)." Ireland, the island at the edge of Western Europe has anciently been seen as a "Sacred Isle," and is in a unique location, one possessing its own spirit and sense of the holy. It is believed the initial Mesolithic hunter-gatherers--the first Irish--arrived around 8-10,000 B.C.. They were peoples who originally resided in the north, as demonstrated by the base at Mount Sandal, near Colerain, County Antrim. These individuals would have been familiar with the terrain, the water-ways, the blanketed forests, and the rugged coastlines-sensing and cooperating with the essence of the environment.

Tomb construction was initiated in the Neolithic period, which began around 4,000 B.C. and tombs were created upon the landscape ancestral sites. The sacred at this time was reflected in the rivers, the mountains, the trees, as well as the surrounding wildlife.

This is a land with a feminine spirit. The ancient deities were believed to be capable of manifesting in the physical world and shape-shifting into various animals. The hare was strongly associated with the later wise women, as well as this art. The west especially was affiliated with the Otherworld, the departed and spiritual instruction. The spirit world in Irish mythology assumed a variety of names, including the Land of Women, the Land of Youth, and the Land of Apples. This was a dominion which bestowed insight, wisdom, and great gifts of spirit. The Druids were hallowed individuals and undoubtedly were the primary religious specialists of pre-Christian Ireland, and elsewhere in Western Europe. "They teach many things to the nobles of Gaul in a course of instruction lasting as long as twenty years, meeting in secret either in a cave or secluded dales (Oh'gain, Sacred Isle. p. 88)."

These religious experts of the pagan and historic periods were responsible for the inauguration of the kings and rites of passage. They had evolved views related to the soul, its immortality, creation, death, rebirth, and they espoused a moral code of honor. The yew tree was the chief focus of the sanctified groves, and the wood was used for Druidic wands. The early Christians built their churches near these places of pagan worship, hence the presence of yews in churchyards today.

The Cliffs of Mor in the west of Ireland are a dramatic juncture, where the land meets the sea. The landscape also cared for the dead. Overlooking Newcastle, Slieve Donard, its crest reaching over eight hundred and fifty metres, the cliffs hosted a probable passage tomb. A sacred mountain with primal pre-Christian links in County Down, its summit was a site of pilgrimage on a day nearing the end of July, an act allied with the Lughnasa harvest festival. In Ireland over one thousand five hundred megalithic tombs have survived: The passage, portal, and court types are attributed to the Neolithic phase, with the wedge type surfacing towards the close of this era, after 2,500 B.C.; and their use progressing well into the Bronze Age. A considerable number of unclassified tombs and a cluster of unique or single tombs can also be identified.

There are up to three hundred examples of passage tombs in Ireland. The Burren's distinctive Poulnabrone dolmen dates to around 2,500 B.C. and is formed on a level limestone pavement. Between sixteen and twenty-two adults and six children were discovered in the chamber and associated crevices. Artifacts within the space included quartz crystals, a perforated bone pendant, a polished stone axe, and pottery. Tombs and environmental forms interacted.

Poulnabrone seems to be an illustration of a structure which housed relics of consecutive generations of the native populations, or by being constructed to enclose these remains, personified a familial bond to the surrounding topography. Thirty five generations apparently were involved with this portal tomb.

The wedge tomb was the most prolific in Ireland, with 465 having been recognized, their positioning reminiscent of the other megaliths, although they feature singularly. Their location was frequently close to other styles of monument.

Court tombs were sites that received offerings and were deposits which included human bone, as opposed to being places of interment. The rituals and practices which occurred at these venues appear directed to the court arena. Court tomb's focus was religious. The court cairns are never clustered in cemetery groups, with perhaps their remote situation implying that they were a cult centre that unified a strewn populace. The domestic homes and the court cairns were quite close together. The overwhelming majority of these edifices have been secured above a line from Galway to Dundalk, with south Ulster possessing most of the dual court tombs, with Mayo, Sligo, and Donegal claiming the bulk of the central court cairns.

Creeykeel, County Sligo is a superb example of this megalithic style. Stone seemed to represent a permanence and endurance, in both the physical and the spiritual worlds. Creeykeel is probably older than Newgrange and was excavated by the Harvard Archaeological Expedition, under Hugh ' N. Hecken. "Early prehistoric burial mounds were also sites of respect and veneration for the Iron Age inhabitants of Ireland (Rafterty, p. 180)."

Stone Circles and Icons

There are stone circles, numbering over two hundred in Ireland, with nearly one hundred based in the counties of Cork and Kerry, although these circles are of quite a small scale, consisting of five or even four stones; however, their number can swell to nineteen. Central and southwest Ulster contain the other considerable stone circle concentration, which are slightly larger in dimension, consisting of up to forty five stones. Often they have been sited close to megaliths, and on occasions they occur in clusters, for example at Beaghmore, County Tyrone.

Pagan stones, galláin, were particularly used to signify boundaries, and places of interment. They quite often came to be seen as memorials of renowned mythic proceedings. The mysterious rationale behind standing stones has led to suggestions such as indicators of prehistoric track ways, or burial markers. From the initial beginnings of Irish Christianity crosses had been etched into standing stones or engraved onto slabs, to be established in monasteries, emblematic of the Faith. Possibly in the fourth to the seventh century, the tradition in various parts on Ireland, particularly the southwest, the east, and the south, involved the creation of stones of memorial, marked with ogham, which signified the name and ancestry of the dead. With the arrival of Christianity these stones seemingly were viewed with mistrust, and were subject to vandalism. The ancestor was often a pagan deity. The names would be removed or a cross stamped on top. The Irish ogham stones predominantly gravitate towards the south with around three hundred and fifty examples remaining, just over one sixth originating on the Dingle peninsula. The initial sepulchral monuments were in line with the ancient custom, being either pillars or standing stones. Monastic graves that featured recumbent slabs had the designation of the individual, commonly with crosses or cruciform designs. These dated from the seventh to the twelfth centuries, with the height of decoration being exhibited between the tenth and the early eleventh centuries. Over two hundred high crosses also survive in Ireland. They were raised in the ninth and tenth centuries, then later in the twelfth century, regularly depicting biblical scenes . Monasterboice, County Louth, was a monastery founded by Saint Buite. Tradition states that he died on the birthday of Saint Columba, who was born in 521 A.D. One of this site's two High Crosses is one of the most well preserved on the island and dates from the second half of the ninth century.

Emain Macha/Navan Fort - County Armagh

[This]?is a most hallowed cult centre, one of the most sacred of ancient Ireland (Harbison, Ancient Ireland, p.38)." Emain Macha, a ceremonial locale, possesses a surrounding ditch which denotes its otherworldly status. This was a location where the deities could be encountered and communicated with. It features in the Irish epic the Táin Bó Cuailnge, which tells of the conflict between Queen Medb of Connacht and the men of Ulster, whose hero is the mighty warrior Cú Chúlainn.

Set upon a small hill, this sanctified venue is 236 meters across, and encircled by several other prehistoric sites, such as Haughey's Fort, a hill fort of the Late Bronze Age. Emain Macha had a Neolithic presence, but then it was reoccupied in the Late Bronze Age. The prime era of settlement started in the seventh century B.C. This Ulaid royal centre by c 250 B.C. became instead of a royal residence a spiritual shrine.

Loughnashade, which falls into the Navan complex, was used in the Early Iron Age as a receptacle for unusual offerings and human skulls. Loughnashade was a votive locale. The manmade pond, the King's Stables--around 800 meters from Emain Macha--was built in the early centuries of the final millennium B.C. This votive site contained a high quantity of dog bones, antlers of red deer, a sliced human skull, and Late Bronze Age clay mould fragments. This pool can still be seen today.

The final Ulaid sovereign at Navan Fort was killed in either 324 or 332 A.D., a time when the rulership left this place. Epitomes of paganism for Oengus the Culdee c A.D. 800, were Tara, Cruachain, Dún Ailinne, and Emain Macha, the four significant royal locations of the Iron Age. They endure as striking and prevailing monuments upon the landscape, imbued with tradition, and via folklore retained in Irish memory.

Christianity in Ireland

The first official date for the introduction into Ireland of Christianity is thought to be 431 A.D. when Pope Celestine I dispatched Palladius as the first bishop to the Irish who followed Christ. He subsequently founded a mission in County Meath. The literature of Ireland clearly demonstrated though that the Druids were the unrelenting opponents of the Church, engaging too in a lengthy ideological battle.

With the introduction of Christianity, Christ became affiliated with the sun, as the early Christians realized its crucial role of the rebirth at midwinter, and adopted this image, placing the savior's birth date around this juncture.

Nature

And it is true everywhere in Celtic Ireland, we will find a holy intimacy of human, natural, and divine. In hermitages and monasteries, on rocky promontories and lonely hillsides, we find everywhere a tremendous proximity of the human and divine in nature, an abandonment to spiritual work and similarly a cult of the earth.

A considerable number of early Irish monks left their abodes, questing for a lonely spot, divined by God where they could in solitary isolation experience the Divine. "It was not only that these scribes and anchorites lived by the destiny of their dedication in an environment of wood and sea; it was because they brought into that environment an eye washed miraculously clear by continuous spiritual exercise that they, first in Europe, had that strange vision of natural things in an almost unnatural purity (Bamford, p.176)." From a Christian viewpoint sanctity placed an individual into a correctly balanced rapport with the universe.

Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin was a site where this saint established a church, in 445 A.D. The River Poddle flowed under the first monastic settlement, and still travels beneath the current Church. He used the nearby well, now within the garden perimeters, to baptise his new converts. A site rich in religious history, it can claim as one former dean, Jonathan Swift, [1667-1745] who is buried in the nave. Mellifont Abbey in County Louth is an early Cistercian site founded in 1142 by Saint Malachy, and is set on the River Mattock. This religious leader was assisted by monks who had travelled with him from Clairvaux, Burgundy, with the blessing Saint Bernard.

Patrick constructed a stone church on hill Druim Saileach [Sallow Ridge] also in 455 A.D. Two years later this saint stated that Armagh's church should have preeminence over all others in Ireland. On its perimeters developed one of the foremost monastic schools which drew pupils from across Europe. Saint Patrick's Cathedral Armagh was the burial place in 1014 A.D. of the Irish High King of Ireland, Brian Boru. This site, though, may well have been a pagan sanctuary.

The Saints

"The cult of the saints was focused upon the date of their departure from this world, his or her birth, thereby glorifying the tomb (Condren, p. 50)." One of the profound strengths of emergent Christianity was its adaptability. Just as the pre-Christian hero was a prominent player in a saga, the saint would become the equivalent character of the ecclesiastical dramas. The scribes seemed conscious of their audience and co-opted pagan aspects or symbols where there was a chance of Christianisation. The paranormal attributes of the chariot enjoyed by the heroes and rulers were sought by the saints, as reflected in their Lives. Light and fire were popular themes of the hagiographers, not only due to their significance to Christian iconography but also due to their pagan symbolism, religious associations, and alliance to the Druids. Supernatural light surrounded the saint. He or she was often impervious to fire, or had fingers that radiated light in the darkness. Objects of power linked to the saint were often believed to be imbued with incredible powers; for example. the crosier allegedly could restore life to the dead, calm wild beasts, or exorcize demons. The bell of a saint was also believed to be possessed with similar abilities.

The monks of Ireland had been fili or bards, and Druids, prior to their conversion, and they transmitted into their new faith some the spirit of the old ways, the adoration of Nature, and the inherent spirituality of life. The prolonged conflict between Druidism and the new religion may have waned by the conclusion of the seventh century, with the dislocation of the Druids, although paganism surpassed the longevity of its priests. The Church of early Ireland generally assumed a practical position, with folks free to believe what they wanted to, as long as they bowed to the overriding influence of the Church.

For example Saint Maodhog of Ferns guarded the native cattle herd from marauders by creating with this crosier the Sign of the Cross, or by encircling the animals with a line etched into the earth, an act reminiscent of the Druids who repeatedly by their power of magic halted armies or created a supernatural barrier of defence.

"The 'Lives' are full of themes drawn from the old Irish sagas (Condren, p. 56)." Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise prophesied that Diarmaid who would be the high king of Ireland after he received aid from the prospective ruler to drive into the ground a stake when the monastery was being built. Ciarán of Saighir was a pioneering Irish bishop who based his religious endeavours in the southern part of the country, prior to Saint Patrick's arrival. Ciarán supposedly calmed a ferocious wild boar and enlisted the animal's assistance to gather materials used to create a church. This animal was strongly aligned to the pagan otherworld.

Miracles

The worship of relics or items allied to a martyr or saint has occurred since the first century A.D. The bulky material concerning miracles re-laid the pressing need of the living and their faith in the dead's powers. The notion of "beneficent contagious" believed that a person's qualities or sacredness or protecting medicinal powers continued to exist within the body, and could be accessed by the believer who came into contact with the shrine. Proximity was felt adequate. The potency of the physical form was not lessened by dismemberment as each fragment retained the full effectiveness of the whole. This applied to an object that had been touched by the saint, whether in life or in death. Even something that has come into contact with a relic could acquire some of its power. The response to such alleged miraculous powers of relics--including the powers of healing and protection--was profound.

Daire, a wealthy landowner, and his horse were restored to life after Saint Patrick prayed over their bodies. Fish were said to have returned to the streams according to legends as a result of this saint's endeavors. Saint Mochuda, who died c 637 A.D., as abbot of Rahan conducted numerous miracles, cures, and exorcisms, and resurrected the dead.

Saint Brighid

The deities of the pre-Christian era became canonized, with the cult of goddess Brighid progressing unabated through the guise of the saint. She was the tutelary goddess of Leinster.

This renowned saint, who so it is said died circa 524 was the foundress of the convent Cill Dara [Kildare], "the church of the oak- tree ('h'gáin, Myth, pp. 60-61)", or temple. Saint Brighid, was believed to have blessed the high oak of Kildare, and it was for a great number of years a font of miracles. In the seventh century Cogitosus, this saint's biographer, described her impressive wooden church which served both nuns and monks in a double monastery, where her shrine and that of her bishop were thought to reside. An impressive Round Tower now keeps vigil over Saint Brighid's Cathedral. These structures are archetypal icons of Ireland, and are virtually exclusive to the "Sacred Isle". They were places of refuge, monastery storehouses, guardians of treasures such as bells, books, and crosiers. Round Towers possibly also held relics. About sixty five are still in existence today.

Some accounts place Saint Brighid's initial convent near to the hallowed hill of Uisneach, close to Kildare. She was thought to own curative powers, with all disease and sickness able to be remedied by her girdle. She used water to render therapeutic results, placing it on the affected area and once transformed water into milk prior to employing it to heal the condition. When the saint injured her head, she used the water from a ford to effect healing. Water combined with her blood was a further method. Numerous recorded healings over the last thirty years have occurred at Torbid Well, as a result of praying to the Virgin and drinking the well water. The conditions that Saint Brighid is alleged to have remedied include muteness, paralysis and leprosy. Lepers, on at least ten occasions, allegedly came to the Kildare monastery in search of healing from this holy woman. Saint Stephen was the patron saint of the leper hospitals in Ireland. "Hospitals did exist in the early monasteries but from the twelfth to the fourth centuries, various decrees were made forbidding priests and monks to practice medicine (Lee, p. 28)."

She was reputed to be capable of taming wild beasts.

Saint Kieran of Ossary, Saint Colman of Kilmacduagh, Saint Columbanus, and other saints shared an intimate relationship with the creatures of the wild. Saint Colman who died c 632, shared a special relationship with a mouse, a cockerel and a fly, all creatures which assisted him with his holy duties.

In Irish tradition Saint Brighid is the special patroness of farm animals, and crops, reminiscent of the pre-Christian deity of spring. "?Imbolg, the pagan festival of spring - even today it is still the occasion of various popular and potently un-Christian rituals (Mac Cana, p. 34)." The creation of Bridget's crosses, though, probably occurred prior to the influx of Christianity. "A generation ago there would have hardly been a house in Ireland without a Brighid cross hanging on its wall, fresh every year ... in the west from County Kerry in the south to County Donegal ? in the north it is still possible to find communities that honor the old traditions (McCaffery, Ancient, p. 120)."

Saint Columcille

Saint Colmcille [Columba] died in 597 and according to Adamán's Life, he existed in the Spirit of God, in intimate communication with angels. "During his visions Colm was surrounded by light, and on these occasions he saw openly manifested many secrets hidden since the beginning of the world ('h'gáin Myth, p. 93). He apparently displayed clairvoyance, foresight, performed miracles and acted as a bridge between the supernatural world and the earthly. "His colleague Saint Cainneach asks him 'What does the wave chant?' And Columba answers 'Your community was in danger out at sea and one of them perished ('h'gáin, Sacred, p. 208)."

This founder of Iona was evidently able to generate food extraordinarily, to command the climate at sea, and surpass the insight of the Druids by glimpsing numerous secrets veiled since creation. His prophecies were allied to the people he encountered or knew, as well as to current events. Saint Columba was a leader, a conjurer of miracles, and a conductor of the weather. He may have experienced the training from the schools of poets.

This Donegal saint turned on one occasion well water into wine, when it was needed for mass. A stone slab, situated on a squat soil mound crowned with a cluster of standing stones in a U formation, next to Lough Garten is the floor of the hut where Colum Cille was supposedly born. It is called the Stone of Sorrows, as across the nineteenth and initial twentieth century people slept on it the night before immigrating, conceiving of a link with the saint's Ionian exile, therefore hoping he would ease their sorrow at leaving Ireland. An annual pilgrimage is held on the day of the saint's death.

Saint Kevin

An angel directed Coimhhin, after he had received holy orders, to seek out the isolated Gleann Dá Loch. Once there, the saint donned wild animal skins and at night reclined on bare stones, while doing penance. He sought an ascetic lifestyle and an intimate alliance with nature and its wildlife. His miracles apparently included restoring life to those who had recently departed. Positioned in the Wicklow Mountains, Glendalough was reached by him about the sixth century, as he sought this sheltered valley to pray to God in a tranquil environment, fleeing worldly pressures, and to fulfill the requirements of a hermit's existence. The site near the Upper Lake, with "Saint Kevin's Bed", and Cell could in all probability be the initial location of his hermitage. He died in 618 A.D.

The tiny "Priest's House" was perhaps created in the twelfth century to safeguard this saint's relics. The slit there could have been a peep hole, which allowed pilgrims to witness the grave and to drop cloth down to the soil in which he lay, conceivably seeking its healing powers. Ultimately this place became the ceremonial interment spot for the kings of Leinster. A round tower which offered refuge and safety to the monks rises from Glenadalough, which was a principal Irish pilgrimage site, and remained so until the second half of the nineteenth century, almost adopting by then, a carnival air. In 1862 the Catholic Church suppressed this pilgrimage.

Saint Madhóg

Saint Madhóg died circa 626. The son of a Connacht king, he was skilled in the art of miracles. After giving one of his father's sheep to starving wolves, Madhóg replaced the lost animal. He was a guardian accompanied by angels, and even revived a boy who had been drowned in Lough Erne. This saint journeyed to Britain to see Saint David who was dying. When he needed to return to Ireland for an urgent engagement, Saint David advised him to go to the coast, where he found presumably a seahorse that transported him over the ocean to Ferns. This motif of miraculous travel occurs in several contexts in the accounts of Maodhógn.

King Guaire in Connacht was sick, and an angel instructed Madhóg to visit the ruler. The saint crossed Lough Derg as it dried up, offering the chariot easy passage. A further incident occurred when Madhóg was tutoring a pupil and a golden ladder descended by his side. He climbed up, vanished and then relayed the news that Saint Colum Cille had died. His relics continued to provide cures.

Saint Molua

Saint Molua died in 605 and was educated at Bangor in the north of Ireland. Here he demonstrated his mystic talent of handling fire, or remaining dry while reclining in the seas, as penance, or setting a candle alight through his breath. He also brought the dead back to life, expressed compassion, healed the sick, and on one occasion performed an illusion where corn seed seemed to be gold. His affinity with animals was confirmed by the fact that he never killed a bird, or any living thing.

Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick appeared to arrive in Ireland during the mid to late fifth century on his Christian mission. He was a Roman citizen, a Briton, who initially was taken to this isle as a slave, captured at sixteen years of age by Irish pirates, who had raided his family's estate. His six years enslaved as a caretaker of herds, is thought in some cases to have taken place on Slemish mountain, in County Antrim. Despite the harsh outdoor conditions, Patrick devoted time to prayer, seeking to engage God. A divine vision inspired his escape and return to his homeland.

Seemingly one of the first churches to be founded by this saint was at Saul, a hallowed Druidic site, overlooking Strangford Lough, a spot gifted by a local ruler. Patrick, although he purported to have given thousands baptism, and to have disseminated extensively Christianity, also conceded that he had encountered stubborn resistance. Legend stated Saint Patrick explained in Connacht to a king's daughters in response to their asking about the new God, that "our God is the God of all men, the God of Heaven and Earth, of sea and river, of sun and moon, and stars, of the lofty mountain and the lowly valley (Bamford, p. 174)." A cluster of later sixth century canons which would in time be attributed to Patrick, Auxilius and Iserninus indicate that Ireland remained predominately pagan.

Bethu Phátraic recounted how Patrick was baptized by a sightless priest, who made the Sign of the Cross with the infant's hand, as no water was available. Immediately a well burst forth, which returned the priest's sight after he'd bathed his eyes. As a child the saint returned life to his dying sister, and to his foster father who had died, created icicles from firewood, butter from snow, and inspired a wolf to return thieved sheep. His reputation for banning serpents from Ireland only came into being during the twelfth century.

Saint Patrick's Day occurs on the 17th of March, the day of his death. The great slab at Downpatrick Cathedral is said to cover three saints: Patrick, Brighid, and Colmcille. Patrick's grave was identified as the soil was continually being taken to other parts of Ireland due to its alleged powers of healing and other merits. The demand was such that the whole grave would have been cleared many times over if new ground was not repeatedly spread. His belt and shrine were held in hereditary keeping by the O' Mellan family until one of the clan in 1441, through his actions, rendered himself unworthy of the role. The Mulholland family became the objects' guardians.

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