Located eight kilometres from Westport, above the villages of Murrisk
and Lecanvey, Croagh Patrick at 2,510 feet (765 metres) is the third
highest mountain in County Mayo, (after Mweelrea and Nephin). The
mountain forms the southern part of a U-shaped valley created by a
glacier flowing into Clew Bay during the last Ice Age. Croagh Patrick
is part of a longer east-west ridge; to the west is the mountain Ben
Goram.
A
seam of gold was discovered in the mountain in the 1980s. Grades of 14
grams (0.5 oz) of gold per tonne in at least 12 quartz veins, could
potentially produce 700,000 tons of ore. Mayo County Council elected
not to allow mining, deciding that the gold was "fine where it was".
The
quartzite peak was a pagan sacred place. For the Celtic peoples of
Ireland it was the dwelling place of the deity Crom Dubh and the
principal site of the harvest festival of Lughnasa, traditionally held
around August 1st. (Until the mid-nineteenth century only women were
allowed on the summit during this pilgrimage, and childless women would
sleep on the summit during Lughnasa eve in the hope of encouraging
fertility.
Croagh Patrick derives its name from the Irish
Cruach Phádraig, Patrick's stack, and is known locally as the Reek,
which is a Hiberno-English word for a rick or stack.
In pagan
times it was known as Cruachán Aigle, being mentioned by that name in
the story of Cath Maige Tuired, and in the Annals of Ulster entry for
the year 1113. Cruachán is simply a diminutive of cruach ‘stack’, Aigle
is from the Latin, aquila - eagle (more usually aicile or acaile). In
addition to its literal meaning, cruach in the pagan name may also have
some connection with Crom Cruach.
The next reference found is in the Annals of Connaught
where Croagh Patrick is referred to as Cruaich Patric. The Browne’s Map
of Mayo dated 1585 shows the area as Croagh Patrick. In the Barony of
Murrisk and the whole area, including the mountain, being referred to
as ‘Owles O’Maile’ because the O’Malley clan were the Chieftains of the
area with their seat in Belclare at the mouth of Owenwee River, two
miles from Westport on the road to Croagh Patrick.
In support of
the pre-Christian sanctity of the mountain it is important to note that
Neolithic foundations have been found on the summit and, on a natural
rock outcrop (known as ‘St. Patrick’s Chair) along the pilgrimage route
to the summit, Neolithic art has been discovered. By the seventh
century the holy mountain had become one of the two most important
Christian pilgrimage sites in all Ireland (the other being Station
Island, also called St. Patrick's Purgatory, in Lough Derg near the
town of Sligo).
Prior to AD 1113 the pilgrims came to the
mountain during Lent, but following a wild storm in which thirty
people died upon the peak, the pilgrimage period was changed to
summer, with the most popular days being the last Friday and Sunday of
July.
It is now renowned for its Patrician Pilgrimage in honour
of Saint Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, and the custom has been
faithfully handed down from generation to generation for 1500 years.
(The Black Bell of Saint Patrick was a highly venerated relic on Croagh
Patrick for many years.)
Another recent survey is uncovering a wide
range of newly discovered monuments throughout the mountain and around
it. These include ancient cooking sites, megalithic tombs, standing
stones, burial mounds, ring forts, monastic sites and children’s burial
grounds.
Recent archaeological work has uncovered some more interesting remains.
They discovered an enclosure, shaped like a peanut or giant footprint.
This was probably an ancient cashel, or stone fort. Around this are up
to 40 small circular enclosures, which give the impression that ancient
pilgrims might have camped in them. Within the enclosure, the remains
of an early Christian church, similar in size and construction to the
famous Gallarus Oratory near Dingle. The foundations of this building
are all that remain - buried under the rubble and debris of hundreds of
thousands of pilgrims.
On Reek Sunday, the last Sunday of July every year, people come in their
thousands to climb its slopes, some to look, but most to pray.
Individuals and groups come from all over the world and include
pilgrims, hill climbers, historians, archaeologists and nature lovers.
Up until 1974 the pilgrims climbed right through the night to watch the
morning sunrise at the summit. This was a wondrous sight of moving
lights over an ascending distance of almost 3 miles.
The first stop on the pilgrimage is Saint Patrick's statue erected in
1928 by Fr. Patterson with money he collected in America towards the
rebuilding of St. Mary's Church in Westport. Although not one of
the three traditional stations of the Reek, it has become a place of
prayer for those embarking on the pilgrimage and serves as an ideal
substitution for those who are unable to make the complete climb.
FIRST
STATION: Leacht Benain (named after St. Patrick’s disciple, Saint
Benignus. It is at the base of the cone section of the climb, consisting
of a small, circular cairn of stones. The pilgrim walks around it seven
times and says Seven Our Fathers, Seven Hail Mary’s and one Creed.
SECOND
STATION: The Summit. On reaching the summit, the pilgrim starts the
second station of the Reek by kneeling and saying Seven Our Fathers,
Seven Hail Mary’s and one Creed. He proceeds then to pray for the Pope’s
intentions near the Chapel and then walks fifteen times round the
chapel in a clockwise direction saying Fifteen Our Fathers, Fifteen Hail
Mary’s and one Creed. He concludes the Second Station by walking Seven
times around the monument traditionally known as Leaba Phadraig
(Patrick’s Bed, where the Saint is supposed to have taken his nights'
rest during his 40 day fast on the Summit). As he walks the pilgrim
recites Seven Our Fathers, Seven Hail Mary’s and one Creed.
THIRD
STATION: Roilig Mhuire (Virgin’s Cemetery) is a little distance down
the western side of the mountain. Here there are three cairns of stones,
and the pilgrim walks seven times around each cairn, saying Seven Our
Fathers, Seven Hail Mary’s and one Creed and finally goes round the
whole enclosure seven times praying. Rolig Mhuire was probably a pre
Christian grave site dedicated to a pagan goddess and was at one time
resorted to by women seeking to have children or looking for a blessing
on their children.
The ancient worship at Mt. Croagh Patrick had nothing to do with
matters of penance and supposed wrongdoing. The holy mountain was a
sanctuary for the giving of thanks and the celebration of life's
abundance. Similar to what occurred at many other prehistoric sacred
places across Europe. At Croagh Patrick, Christianity has warped,
stifled and corrupted the natural human tendency to venerate life and
the Earth's beauty, while imposing ideas of fear, guilt, and control.
This great sacred mountain certainly does not wallow in such limiting,
life-denying concepts nor does it require or support humans in doing
so. Croagh Patrick was - and still is - a place to experience and give
thanks for the exquisite beauty of life.
...'and
presently, from an eminence, I caught sight not only of a fine view,
but of the most beautiful view I ever saw in the world, I think and to
enjoy the splendour of which I would travel a hundred miles in that car
with that very horse and driver.
The sun
was just about to set and the country round about and to the east was
almost in twilight. Trees, cornfields, cottages, made the scene
indescribably cheerful; noble woods stretch towards the sea, and
abutting on them, between two highlands, lay a smoking town. The
mountains were tumbled about in a thousand fantastic ways, but the bay,
and the Reek, which sweeps down to the sea, and a hundred islands in
it, was dressed up in gold and purple and crimson, with the whole
cloudy west in flame. Wonderful, wonderful! The islands in the bay
looked like so many dolphins and whales basking there. It forms an
event in one’s life to have seen that place, so beautiful is it and so
unlike all other beauties that I know of. Were such beauties lying upon
English shores it would be a world’s wonder''.
Since living quite close to
Croagh Patrick, I have taken some interesting photographs. This first
one was taken on September 11th, 2009, about 11am, from the garden of my
former cottage, overlooking the Reek.
The sun was bathing the mountain in pink light.
This next one was in the
depths of the very hard winter we experienced 2009/10, and taken on New
Year's Eve from a viewpoint along the N59 road outside of Westport. The
lake in the foreground was completely frozen.
This final one was taken on
April 1st, 2010. There had been an overnight fall of snow, which
disappeared as the day warmed up, so quite a unique picture considering
the time of year - supposedly springtime. Definitely not an April Fool's
joke.
