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.

T is a subject much controverted among Irish hagiologists whether St. Patrick, our national Apostle, had ever visited Lough Derg; and if so, whether the 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 generation even minute particulars regarding his life and

labours, we should attach great importance 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 inconsistency is there in supposing that he then visited it, saw its adaptability for a place of retirement and penitential 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-"Hic est doctor benevolus, Hibernicorum Apostolus, cui loca purgatoria ostendit Dei gratia," i.e. that God, by a special favour, pointed out to St. Patrick certain places adapted for penitential exercises, 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 penitential 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

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 Sti. Patricii a Jacobo de Voragine, seu Lombardica Historia (printed at Nurenberg, anno 1482), the following is given as the origin of the pilgrimage:-" Cum beatus Patricius per Hiberniam prædicaret et fructum permodicum faceret, rogavit Dominum ut aliquod signum ostenderet per quod vel territi pœniterent, jussu igitur Dei circulum magnum in quodam loco cum baculo designavit; et ecce terra intra circulum se aperuit, et putens magnus et profundissimus ibidem apparuit. Revelatumque est beato Patricio quod ibidem quidem purgatorii locus esset, in quem quisquis vellet descendere, alia sibi panitentia non restaret, nec aliud pro peccatis purgatorium

sentiret. Plerique autem inde non redirent, et quot redirent eos a mane usque in sequens mane ibidem moram facere oporteret. Multi igitur ingrediebantur qui de cætero non revertebant."

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 statement 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 Ardstraw, which he could easily do, owing to the propinquity of his retreat at Lough Derg. And hence, though the weight of authority 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 penances 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 Aedh, or Hugh. In the Martyrology of Tallagh the entry is "Aeoh, Lochagerg, alias Dabheog."

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 GleannGerc, where in the adjacent territory St. Dabeocus is held in the greatest veneration to the present day, and his festivity is observed three days in every year, according to our Festilogies, viz., on the 1st of January, 24th of July, and 16th of December. The Calendar of Cashel places his festival day only on the 15th of December. It is related in the beginning of the Irish Life that he had foretold 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 Cummian."

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