Station Island, UK - With bare feet, they shuffle around the island muttering prayers; pain and suffering writ on their faces and a rainstorm breaking over them.
An ancient pilgrimage set in what medieval Christians called “the ends of the world” is undergoing a revival in Ireland as economic woes prompt a spiritual reawakening.
St Patrick’s Purgatory, on Station Island, a rocky islet in the midst of Lough Derg, was once Christendom’s premier pilgrimage. Its renown was based on the belief that it was a gateway to the next world and a place where penance could be matched to any sin.
Now that the material world of the Celtic “tiger” economy lies in ruins, the annual pilgrimage season is providing evidence that Ireland is returning to its roots as an island of saints and scholars.
The Lough Derg pilgrimage repeats much of the experiences to which 6th-century monks subjected themselves: a journey, lengthy periods of fasting, long litanies of prayer and physical penances.
“If the hunger doesn’t get you, then there’s always the cold or the lack of sleep to battle,” said Mary, one of three women who are participating for the fifth time. “And finally, if you can deal with all of that, the midges will eat you alive.”
“It’s madness,” Pat Maguire said. “What are we doing here, walking around these buildings and rocks with no shoes on in a strict order for days on end?”
He answered his own question, however. “It brings you back to basics — you can be standing next to a judge and suddenly your position in life doesn’t matter here, you’re all in your bare feet.”
Monsignor Richard Mohan, who has overseen huge changes to St Patrick’s Purgatory since he took over in 1990, said that halfway through the pilgrimage season numbers had risen by more than 10 per cent compared with last year. By the middle of next month, the 10,000 mark may have been passed.
The success of Lough Derg perhaps points a way out of the Catholic Church’s troubles after recent revelations about the abuse of children. “Maybe it’s something to do with Lough Derg being a place apart, a safe haven,” Monsignor Mohan said.
“Because of the Celtic tiger we all lost the run of ourselves, money was no object and it was all second homes and fancy cars. That’s gone and there’s more of a sense of reality now.
“There was too much money around ... nobody had time to do the things which mattered. Some people will be disaffected with the Church, others are angry. Coming here changes your perspective.”
The medieval fame of St Patrick’s Purgatory was the result of the writings of an English monk, who recorded the story of the Knight Owein and his encounters on the island. Owein described how, in 1148, he journeyed into the afterlife when he entered a pit on the island.
Walking through the gloom, he emerged into a bright field where 15 men in white warned him of the ordeal ahead.
No sooner had they disappeared than he was attacked by demons, who dragged him through fire with iron hooks. Every time Owein called on Jesus to help him the torture ceased.
The story inspired others to follow in his steps. In 1353 the pilgrim George of Grissaphan said that the devil tempted him.
Gary Woods, a 29-year-old police officer, was smiling as he waited for the boat to take him off the island, a cigarette keeping the midges at bay. “It’s my first time — my girlfriend Annemarie persuaded me. She’s been here six times.
“I wouldn’t be religious at all really, it was more to say I’d done it, an achievement to get through it. But you get sucked into the whole atmosphere. It’s weird and I feel weird saying it, but right now I feel very happy inside, even though in a few hours I’ll be back at work in Dublin.”
Annemarie, who declined to give her surname, agreed. “Every year when I leave I say, ‘That’s it, I’ll give it a rest now’, because it’s so physically gruelling. But I come away feeling lighter, much happier and it’s a feeling which stays with me for a long time.”
As holiday destinations go, it certainly has little in common with the modern Irish experience: the couple are heading to Ayia Napa next week.
Holy lands
Lourdes is the largest pilgrimage site in Europe after Rome, with 7 million visitors a year. The town of 15,000 has 270 hotels to house pilgrims who worship at the site where a miller’s daughter claimed to have seen 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1858
Fátima in Portugal became a key European pilgrimage destination after three children claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary on the 13th day of six consecutive months. Nearly a million Catholic pilgrims visit on May 13, when she was first seen, and October 13, her last appearance
Santiago de Compostela, in northwest Spain, is the final destination for several pilgrim routes. It is claimed that the remains of St James are in the cathedral
Source: Times database