"The repetition of the baptismal vow [before St. Brigid's Cross] is a reaching back again towards baptismal innocence and is the usual ritual of retreats..."
"The stone circles [of the Penitential Beds] are small. When this sanctuary was demolished in the seventeenth century the despoilers left only the rude foundation stones protruding from the soil..."
"Many pilgrims surveying the crowds during the night vigil promise themselves that, on their following night of freedom, they will look down from their cubicle windows at the fascination of the scene, when the people emerge and group themselves in…
“The island called St. Patrick's Purgatory is altogether rocky, and rather level : without the compass of the island, in the water towards the north east, about two yards from the shore stand certain rocks..."
"Before we landed I ascertained from my cautious conductor that the present Purgatorial Island which we had just left, was not the one always resorted to, nor indeed the one that was consecrated by St. Patrick..."
Rathnacross (DG105-002001-), a circular area enclosed by a stone and earthen bank c. 0.5m high. A gap in the NE sector affords the only possible site for an entrance. There is a semicircular hollow (2.5m in diam. and 0.8m deep) in the SE quadrant…
It is traditionally believed that a monastic settlement (DG0101-001001/005-) was founded on Saints Island in the fifth century by St. Patrick who installed Dabheoc as the first abbot. The original monastic settlement is believed to have been located…
