Saints Island is too close to shore

Saints Island is too close to shore

Lough Derg--Travelogues--Caesar Otway--Critique

"The position of [Saints Island] agrees with the description of Coppinger and Jones, written two hundred years ago; and it is probable, that when by the direction of the Council Board, Sir William Stuart invaded and uprooted this nest of superstition in the seventeenth century..."

Caesar Otway, 1780-1842

Otway, Caesar, Sketches in Ireland: Descriptive of Interesting, and Hitherto Unnoticed Districts, in the North and South, pp. 179-80

W. Curry, jun. and co.; [etc., etc.], Dublin; First published, in part, in the Christian examiner. cf. Pref. A series of letters signed "C. O.", the first four entitled "Sketches in Donegal", the last five "Sketches in the south of Ireland."

1827

Digitised by Google, sponsored by New York Public Library, archived on Hathi Trust digital library

Public domain

1 p., ℓ., iv, vi, 411 p. 19 cm.

English

Description and travel

Text

DD_0042

54.614297,-7.886485

http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433066646450

"The position of [Saints Island] agrees with the description of Coppinger and Jones, written two hundred years ago; and it is probable, that when by the direction of the Council Board, Sir William Stuart invaded and uprooted this nest of superstition in the seventeenth century, that the priests migrated to the present isle. My old and cunning friend, so far passed beyond the bounds of his caution as to assign a substantial reason for this change of purgatory.—'The old island, Sir, was too near the shore, and in summer time, the people could come from the mainland to it by a little wading; and often, Sir, ungodly people used to bring over to the pilgrims, liquor and other things, that used to spoil their devotions and interrupt their fasts; but now he must be a good swimmer who could get to our present holy place.’—Now I suspect that the real reason of the change was, that pilgrims, as he said, could wade to the old purgatory, and so smuggling themselves through the necessary stations, unperceived by, and without payment to the friars, get a pardon for their sin—thus cheating the Devil and the priest at the same time."

Monograph