Celtic Spirituality Pilgrimage, Day 3: Croagh Patrick and Cong Abbey

St. David's Episcopal Church

Celtic Spirituality Pilgrimage

led by

Ken and Darlene Swanson

Day 3, April 6th: Croagh Patrick and Cong Abbey

After morning prayers we drove to Croagh Patrick, the mountain hard on the Atlantic Ocean where early during his time in Ireland St. Patrick climbed to the top and fasted and prayed for forty days and forty nights.  It has become a major pilgrimage site, especially on St. Patrick's Day, when thousands replicate his climb to the summit to pray and honor the Apostle of Ireland.  

The morning was very cold and blustery as we climbed to the statue of St. Patrick at the foot of the mountain.  While we were there, Ken offered a teaching on the life of St. Patrick, made all the more interesting as we were swept with a hard rain followed by a burst of hail.  Ken assured us this was the first time in over forty years of ministry he had to cope with hail while teaching. 

The life of St. Patrick was astonishing.  Having grown up in Britain in a successful and powerful family, he was kidnapped by Irish pirates when he was 16 years old and sold as a slave to a cruel, petty Irish king.  He spent the next six years as a shepherd, isolated, alone, often hungry and naked, having to withstand the harsh elements and constant threats from violent thieves.  With no support, Patrick turned to prayer and became a holy man dedicated to the Triune God.  He escaped and made his way back home to Britain. At the age of 47 he was ordained a priest and bishop. God then gave him a vision to return to Ireland and preach the gospel.  Humble yet strong, alone but filled with God's grace, Patrick won all of Ireland to faith in Jesus Christ within a single generation.  No one in the history of the Church accomplished as much for the Kingdom of God in such a short time.  

The hardy Pilgrims with Croagh Patrick Mountain in the background.

Nearby was a monument called the "Famine Ship" dedicated to all those Irish who perished fleeing the potato famine in the 1840's and 1850's.

It is a stark reminder of the untold suffering of millions of the Irish in the mid 19th century.

We then drove through the beautiful countryside of Western Ireland, through repeated patterns of pelting rain followed by a blustery sunshine filled with rainbows, to the picturesque village of Cong, the locale of the Academy Award winning movie "The Quiet Man", and site of Cong Abbey.  Cong Abbey was a thriving 7th century Celtic monastery that was taken over by Augustinian monks in the 12th century. It became a paradigm for the transition from Celtic to Roman Catholic Christianity in Ireland.  Darlene offered a teaching on that subject amidst the ruins of the abbey.

Later our guide Siobahn McDonald taught about the architectural wonders of this abbey ruin.

We continued to drive south through the west of Ireland with stops in Galway and Adare before arriving for the night at Killarney.   Before our evening prayers we had a thoughtful discussion on the powerfully influential life of St. Patrick.