Pilgrim Ways

St.Mary‟s Abbey, Meeting House Lane; St.Michan‟s Catholic Church, Halston Street; St.Mary of the Angels, Capuchin Church, Church Street; and St.Michan‟s Church of Ireland, Church Street. Other pilgrimage sites in Dublin include the Mercy Centre, Catherine MacAuley‟s Grave, Baggot Street; and Cardinal Cullen‟s tomb at Clonliffe College Chapel.

Around Dublin the pilgrim may also want to visit the papal cross in Phoenix Park; St.Bridget‟s Well, Castleknock; St.Patrick‟s Well, Finglas; St.Margaret‟s Well, Finglas; Rathfarnham Abbey; the Mass Rock at Ballinascorney; St.Begnet‟s Well and Churches, Dalkey; the Round Tower at Lusk; St.Laurence O‟Toole‟s birthplace in County Kildare; the ruins of the Franciscan Friary, Kilee, Castledermot, and St.Patrick‟s College and Museum at Maynooth.

Meditation: W.B.Yeats, “The Pilgrim”, The Collected Poems of W.B.Yeats (1965).

I fasted for some forty days on bread and buttermilk, For passing round the bottle with girls in rags and silk, In country shawl or Paris cloak, had put my wits astray, And what‟s the good of women, for all they can say Is fol de rol de rolly O. Round Lough Derg‟s holy island I went upon the stones.

I prayed at all the Stations upon my marrow-bones, And there I found an old man, and though I prayed all day And that old man beside me, nothing would he say But fol de rol de rolly O All know that the dead in the world about the place are stuck, And that should mother seek her son she‟d have but little luck Because the fires of Purgatory have ate their shape away; I swear to God I questioned them, and all they had to say Was fol de rol de rolly O A great black ragged bird appeared when I was in the boat; Some twenty feet from tip to tip it stretched right out, With flopping and with flapping it made a great display, But I never stopped to question, what could the boatman say But fol de rol de rolly O. Now I am in the public-house and lean upon the wall, So come in rags or come in silk, in cloak or country shawl, And come with learned lovers or with what men you may, For I can put the whole lot down, and all I have to say Is fol de rol de rolly O.