Pilgrim Ways

day. An elderly lady, probably an octogenarian, picking her way down the slope must have read my mind and encouraged me to complete the climb. I felt suitably shamed by my lack of resolve. However, I was also amused by her throw-away remark that she couldn‟t think what Patrick had been thinking of, wanting to come all the way up here, adding, for good measure: “and heaven only knows what he did when he got here.” For my part, having taken in the breath-taking views, the only mystery for me is why he should ever have wanted to come down again. The last time I climbed the Reek was in 1996 with my daughter Marianne and my oldest son, Padraig. Two friends from Dublin climbed with us and Denis Murphy subsequently produced some stunning photographs of our expedition. The Irish have a real love of Croagh Patrick, although even the Reek is not immune from th In the mid-nineties the Irish Government had to intervene to stop a mineral company from digging up the Reek. They wanted to prospect for gold. It may not have occurred to them but, for thousands of people, for the old lady making her descent, for the bare-footed young people, and for the pilgrim fighting his demons, they didn‟t need the prospectors to tell them what they already knew. Those pilgrims discovered the gold on the Reek long ago. Patrick prayed when he got to the summit and he literally wrestled with demons. Each of us have our different ways of dealing with our demons, and a mountain top is not a bad place to identify them. St.Patrick imitated Christ‟s own desert experience by fasting and preparing for the coming battles for forty days and nights.

If you are really serious about making the pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick, the place to start is at Ballintubber Abbey.

Tochar Padraig Tochar Padraig is one of the ancient Pilgrimage Roads that are to be found all over Ireland.

Seven of these have been restored, and the longest of the surviving pilgrimage roads is Tochar Padraig. It begins at the beautiful abbey of Ballintuber, which is itself a great place of prayer and devotion.. Six of the other most notable Pilgrim Roads are: St.Columcille‟s Way (Turas Cholmcille) in County Donegal; St.Patrick‟s Way in Donegal; The Saint‟s Road, in County Kerry; The Pilgrim‟s Way in County Offaly; St.Declan‟s Way in County Waterford; and St.Kevin‟s Way, Sli Chaoimhin, in County Wicklow.

Ballintuber Ballintubber and the ruins of the huge monastery at Cong, not far away, are two of the most wonderful places in the West of Ireland. Notwithstanding Oliver Cromwell‟s best attempts to destroy Catholic Ireland the faith persisted and survived its eviction from its churches and abbeys. Ballintubber - burnt down in 1653 - encapsulates that history in a particularly moving way. Even when we came here as children, the buildings were largely a lifeless ruin, where Mass might occasionally be celebrated on hallowed ground Today, after painstaking restoration, tastefully executed, this is once again a thriving centre of faithful devotion and prayer. In the grounds, the principal events of the Passion of Jesus are commemorated. The building tells its own story of suffering. Nearby is the Informer‟s Tree, from which one Sean na Sagart one of the most notorious of the priest hunters who betrayed the presence of a priest, spied out their presence. Helping to remind us of the antiquity of the site, and its vulnerability, are the remains of a Viking long-boat. Fr. Frank Fahey, the parish priest at Ballintubber, is a walking encyclopedia about the local history and importance of the site and his dedicated enthusiasm is one of the main reasons why Ballintubber has so successfully