VIDEO: Journey back to Reek pilgrimages of the past

THERE'S little over a week to go to Reek Sunday, July 31, when up to 50,000 pilgrims will scale the 2,510-foot high holy mountain at Murrisk, writes Tom Gillespie.

It is a few years since I climbed Croagh Patrick, having done so more times at night than in daylight.

Up until 1974 the night vigil attracted thousands to Westport where they arrived by train and were then ferried to the foot of the Reek by a fleet of buses.

What made the night climb so popular was the fact that the pubs in Westport and Murrisk had a special exemption to stay open all night, which in turn led to many inebriated ‘pilgrims’ attempting the climb.

The then Archbishop of Tuam, Dr. Joseph Cunnane, outlawed the night climb and since then it has taken place from early morning.

But the night ascent was special. I did it on six occasions and I remember the flickering of thousands of flashlamps along the pilgrim path as climbers stumbled over boulders and fellow pilgrims.

Because of the darkness you could not see very far ahead and each time you asked a descending pilgrim how far it was to the top the answer you always got was ‘just around the next turn’.

Despite this, we made it to the top and the reward was a magnificent sunrise over Clew Bay.

In the years I climbed there were stalls at different levels on the mountain where you could get a cup of tea and the higher up you got on the Reek the dearer the cuppa.

Of late, there is much controversy over the state of the pilgrim path and the overuse of the mountain for sporting and fundraising climbs.

Now the Croagh Patrick Stakeholders Group have taken steps to make it easier for those climbing the mountain to do so safely. They have issued a map which for the first time clearly marks the route on an ordnance survey sheet as well as an information sheet and route signage.

In The Story of Mayo, published in 2003 by Mayo County Council and compiled by Rosa Meehan, four pages are devoted to the history of the holy mountain.

She wrote that Croagh Patrick was on an ancient pilgrimage route stretching along the west coast from Kerry to Donegal, with Mayo’s Caher Island, near Inishturk, another of the places of worship along the way.

Another ancient route led from the east along the Tóchar Phádraig, which probably originally commenced at the prehistoric royal site of Rath Cruachain in Co. Roscommon and passed westwards through Aughagower to Croagh Patrick.

Today’s annual pilgrimage, revived in 1905, takes place on the last Sunday of July. Traditionally, local people make their own pilgrimage on the last Friday of July, known as Garland Friday.

Also today, the main route is rather shorter than in former times, consisting of a three-mile path made of glittering white quartzite, worn and polished by pilgrims over hundreds of years. The path can be slippery and dangerous yet many pilgrims still make the climb in their bare feet.

The old Irish name for Croagh Patrick describes it well - Cruachan Aigli, ‘conical mountain’, or alternatively ‘mountain of the eagle’.

Below the mountain on the shoes of Clew Bay are the ruins of Murrisk Abbey, built by the O’Malley family for the Augustinian monks in 1475. The monks of Murrisk took charge of the Croagh Patrick pilgrimage, which was previously in the charge of the monks of Aughagower.

In 1905, shortly after Dr. John Healy became Archbishop of Tuam, an oratory was built on the summit. The building contractor, Walter Heneghan of Louisburgh, used local materials, carried up the mountain by donkey for the construction.

A estimated 10,000 people attended the dedication ceremony, brought by trains especially scheduled by the Midland and Great Western Railway Company. Peter MacConville’s brass band played at the dedication.

Excavations by Mayo County Council archaeologist Gerry Walsh in the 1990s revealed the remains of an early Christian oratory on the mountain summit. This oratory, dating to between AD 430 and 890, was constructed using the drystone corbel technique, similar to that used in the famous Gallarur Oratory on the Dingle peninsula in Co. Kerry.

The performance of penitential exercises on Croagh Patrick, known as Stations of the Reek, has evolved over the centuries.

Today, there are essentially three stations. Traditionally, the first station is at Leach Benin (Benin’s stove or grave), which was named for Benin, one of St. Patrick’s disciples. This station now takes place at the Statue of St. Patrick (pictured), a few hundred yards up the mountain.

The second station is traditionally at Leaba Phádrag (Patrick’s Bed), on the summit of the Reek. The 19th century writer William Makepeace Thackeray described this station as ‘a shapeless heap of stones’ around which the pilgrims walked. In more recent times, pilgrims walk around the oratory.

The third station is Reilig Mhuire (Our Lady’s Cemetery), located down from the summit on the western shoulder of the Reek. Thackeray described it as consisting of ‘three stone heaps’, which today we know as Bronze Age cairns or burial sites, indicating the ancient traditions of the holy mountain.

In the past, many pilgrims would conclude their pilgrimage at Kilgeever Holy Well between Croagh Patrick and Louisburgh. Pilgrims would circle the well, in bare feet or on their knees, as they formed their intention and made their request, after which they knelt and prayed. They would continue praying while walking to the flagstones to the south of the well and then return to circle and pray again at the well.