From the archives: Recalling the Croagh Patrick pilgrimage of 1909
By Tom Gillespie
THE annual pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick, on the last Sunday in July, has dramatically changed over the years.
I am old enough to remember, and participated in, the nocturnal climbs when all the pubs in Westport and Murrisk stayed open all night.
In the 1950s and ‘60s trains from all over the country were Westport-bound with thousands of pilgrims who were then ferried by bus to the foot of the Reek.
One-hundred-and-seventeen-years ago (July 1909) The Connaught Telegraph gave details of the arrangements for that year’s climb of the 2,510-foot holy mountain.
The report read: There is nothing in the modern religious life of the country which has developed so rapidly and has become so popular as the annual pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick.
It would be a mistake to imagine that the pilgrimage to this venerable shrine is something new, for since the time when Patrick himself sanctified the noble mountain by his prayers and fasting, the devout people of Connaught were accustomed to come there to obtain favours through his intercession, or to do penance for their sins.
Hence, we read in our annals that in the year 1113 the pilgrimage was overtaken by a thunderstorm on the mountain top, and that 30 of their number perished.
In the historical memoir of the O’Connor’s of Connaught, compiled from ancient manuscripts and State papers, it is laid down that Tiernan O’Rourke, Chief of Breffney, was absent on a pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick in 1152 when his wife eloped with Dermott McMurrough, King of Leinster.
Moore must have been aware of this circumstance when he wrote: “The valley lay smiling before me.” For he makes O’Rourke to say - “I looked for the lamp which she told me should shine when her pilgrim returned.”
Pope Eugene IV, in 1432, granted an indulgence to the pilgrims who would ascend the mountain on the last Sunday of July, and give alms towards the repair of the venerable chapel, which was then crumbling with age on the summit.
And in the archives of the Vatican there is a letter which was given in 1485 by the Archbishop of Armagh, to two priests from the City of Lyons, to testify that they had ‘visited in devout pilgrimage the Holy Mountain in which St. Patrick fasted 40 days and 40 nights without earthly food’.
From these instances, and from many more that might be quoted, it is manifest that the modern pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick is only a revival of an ancient one which was recognised centuries ago at home and abroad by priests and people, and princes and Popes.
The modern pilgrimage began with the advent of the Most Rev. Dr. Healy to the Archdiocese of Tuam. At his insistence and under his direction, a chapel was erected on the mountain top in 1905, and since then, it is no exaggeration to say, the fame of the revived pilgrimage has spread to each of the five continents of the globe.
The special day, from time immemorial, has been the last Sunday in July, which this year (1909) will be on the 25th.
On the great day in 1905 there was only one Mass in the little chapel on the top, in 1906 there were eight, in 1907 fifteen and last year (1908) there were 20.
They were celebrated by priests from various parts of Great Britain and Ireland, and from such distant countries as the Continent of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Newfoundland, United States, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Egypt, and South Africa.
Indeed, the number of Masses affords no indication of the number of clergy present, because only three altars are available, and applications for the ‘privilege’ of celebrating must be lodged with the Rev. Administrator of Westport some days before.
It has been the custom, since the pilgrimage was revived, to have two sermons on the summit - one in Irish and one in English.
This year (1909) the Irish preacher will be Fr. Nicholas Fegan, of Ennistymon, whose fame of fluency in the older tongue is known on both sides of the Atlantic. The English sermon will have special reference to the havoc that drunkenness has wrought among the children of St. Patrick; it will be preached by Fr. Bernard Kneafsey, O.F.M., Limerick, who will exhort his hearers, for the honour of St. Patrick, to take the temperance pledge for 12 months.
The first Mass on the mountain will be at 9 o’clock, the last at 12 noon, and for the convenience of late comers there will be a Mass in the town of Westport at 11 o’clock.
This year’s (1909) pilgrimage will entirely surpass all those of previous years, and already preparations for it are being made on an extensive scale.
The facilities afforded by the railway companies are truly liberal, and the fares exceptionally low. A return ticket for the event may be obtained in Dublin for five shillings, in Limerick for three and sixpence, in Sligo for three shillings, and in Athlone and Galway for half-a-crown.
These tickets are available not only on the day of the pilgrimage, but on the days before.
On Saturday afternoon a special train for Westport will leave Dublin, and will take passengers at every station between Broadside and Athlone; and the mail from Dublin that night will have a number of through carriages for Westport.
On Sunday morning 10 special trains will arrive in Westport between the hours of seven o’clock and 9.30. On Sunday evening a special train for Dublin will leave Westport at six o’clock, and the various other trains will follow at intervals of 20 minutes.