A historic pilgrimage to a holy well in the Burren which had fallen into disuse decades ago is being revived. The pilgrimage to the Rí an Domhnaigh well at Tubber, Co. Clare, will be relaunched next month at the behest of the local Beagh Integrated Rural Development Association.
Spokesman Tony Diviney said the pilgrimage can be traced back to pre-Christian religious rituals and was colonised by the Church after Christianity took root in Ireland.
“This well is first mentioned in a book published in Prague in 1669 written by a Franciscan friar called Anthony McBrody,” he said.
Traditional August pilgrimages involved walking to the well, saying prayers at it and then circling around it and placing a small stone on an outdoor altar.
“They said that if you turned the stones one way it would bring you good luck but if you turned them against the sun you could put a curse on people!” said Mr Diviney.
He said his Association had been carrying out restoration and improvements on historic sites in the area for the past twenty years - including six holy wells - and decided to restore the Ri an Domhnaigh site.
“It was in a very bad condition; the ESB had been through the site a few years ago and you couldn’t even see the well” said Mr Diviney.
But though the pilgrimage had fallen into disuse, older people in the locality still held it in high regard as a place of worship.
“The belief that older people have in the well is unreal – they used to go there to pray even when it was nearly inaccessible” he remarked.
“If people in the old days got sick, it was off to the holy well they went – it was their hospital”.
Mr Diviney said work on the site has been in progress for a year and is on target for conclusion in time for a Mass to reopen it to the public on August 15th.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce