Saint Dabheog | |
|---|---|
 Saint Dabheog depicted in a stained glass window of Monaghan Cathedral, created by Franz Mayer & Co. [1] | |
| Abbot of Lough Derg | |
| Born | 5th century? Wales |
| Patronage | Patron saint of Lough Derg |
Saint Dabheog is the patron saint and a founder of a monastery on an island in Lough Derg, a lake in County Donegal, Ireland, near the town of Pettigo and shouldering the border of counties Donegal and Fermanagh. His feast day is 16 December. [2]
Little is known about his biography but local records mention his existence as an abbot of Lough Derg in the 5th century. Healy states that Dabheog was born in Wales. He was the son of King Breca (or Brychan), the great father of a host of Welsh saints. [3]
Dabheog is considered to be a disciple of Saint Patrick who became responsible for caring for the site known as St. Patrick's Purgatory, which was on one of the islands in the lake known as Lough Derg. He took charge of the church and hermitage in Tirhugh. [4]
There is a firmly established tradition regarding St. Dabheog, who presided over, and possibly established, the monastery on the site during the lifetime of Patrick. [5] His name has been associated from early centuries with several places in the area: St. Dabheoc's Chair on the south bank of Lough Derg, the townland of Seedavoc (St. Dabheoc's Seat), and a mountain in that townland, Seavadog Mountain. One of the islands in Lough Derg was also named after him: St. Dabheoc's Island, which may have been Saints Island. [6]
Many of the modern Catholic pilgrimage rituals at Lough Derg are focused on devotion to St. Dabheog: including the short hike to a pre-Christian Bronze Age burial site (known as Dabheog's Chair or Seat) on a hill overlooking Lough Derg, and the meditation upon one of the beehive cells on Station Island which is dedicated to the saint. [7]
One of the boats which transports pilgrims to Station Island is named after Dabheog, as well as the valley overlooking Lough Erne. The Clan McGrath, who were the Coarbs (hereditary overseers) of Lough Derg from the 13th-17th century, consider Dabheog as their patron saint. Dabheog is also known by the following aliases: Dabeoc, Davog, Davoc, Daboc, Beoc, Mobeoc, Mobheog, Daveoc, Daveog. This variation is due to the lack of standardization in the Irish language and the ambiguity of the saint's historical origins.
The plant name Daboecia has been given to St. Dabheog's heath.
Columba or Colmcille was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the patron saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Catholic saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.
Lough Derg or Loch Derg is a lake in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland. It is near the border with Northern Ireland and lies about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north of the border village of Pettigo. It is best known for St Patrick's Purgatory, a site of pilgrimage on Station Island in the lake.
Castlederg is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Derg and is near the border with County Donegal, Ireland. It stands in the townlands of Castlesessagh and Churchtown, in the historic barony of Omagh West and the civil parish of Urney. The village has a ruined castle and two ancient tombs known as the Druid's Altar and Todd's Den. It had a population of 2,976 people at the 2011 Census.
Saint Carthage the Elder was an Irish bishop and abbot in the sixth century. His feast day is 5 March.
St Patrick's Purgatory is an ancient pilgrimage site on Station Island in Lough Derg, County Donegal, Ireland. According to legend, the site dates from the fifth century, when Christ showed Saint Patrick a cave, sometimes referred to as a pit or a well, on Station Island that was an entrance to Purgatory. Its importance in medieval times is clear from the fact that it is mentioned in texts from as early as 1185 and shown on maps from all over Europe as early as the fifteenth century. It is the only Irish site designated on Martin Behaim's world map of 1492.
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Pettigo, also spelt Pettigoe, is a small village and townland on the border of County Donegal, Republic of Ireland and County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is bisected by the Termon River which is part of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The Oilliphéist is a sea serpent-like monster in Irish mythology and folklore.
Adomnán or Adamnán of Iona, also known as Eunan, was an abbot of Iona Abbey (r. 679–704), hagiographer, statesman, canon jurist, and saint. He was the author of the Life of Columba, probably written between 697 and 700. This biography is by far the most important surviving work written in early-medieval Scotland, and is a vital source for our knowledge of the Picts, and an insight into the life of Iona and the early-medieval Gaelic monk.
Purgatory is, in Roman Catholic and other religious teachings, a temporary state of the dead.
Columba of Terryglass (Colum) was the son of Ninnidh, a descendant of Crinthainn, King of Leinster. Columba was a disciple of St. Finnian of Clonard. He was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.
Termon is a village in the north of County Donegal, Ireland.
Saint Fintán, or Munnu is one of the saints of Ireland and Britain who served in Ireland and Scotland being the founder and abbot of the abbey at Teach-Mhunn - The House of Saint Munn - where his bed may be visited is a pilgrimage site; today Taghmon is in the County Wexford, in the province of Leinster Ireland. In Scotland, he is venerated as the patron saint of Clan Campbell.
Newtowncashel is a village located near Lough Ree in County Longford, Ireland. It is within the townland of Cornadowagh. Newtowncashel won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition in 1980.
Saint Muiredach mac Echdach, also known as Murtagh, was the founding Bishop of Killala, Ireland in the 6th century.
Drumardagh is a townland in the east of County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland. The townland is about 5 kilometres east of Letterkenny in the Laggan district of East Donegal. The townland is just outside the village of Manorcunningham. The Isle Burn flows along the eastern boundary of the townland. The Irish name means 'the Ridge (drum) on the High Place (ardagh)', and it is this elevation that gives Drumardagh its commanding views over Lough Swilly, from Glenswilly to Inch Island, and beyond to the peaks of the Fanad and Inishowen peninsulae.
Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii is a Latin text written about 1180–1184 by a monk who identified himself as H. of Saltrey. The author is traditionally known as Henry, though this was an insertion and invention of Matthew of Paris and has been contested in the influential work of historian Jacques le Goff. H de Saltrey was a Cistercian in Huntingdonshire.
William Reeves was an Irish antiquarian and the Church of Ireland Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore from 1886 until his death. He was the last private keeper of the Book of Armagh and at the time of his death was President of the Royal Irish Academy.
The McGrath family is an Irish clan. The name is derived from the Gaelic Mac Craith, recorded in other written texts as Mag Craith, Mag Raith and Macraith, including the Annals of the Four Masters and the Annals of Ulster. McGrath is a surname of ancient Irish origin, and is borne by the descendants of a number of septs, each with a common origin in the Kingdom of Thomond, a kingdom that existed before the Norman invasion and was located in north Munster.
Shrove is a coastal hamlet and townland in Inishowen in the north of County Donegal in the north-west of Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. The hamlet is located a short distance to the north of Greencastle in the north-east of Inishowen, a peninsula on the north coast of Ireland. The name of both the hamlet and the townland is also sometimes written as Shroove, and is sometimes written as Stroove by some government bodies.
