Croagh Patrick: ‘Ireland’s Holy Mountain’

Croagh Patrick, 'Ireland's holy mountain', is an isolated quartzite cone-shaped peak rising to 762 metres (2500 feet) on the southern shore of Clew Bay, 8 km west of Westport, County Mayo, in the west of Ireland. It is now one of Ireland’s great tourist attractions. Known locally as 'the Reek', it is a striking mountain on the local landscape. The Irish national apostle, St. Patrick, is said to have spent forty days and nights on the summit of Croagh Patrick fasting and praying for the people of Ireland around the middle of the fifth century of the Christian era. Since early Christian times, a national pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick has taken place on the last Sunday in July each year. Thousands of devout pilgrims, many barefoot, climb the mountain in the footsteps of St Patrick, where they undertake the traditional stations and attend Mass in the oratory erected at the summit in 1905. The ascent begins at Murrisk and can be quite demanding in places, especially the upper side of the scree-clad cone. The climb traditionally took place at night with the inspiring sight of a chain of lights moving upwards along the pilgrims' path, but it is now undertaken during daylight. The tradition of climbing the Reek goes way back to pre-Christian times, as confirmed by recent archaeological excavations at the summit. Almost every day, there are now visitors climbing Croagh Patrick. The view from the summit on a good day is spectacular, with the broad Atlantic Ocean and the tops of submerged drumlins forming a pleasant archipelago in Clew Bay to the west, Achill Island and Blacksod Bay to the north, Neiphin mountain to the north-east and beautiful Connemara to the south.

The Irish National Famine Memorial, a sculpture of a coffin ship with haunting depictions of famine victims by John Behan, is located at Murrisk, at the foot of Croagh Patrick overlooking one of the most pleasant stretches of marine scenery in the country. It was unveiled on July 20, 1997, by President Mary Robinson.

There is an ancient causeway from Ballintober Abbey in County Mayo to Croagh Patrick, 32 kilometres in length, known in Irish as Tóchar Phádraig, which goes back to pre-historic times. It became a pilgrimage route to the ‘Reek’ and was re-opened to pedestrians in 1989. It is now a popular walking trail. The route is originally believed to have ran from Cruachán, near Boyle in County Roscommon, once the residence of the kings of Connacht, to Ballintober and on to Croagh Patrick.

Bernard O'Hara's latest book entitled Killasser: Heritage of a Mayo Parish is now on sale in the USA and UK as a paperback book at amazon.com, amazon.co.uk or Barnes and Noble

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An earlier publication, a concise biography of Michael Davitt, entitled Davitt by Bernard O’Hara published in 2006 by Mayo County Council , is now available as Davitt: Irish Patriot and Father of the Land League by Bernard O’Hara, which was published in the USA by Tudor Gate Press (www.tudorgatepress.com) and is available from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. It can be obtained as an eBook from the Apple iBookstore (for reading on iPad and iPhone), from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (Kindle & Kindle Fire) and from Barnesandnoble.com (Nook tablet and eReader).