Gobnait
Saint Gobnait | |
---|---|
Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church | |
Feast | February 11 |
Patronage | bees |
Saint Gobnait (fl. 6th century?), also known as Gobnat or Mo Gobnat or Abigail or Deborah, is the name of an early medieval female Irish saint whose church was Móin Mór, later Bairnech, in the village of Ballyvourney (Irish: Baile Bhuirne), County Cork in Ireland.[2] She is associated with the Múscraige and her church and convent lay on the borders between the Múscraige Mittine and Eóganacht Locha Léin.[2] Her feast day is February 11.
Sources
No
The
"Mo Gobnat from Muscraige Mitaine, i.e. a sharp-beaked nun, |
Ernaide is the name of the place in which she is. |
Or Gobnat of Bairnech in Món Mór in the south of Ireland, |
and of the race of Conaire she is; a virgin of Conaire's race" |
–Note to the Félire Óengusso, tr. Whitley Stokes, p. 73 |
Life
Gobnait was born in County Clare in the fifth or sixth Century, and is said to have been the sister of Saint
Celtic lore held bees in high esteem, believing the soul left the body as a bee or a butterfly. Gobnait is said to have added beekeeping to her life's work, developing a lifelong affinity with them. She started a religious order and dedicated her days to helping the sick. It has been speculated that she used honey as a healing aid.[4] She is credited with saving the people at Ballyvourney from the plague.[3]
Legends
One story tells of how she drove off a brigand by sending a swarm of bees after him and making him restore the cattle he had stolen.[3]
Some traditions associate her with the legendary saint Latiaran, the patroness of a sacred well in Cullen, making them two of three sisters.[5]
Well
St Gobnait's well is situated to the north of Ballyagran in a high field to the left of the road to Castletown. Rounds were made and a pattern was held on 11 February until around 1870. The well has now dried up but the site is still known. It is said that a white stag could sometimes be seen at the well. There is also a well in Dún Chaoin County Kerry and is visited on 11 February every year by locals.[6]
Veneration and depictions in art
In 1601 Pope Clement VIII granted a special indulgence to those who, on Gobnait's day, visited the parish church, went to Confession and Communion and prayed for peace among 'Christian princes', expulsion of heresy and the exaltation of the church.[7] Gobnait was originally a patron of ironworkers. Excavation at the church in Ballyvourney yielded considerable evidence of ironworking on the site.[8]
The saint is still locally venerated today,
Former churches dedicated to Gobnait are commemorated in townlands and other places named Kilgobnet (Irish: Cill Ghobnait "church of Gobnait"): in counties Kerry (at Dunquin[10] and at Kilgobnet near Milltown[7]), Waterford (near Dungarvan), Limerick (in Ballyagran), and Cork (near Glantane, Dripsey, and Clondrohid).[11]
Notes
- ^ O'Suliivan, Marc."Cork In 50 Artworks, No 16: Statue of St Gobnait at Ballyvourney, by Séamus Murphy". Irish Examiner, 9 August 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2024
- ^ a b c d e f g Johnston, "Munster, saints of (act. c.450–c.700)."
- ^ a b c "A Gathering of Irish Saints", AOH division 61, Philadelphia
- ^ "Nolan, Mark, "St. Gobnait's Day", Enfield Beekeepers". Archived from the original on 12 August 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- ISBN 9780906426104.
- ^ "Holy Wells", Limerick Diocese Heritage
- ^ a b c "Diocese of Kerry, St Gobnait". Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
- ^ Duffy, Patrick. "St. Gobnait", CatholicIreland.net
- ^ Bowe, "Wilhelmina Geddes", p. 83.
- ^ "Cill Ghobnait/Kilgobnet Penitential Station". Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ^ "'Kilgobnet'". Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
References
- Stokes, Whitley (ed.). The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee. Henry Bradshaw Society. Vol. 29. London. pp. 60, 72–3 (11 February).
- Bowe, Nicola Gordon (1988). "Wilhelmina Geddes, Harry Clarke, and Their Part in the Arts and Crafts Movement in Ireland". The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts. 8: 58–79. JSTOR 1503970.
- Harris, Dorothy C. (1938). "Saint Gobnet, Abbess of Ballyvourney". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Seventh Series. 8 (2): 272–7.
- Johnston, Elva. "Munster, saints of (act. c.450–c.700)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, Sept 2004, online edition May 200. Accessed: 14 December 2008.
Further reading
- O'Kelly, Michael J. (1952). "St. Gobnet's House, Ballyvourney, Co. Cork". Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society. 57: 18–40.
- Ua hÉaluighthe, Diarmuid (1952). "St. Gobnet of Ballyvourney". Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society. 57: 43–61.