III.—PATRICK AT FOCLUTH WOOD

This victory opened the way for Patrick in Tirawley. When the people saw that wondrous miracle they believed, ‘and he baptised a great number on that day’ at Crosspatrick Well, it seems; and he ordained for them Bishop Mucna, the brother of Cethiacus, and Patrick gave Mucna the seven books of the law, which Mucna afterwards left in turn to Bishop Mac Erca, the son of Mac Dregain. Moreover, he built a church for Mucna at the Wood of Focluth, called Donaghmore, where his relics rest, because ‘God told Patrick to leave his law there, and to ordain bishops, and priests, and deacons in that region.’ And Patrick was prompt to obey the voice of God, for the Wood of Focluth was dear to his heart, and the voices of its children were ever sounding in his ears; and now that God, after so many years, had fulfilled his soul’s desire, and realised his vocation, it was only natural that Patrick would pour out with full hand the richest treasures of his ministry on that blessed region. And so in truth he did. There was no other district of the same extent throughout all Ireland, where he founded so many churches, ordained so many bishops, and performed so many wondrous miracles as around that ancient Wood of Focluth by the western sea.

O’Donovan says that, although the old church of Donaghmore has completely disappeared, the name still survives as that of a townland in the parish of Killala. We cannot, however, find it in the published list of Irish town-lands, at least in that form. Colgan identifies Mucna, or Mucneus of Donaghmore with Muckin of Moyne, whose festival is fixed by our martyrologies on the 4th of March. This is highly probable, as Moyne is close to Crosspatrick, and in the parish of Killala. The site of the old church can still be traced near the bank of the Moy, a little to the south of the beautiful ruin known as the Abbey of Moyne, which, of course, being Franciscan, is of a much later date. Donaghmore was, probably, the first church which Saint Patrick founded in Tirawley, and as usual its site was admirably chosen. It was apparently near Crosspatrick, to which the Saint returned from Donaghmore, that Patrick performed two other miracles recorded in immediate connection with his victory over the Druids. A poor blind man, seeking to be cured, came hastily to Patrick, and appears in his haste to have stumbled, whereupon one of Patrick’s household laughed aloud at him. “My troth,” said Patrick, “it were meet that thou shouldst be the blind man,” and forthwith the blind became hale, and the hale became blind in punishment of his ill-timed mirth. Mignae was the cleric’s name, and Roi Ruain was the name of the place where the blind man was healed, because his name was Ruan, and he was son of Cu Cnama, the charioteer of King Amalgaid. The place itself, in memory of the miracle, was given over to Patrick for the Church. The chastisement was severe, but it made the delinquent a saint, for he became thenceforward a hermit in Disert-Patraic, which was the name given to the wild woodlands between Crosspatrick and Killala around Meelick Lake. They were wild and lonely then, and they are the same to the present day, as anyone can see who notes the place on the left of the road to Killala.

About the same time and locality two lame men came to Patrick at Ochtar Caerthin to be healed of their infirmity. They dwelt near the mountain, and they complained that they were unable to travel from the highlands to the plain, and they had land in both places. Patrick cured them at once.

There, too, at the well of Crosspatrick, Aedh the Tall, Son of Eochaid, Son of Oengus, besought the Saint to cure his lameness. Patrick heard his prayer, and the grateful youth, therefore, bestowed on Patrick two oxgangs of land for the site of a church, in which Patrick left two of his household to minister, namely, Teloc and Nemnall. This appears to be the church of Crosspatrick itself, which got its name from Patrick’s Cross, erected, no doubt, to commemorate his signal triumphs over the Druids on that holy ground. The donor was the grandson of the wicked Oengus, who sought to slay the Saint; but Oengus now, having seen or heard of all those marvels, declared himself willing to believe, if Patrick would raise his sister from the dead, that is Fedlem, daughter of Amalgaid, ‘who had died long ago.’

It was apparently at this time that a certain man, by name Mac Dregain, came to Patrick, bringing his seven gentile sons along with him, and asked God’s baptism for them all. Patrick was pleased with this man’s good dispositions, and after their baptism not only gave a special blessing to him and his children, but chose one of the sons to be educated for the ministry. The youth’s name was Mac Erca, and Patrick wrote ‘elements’ for him, that is a catechism of Christian Doctrine, both dogmatic and moral. The father, however, did not wish his son to go far away from home. “It will grieve me,” he said, “if my son goes far away with you.” Then Patrick, like St. Paul, making himself all to all men that he might gain all, replied, “I will not take him with me, but I will place him under the care of Bron Mac Icni and Olcan”—two bishops whom he left in that country—one near Sligo and the other at Kilmore Moy. Then raising his hand, he pointed out where the young cleric would have his church and afterwards his grave, and on that spot he erected a cross to mark the site, according to his custom. The place which St. Patrick thus pointed out is the old churchyard of Kilroe, over the estuary, about a half-mile north of Crosspatrick. It is the only Patrician church of which even the remnant of a ruin now remains in Tirawley. The site was beautifully chosen on the very brow of a rocky escarpment, whose base is washed by the waters of the high spring tides when they sweep up the estuary of the river. A considerable portion of the south wall still remains, built of very large stones with little or no mortar. The grey old walls still frown above the flood, and, doubtless, the bones of Mac Erca, as Patrick said, are now commingled with the dust of the old churchyard. The place is well worthy of a visit, and is not more than fifty or sixty yards to the right of the old road to Killala.