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Lourdes

Jan 18, 2012

Lourdes is known throughout the world as a place that offers hope and consolation to all who are in need of healing and peace. It is a place of prayer and celebration of life and is the most visited pilgrimage destination in Europe. The small town at the foot of the Pyrenees receives more than 6 million pilgrims and tourists each year, and many Irish pilgrims make the journey annually.The origins of the pilgrimages to Lourdes began when Bernadette Soubirous reported the first of 18 visions of Our Lady on 11 February 1858. On the 13th apparition on 28 February 1858, Our Lady instructed Bernadette “Go tell the priests to build a chapel here and come in processions”.

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St Kevin’s Way

Jan 17, 2012

Glendalough, or ‘the valley of two lakes’ is a place with which almost everyone is vaguely familiar even before they visit, so famous and iconic are the images of its high round tour.
But being there, walking though the ancient monastery surrounded by the stillness and splendour of the Wicklow Mountains , is a special experience that even the inevitable tourist crowds cannot spoil.
It’s easy to see why St Kevin chose it first as a place to live the austere life of a hermit and later to found what would become one of the most important early Christian monasteries in Europe.

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St Finbarr’s Way

Jan 16, 2012

This newly-revived ancient pilgrim path is set to become the “camino” of West Cork. The walk begins at the Top of the Rock, Drimoleague, where local tradition states that St Finbarr in the 6th century “admonished the people to return to Christ, then went on his way to Gougane Barra”. Since that time, local people, until forty years ago, used to walk the 37km particularly on the Saint’s feast day: 25th September.The walk is a two day stretch with an overnight in Kealkil, an important walking centre in its own right. Three significant mountain and valley systems are traversed: The Ilen, Mealagh and Ouvane, and the walk culminates in a spectacular descent from Foilastoookeen, high above St Finbarr’s Oratory in Gougane Barra. The entire walk is steeped in Celtic history and archaeological remains.

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