The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 51, June 19, 1841Various
History
The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 51, June 19, 1841
Various
Ireland -- Periodicals
It may be asked, then, how has it happened that the veneration paid to
wells has continued in Ireland even to the present day, and to this
question it is not very easy to give a satisfactory answer. It may be
remarked, however, that no evidences have yet been discovered to show
that similar local ordinances were made to destroy their continuance in
Ireland, and that it may hence be inferred that the attachment of the
Irish People generally to their ancient usages in this instance, as well
as in their funeral lamentations, May-fires, and many other ceremonies
of a religious character derived from the same eastern and Pagan origin,
was too strong even for the power of the clergy to eradicate or greatly
diminish. Certain it is, that the pilgrimages to Lough Derg, which, there
is every reason to believe, derive their origin from the same source,
were abolished by an order of Pope Alexander VI, in 1497, and yet the
people returned to them again, and they are at the present moment as
numerously made, if not more so than ever. And, in like manner, the
pilgrimages to wells, even where discountenanced and punished by the
Roman Catholic clergy, as they are now in almost every part of Ireland,
are still continued in secrecy, with a tenacity to ancient usages
singularly characteristic of the Irish race, and which will ensure their
existence for a considerable time longer.
St Senan’s Well, which we have selected as a characteristic example of
the holy wells of Ireland, is situated near the west bank of the Shannon,
near Dunass, in the county of Clare. There is nothing very peculiar to
distinguish this well from a thousand other fountains of the same kind,
but the unusual character of the votive offerings made at it, which, as
our engraving exhibits, consist chiefly of wooden bowls, tea-cups whole
and broken, blacking-pots, and similar odd offerings of gratitude to St
Seanan Liath, or Seanan the Hoary, the patron saint of the parish.
P.
A FAIR-DAY IN NORMANDY,
BY MARTIN DOYLE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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