The Irish standard., 1905-09-09
On Top of This Mountain the Great St. Patrick
Prayed, Hence the Annual Pilgrim
age For Prayer.
If One May Judge From These Pilgrimages
the Piety Of the Irish People is
Surely Not on the Wane.

The following story of Irish pilgrim
age. from the pen OF Scumas Nc
Manus. is taken from the Catholic
Union and Times:
The Irish nature is ever fond of the
romantic and picturesque, The an
nual mass said upon the apex OF the
high mountain peak of Croagh Patrick
This year All nratory was, at great
trouble and expense. erected upon top.
The workmcn used to- live i'll tents
there from Sunday evening till Satur
day evening. They descended TO the
plains on Saturday night for the pur-
pose of attending Sunday mass, and re-
turn to the summit on Sunday evening
again. The conservation OF this ora
tory the other day. brought great hosts
OF people from all over the country.
and vast crowd OF humanity covered
the mountain top aud lined its sides for
the conservation ceremony Archbisi1
op llca1y. of Tuam, oliiciatcd.
The archbishop, by the way, is a
beautiful writer, and his own dcscrp-
ton oi Croagh Patrick is worth quot
ing: at is the proudcst and the most
beautiful of the everlasting hills that
are the crown and glory OF this west
crn land of ours. When the skies are
clear, and the soaring cone can be seen
in its solitary grandeur, no eye will
turn to gaze on il without delight
Even when the r;il,-clonds shroud its
brow. we know that it is still there, and
that when the storms have swept over
il. it will reveal itself once more in all
its calm and beauty and majestic
strength"
On top of Croagh Patrick St. Pat
rick had prayed. Hence the annual pill
grimagc for prayer and pcnancc that
has, for ages untold, been made to its
summit
This is the season OF pilgrimage in
Ireland All over the country we have,
scattered. our holy wells and sacred
places of pilgrimage and pcnancc, and
il, the beautiful summer season our
pious people. on days appointed,
throng to one or the other place to
send up to God their pious petitions.
In these days OF matcrialism it is an
cdifying sight to come across Il party
OF pilgrims among the moors OF Ire
land, trcading the pebbly path around
the pcnitcntial cairns, murmuring
from their hearts depths prayers as
they go, or drinking the three living
draughts from the holy fountain that
gushcs pure and plentiful at their feet;
or. knccling by the old, moss grown
altar, lifting their souls to God, or lay
ing hands and feet in the waters of the
holy loch, washing away their sins as
they pray toward the East, whence
came the light Of salvation. II one may
judge from the extent to which these
pilgrimagcs are patronizcd, the picty
Of our Irish people is certainly not on
the wanc.
One OF the greatest and most re-
markablc pilgrimagcs in Ireland is that
of St. Patrick's purgatory, on Station
Island in Loeb Parg. Loch Dcarg is
a large mountain lake situate far
among the barren moors of Donegal.
The foot OF man seldom trcads by
this lake during nine months of the
year; but from the first of June till the
fifteenth OF August it's distant shores
are populous. Thousands throng to
it annually, not merely from Ulster,
nor yet. merely from Ircland-but from
England, Scotland, America. Australia,
they come there to do pcnancc.' Many
times day, during the summer
months the big black boats arc crawl
ing out and in from the shore to the
Station Island with their human cargo.
Station Island is small, but it is cov-
cred with bmildings-two chapc1s,
priory. hospice and several lodging
houses-prcscnting wonderful con-
trast with the wild. barren character of
the moors and hills that stretch away
several miles around
The. period of pilgrimage here is