LOUGH DERG, IRELAND — Every year, more than 10,000 pilgrims make their way to Lough Derg, to take part in an intense three-day pilgrimage, following a 1,000-year-old tradition of strict fasting, keeping vigil and barefoot prayer.

Tradition links Patrick to the island through his disciple St. Dabheog, “a young man remembered as a disciple of St. Patrick,” Father Laurence Flynn, prior of Lough Derg, told the Register.

The disciple presided over and likely established a monastery on Lough Derg in the fifth century, just a few decades after the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. 

“St. Patrick, in his own writings, makes no mention of this place,” Father Flynn said, adding, “In the two texts that Patrick himself wrote — his Confession and Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus — which scholars have accepted as coming from him, Lough Derg is not mentioned.”

St. Patrick’s name only started becoming associated with the island when the medieval Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii (“Treatise on St. Patrick’s Purgatory”) started spreading across Europe in the 12th century.

According to the medieval text, Christ revealed a pit in the ground, calling it purgatory, to St. Patrick, who had prayed for divine assistance in converting the skeptical Irish people. St. Patrick believed that by showing it to his countrymen, they would come to understand the reality of the joys of heaven and the torments of hell and be moved to embrace the faith.

The treatise also tells of the journey of Sir Owein, “an Irish knight who had been involved in a lot of bloodletting and wanted to reform his life, who heard of the place and went there on a pilgrimage,” Father Flynn said. Upon entering the cave and witnessing terrifying visions of demons tormenting souls, Sir Owein eventually escapes their torture by calling on the name of Christ.

As the legend surged “in the 12th century, when the doctrine of purgatory was emerging in theology,” it soon became the most popular vision of purgatory throughout the Middle Ages. It survives today in more than “150 Latin manuscripts in libraries and archives across the world” and can also be found on many medieval world maps and maps of Ireland.

“While scholars agree that the legend was created to be read as a spiritual reading in monasteries for the monks’ spiritual edification,” Father Flynn explained, it started “an unbroken tradition of people coming to St. Patrick’s Purgatory on pilgrimage.”

 

An Unbroken Tradition 

“We have accounts from the Middle Ages, of continental pilgrims that came,” Father Flynn said. “They typically spent 15 days in a monastery on a larger island; and when they were judged ready and sufficiently prepared, they were sent to Station Island.” 

St. Patrick’s Purgatory — described by early pilgrims as a cave or cellar or as an enclosed pit — required a descent of six steps through a narrow entrance, into a confined space only high enough to kneel in. For centuries, pilgrims would visit the holy site revealed by Christ.

With the English Reformation, “all church buildings and ecclesiastical properties were confiscated by the Protestant church,” Father Flynn continued. “But the vast majority of the Irish people held onto their faith, and, having no buildings, gathered in places associated with saints.”

Because of the association with St. Patrick, Lough Derg became such a place. “Going back to 1590, we have the first accounts of the station prayers,” Father Flynn explained, “which, to this day, are substantially unchanged.”

Although the cave itself has been closed since 1632 by order of the English Crown as part of their efforts to curb Catholic pilgrimages and religious practices in Ireland during the Reformation, “10,000 people come each year for the three-day pilgrimage,” Father Flynn said.

For three days, pilgrims endure harsh penitential observances, including staying awake for the first night and all the next day, observing a strict fast consisting of dry toast and black tea or coffee, and walking barefoot around the so-called “stations” — after which Station Island is named — which are believed to be the remains of century-old monastic cells.

“Monastic practice in medieval Ireland involved a lot of physical prayers and repeated vocal prayers,” Father Flynn said, explaining that while circling the stations, the pilgrims recite “an ancient pattern of prayers consisting of Our Fathers, Hail Marys and the Apostles’ Creed that take about one hour to perform.” 

Father Flynn, who shared that he tries to do the three-day pilgrimage every year, noted that “many come because of a strong family tradition”: “People will tell me, ‘My parents did it’ or ‘My grandparents did this pilgrimage.’”

“Many come to pray for good results on their exams. Some come in thanksgiving or as part of their grieving process. Others take on this spiritually challenging journey as a form of petitionary prayer, intentionally praying for God’s grace to transform their lives or the life of loved one.”

 

‘Hardest Pilgrimage’

“The first time I went on the three-day pilgrimage was in my late 20s,” Stuart McGovern, 51, from Ireland, told the Register. “I was considering leaving my job at the time, and I was in a bit of a dilemma as to whether to leave it or not. I really liked my job but couldn’t shake that feeling that there was something else for me.”

“So I took off on my own for the long weekend in Lough Derg in June 2002, not knowing my life would change forever,” McGovern continued.

Praying for clarity, as well as for the soul of his deceased father, McGovern shared that the physical and mental challenge of staying awake all night, fueled only by dry bread and coffee, was overwhelming. “I soon realized, though,” he added, “that feeling sorry for yourself as a fit 28-year-old wasn’t an option when there were old women in their 80s and possibly 90s walking the penitential beds, seemingly without a bother on them.”

This pilgrimage is known for being the hardest and most rigorous in all of Christianity and, in McGovern’s word, “arguably the hardest pilgrimage on the planet.”

When McGovern returned home, uncertainty still lingered — until a phone call changed everything. About an hour after his arrival, his uncle from the U.S. called, recounting a dream he had about McGovern’s father the night before. As he listened, McGovern knew without a doubt that it was a direct answer to his prayer. 

“I left my job and started a whole new life, which has ultimately led me to the priesthood,” added McGovern, who is currently a seminarian for the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore in Ireland. “It is a major part the reason I am where I am now.”

Tina McManus, 44, from Ireland, has also embarked on the Lough Derg pilgrimage multiple times, finding each journey to be a powerful experience of faith and endurance. Yet what has left the deepest impression on her was the remarkable strength and perseverance of the older pilgrims.

“It was so uncomfortable and such a sacrifice,” she told the Register, “and seeing old men and women in their 80s going and doing it every year was just unbelievable.”

Like McGovern, who first learned about the pilgrimage from his mother, McManus was also introduced to this ancient tradition through her family.

“It was from hearing the stories from my mom and siblings, and also a friend that had gone and had a positive experience, that I was first intrigued,” she said. “I initially went so that I would pass my exams, but as things went on, I went back to get a break from the world and pray for a special intention or for whatever was happening in my life.”

Explaining that the pilgrimage became “a spiritual and mental detox” for her, McManus shared that “there is something really liberating about it that brings you back to your core.”

Despite the discomfort, tiredness and hunger, McManus stressed that “there is something that gives you clarity of thought.” 

“Being so vulnerable, it really brings to the surface the things that are underneath, suppressed,” she added. “It really allows you to reflect on deep things.”

“When I think back to my time there, I just laugh,” McManus continued. “It was really physically challenging and tiresome, but there was such a sense of community with all the other pilgrims, and while we were really delirious, we were having great fun. 

“We were of very different ages, with different backgrounds, and from very different places in Ireland and the world, but we are all in it together.”

 

Deep-Rooted Faith 

“I’ve done it quite a few times, probably 10,” McGovern recalled, “and each time I’m there, I question my sanity and why I decided to do it again. It seems like such a crazy thing to do.”

Beyond personal sacrifice, Lough Derg remains for McGovern a powerful witness to the enduring faith of the Irish people, whom St. Patrick worked tirelessly to evangelize. 

“When you see lines of people queuing up for the penitential beds, you realize that the faith in Ireland is still strong and very much alive,” he said, and “that the faith in Ireland has deep roots.”

While many pilgrims come from Ireland, he noted, there are still large numbers traveling from all over the world, each carrying their own intentions: students praying for exam results, parents giving thanks for healthy children, and families interceding for loved ones.

“It’s a place where you just know great things happen because something that difficult must be fruitful,” McGovern explained. “I remember offering it one time for a marriage that was struggling, and I was able to see the fruit of that prayer in action as the couple went on to have a happy and fruitful marriage together.”

McGovern also emphasized that “it’s a great thing to put some perspective on things as well,” stressing that “there are so many in the world who are suffering in so many ways, and to unite in a little short-term hunger and discomfort certainly helps me to appreciate the life I have and the providence of God in my life.”

“We can get so sucked up in our day-to-day life,” McManus shared, “and having an opportunity like this to remove all the things around us — work, technology, comfort — and reflect on what is happening in our lives, on what we need to change, and on important decisions we need to make, is very valuable and precious.”

“Sometimes it’s really important to just stop and recalibrate, and the way the world is today, you need these places that force you to do so,” McManus added. 

“This pilgrimage is an opportunity to stop and reflect on life on a very deep and genuine level, which can have a very deep impact for a long time. The discomfort is temporary, but the impact can be lasting and profound.”

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