After the atrocious weather of the the day before (see Part 1) and the cancellation of all ferries, Scattery Island Tours kindly laid on an extra sailing on Saturday morning to anyone who had missed their original booking. We were keen to avail of the offer and were amazed to find that we were the only ones who turned up. We were looked after royally by a very congenial staff of four – the skipper, the mate and two OPW guides and enjoyed an exclusive crossing to to Scattery Island.
First views of the island were very promising.
Scattery Island, Inis Cathaigh, is a tiny flat island literally in the middle of the enormous mouth of the River Shannon and is primarily known for its association with St Senan for it was here that he established a monastic settlement in the mid 6C. Not without a serious challenge. The island was ferociously guarded by a massive sea serpent, the Cathach. This is how the Book of Lismore describes it:
Hideous, uncouth, ruthless, awful was the beast that arose there. Longer was its body than Inis na h- Urclaide. A horse’s mane had it; an eye gleaming, flaming in its head, and its keen savage, forward, angry, edged, crimson, bloody, cruel, bounding. Two very hideous, very thick feet under it; behind it a mane. Nails hard as iron on it, which used to strike showers of fire out of the rocks of stone wherever it went across them. A fiery breath it had which burned like embers. A belly it had like the bellows of a furnace. A whale’s tail upon it behind. Hard, rending claws upon it, which used to lay bare, on the path they came, the surface of the ground behind the monster. (Book of Lismore)
St Senan knew it was his destiny to subdue the beast and was miraculously transported to the island, probably by the Archangel Michael who arranged for a convenient boulder to carry him to the summit of the island, where he could best view the creature:
… finally (he) established himself to Scattery Island to which he was miraculously transported. This Island was up to the time of the Saint’s entry there uninhabitable by reason of the the fact that a Serpent or Monster (Cathach) from which the Island derives its Irish name viz Inis Cathaigh This Serpent was so large (according to general belief) that it could encircle the Island the area of which is over 100 acres and put its tail into its mouth when at rest (coiled round the Island.). It was also the common belief that this huge Monster could cast stones over a cwt weight from the Island to the town of Kilrush – two miles distant. (SFC:003:0600)
It seems St Senan just had to open his arms wide in prayer and the Cathach meekly turned tail and fled to Lough Dou near Miltown Malbay.
(It should be noted it might still be there for there have been regular reported sightings of a ghastly beast with a seaweedy mane and glaring eyes, see Cata The Monster of Shannon Waves by Shane MacOlan, 1991 from the Leonard Collection.)
Senan’s tribulation were still not quite over as a disgruntled local chief hired a druid to conjure up a bit of sorcery to scare away the saint and all his new fangled notions. When the druid appeared, a tidal wave rose up and engulfed him – apparently there is still a rock visible at low tide where the deed was done: Carraig an Draoi, Druid’s rock. After all this excitement, St Senan was able to focus on founding a monastic settlement which became renown for its piety, severe austerity and learning:
Senan’s life in Scattery was one of rigid mortification, prayer and teaching and the fame of his piety and learning soon attracted Scholars from all parts of the Country and even from the Continent to be taught by St Senan and his associates so that Scattery earned the reputation of being a famous seat of religion and learning. (Life of St Senan, Patron Saint of West Clare: Fr Senan Hedderman, 1974)
Time to disembark and explore. We were very fortunate to have our own personal OPW guide for our morning on the island, Pierce, who was erudite, charming and relaxed, his last day of guiding before he started a PHd. We gathered by the old village and he gave us a little initial information about the island, uninhabited since 1978 and acquired by the OPW in 1991.
All was fascinating and encompassing but I am going to limit myself here, or try, to connections with St Senan. As mentioned he established a monastic settlement here of some renown and eventually the island became a place of pilgrimage. The first artefact Pierce showed us was a huge horizontal slab. Apparently there had originally been 11 of these placed strategically around the island marking out the turas, or round. As tended to happen, the pattern on the 8th March, got so rowdy that a priest tried to stop it and he removed all the slabs – quite a feat in itself. This one reappeared in someone’s garden some time ago and is now back on the island and marks the start of the round. Carved onto its face are the instructions for the ritual and pretty gruelling they are. Finola has just learned that ideally we should do it barefoot – or even on our knees.
These are the instructions:
In the name of God, amen
Bare head, bare feet, all pious Christians are to kneel.
At every station say or read five Paters, Aves and Creed
Five times round each blessed singing hymns and Pater beads.
Round the altar is a first
and two noted stations down by the strand.
Round the island on the water’s edge:
Fourth the nun’s tomb on the strand due west.
Whoever reads and kneels will not meet a watery grave.
Bringing up a stone to Monument Hill, perfomr there and that is a fifth.
Sixth – north east and a place called Laoth and at Our Lady’s Church, women stop.
Eight is the large church, ninth is the Saviours.
Tenth is the bed called St Synan’s grave.
The well is the eleventh. Finish and pray for ye souls of ye erectors of this blessed place.
This entry from the Schools’ Folklore Collection gives some first hand experience:
A “round” here comprises the following:-
1. a walk bare footed round the island. This is not an easy thing to do as performers have to walk on the strand, close to low water’s mark. I did this myself on one occasion, and for a week fterwards my feet were very sore.
2. The “round” begins at a large flag, which is situated at the east side of the island. This flag now rests on four stones. On it are blurred inscriptions, which are commonly supposed to be directions for performing the round. One has to walk round this flag five times.
3. About one hundred yards south of this flag, is a large rock. One has to walk round the rock nine times.
4. From there one proceeds round the strand, until “Leach an Turas” is reached. A stone is situated in this spot, round which one walks nine times also. That done, one has to get a stone, about 1st. weight at low water’s mark, and convey it to “Leach an Turas”
5. After that one proceeds once more round the strand, until the “Point of Meall” is reached. There is another stone in this spot, round which one walks five times.
6. One continues walking then, until the graveyard is reached. One has to walk round this times also.
7. From there one proceeds to St. Senan’s well, round which one walks five times. When this is done, the performer drinks a cup of water from the well. If the performer is a woman, she cannot take the water herself but must have it given to her by some man, whose name must be Sinon. (SFC:196:0630)
(A little more about women on this island later).
This is more or less the turas Pierce took us but I am glad to say we did not have to go barefoot or fasting or on our knees. We travelled at a leisurely pace, firing off questions and comments as Pierce took us around the extensive site. There are the remains of six churches on the island, all dedicated to St Senan apart from the cathedral which is dedicated to Our Lady. The Church of the Dead, so called because people were buried within, felt ancient with its chunky stonework, and mixture of graves – the elaborate slabs horizontal on the ground. Pierce told us that many of the graves were not islanders but people from the mainland who paid to be laid to rest in such a holy place.
We passed Knocknanangel, now marked by a church in a ruinous state, where the Archangel deposited St Senan.
We walked on towards the cathedral, Teampeall Naomh Mhuire.
We marvelled at the carving above one of the windows -a Bishop’s head said to be St Senan and the sinuous seemingly two-headed Cathach.
We admired the beautifully made Romanesque window of another small church, the oratory I think.
And of course marvelled at the dominating presence of the magnificent round tower, 26m tall. This was built several hundred years after St Senan was here and is a fine example of a bell tower, cloigtheach. Unusually its entrance is at floor level and you can go in and gaze all the way up, the original internal staircase long since gone.
We contemplated the supposed burial spot of the saint which was considered to be a site of miraculous cures, stones from his leaba, or bed, being taken in protection against disease and against drowning. Earth from the grave was also taken to banish insects:
The greater portion of the earth which covered the bed has been removed by the islanders, and scattered on their tillage, owing to its supposed efficiency in killing worms. I myself, have seen people coming in from the mainland for this blessed earth, and taking it home with them in paper bags. The stones of the bed, too, are very efficacious, in the eyes of the islanders especially. They are supposed to be able to cure diseases in man and beast, and as well every Scattery seaman wears one of those stones as amulets about his person. According to insular belief nobody, wearing one of those stones, will be drowned, unless through his own fault. (SFC:0630:195)
You will note that there are no stones or earth now, all having been taken by pilgrims at some point or other.
What is curious is that a metal bar has been fixed against the entrance portal. Fr Hedderman explains:
No woman dares to enter this bed and men must divest themselves of their boots before doing so.
You will remember the bit about women not being allowed to take water for themselves, well women originally were not allowed on the island at all, on the orders of St Senan:
No woman was allowed by the Saint to live or even land on the island while he lived. A kinswoman of his own who lived in Holy Island (Inis Caltra) in Lough Derg made a set of vestments for him and when she had them finished she desired to present them to him in person and asked his permission to do so. He refused and told her to put the vestments into a box and float them down the River Shannon. This she did and the Box with its precious contents duly landed in Scattery Island and St Senan took possession of them. (The Life of St Senan: Fr Senan Hedderman)
If a woman dare enter terrible things might result:
… As heretofore stated no female is supposed to enter St Senan’s Bed and a man should only enter it when barefooted. Tradition states that some audacious women defying the legend attaching to the Saint’s bed entered same and were chastised in a very signal manner for their impudence. It is stated that one woman who disobeyed was later the mother of a boneless baby-This being believed to be her punishment by the people of that time for violating the Saints solemn injunction. (SFC:003:0600)
This seems to have changed when a woman arrived on the island suffering from severe arthritis and insisted on spending the night in the small chamber in the hope of obtaining a cure through the intercession of the saint. A rather foolish act you might think, yet the saint seems to have responded generously and the woman awoke in the morning cured. I risked going inside.
The final station in the round was the holy well, believed to have sprung up due to the intervention of the saint himself:
Another remarkable miracle is attributed to the saint. The monks living in Iniscathaig suffered much through want of fresh water. They were often obliged to carry water to the island not only for the community but also for their cattle and sheep. In their need they besought their abbot to pray that they might find water somewhere on the island. It was revealed to the saint that water was to be found at a certain spot. When he probed the earth at the place indicated to him, he uncovered a spring of pure, fresh water. (Life of St Senan, Father Senan Hedderman)
Other sources describes the instrument St Senan used to do his probing, a branch from a tree usually a holly branch, or possibly a hazel or elder, branch, used in the manner of a water diviner. When he plunged the branch into the earth the well sprung up and the branch later later turned into a tree, the leaves of which had miraculous curing powers. Sadly there is no sign of a tree today.
The well lies in the shadow of the impressive round tower.
It is a large subterranean spring, walled with thick blocky stonework. A series of very uneven steps lead down to the water. The water looked rather scummy today.
Pilgrims are currently denied access by a padlocked gate, a rather meagre plate supposedly containing well water or a long scoopy thing the only way you can currently obtain any water.
I confess to having pleaded with Pierce who turned a blind eye and I carefully made my way down for a closer inspection and a quick dab behind the ears. The water is said to hold a cure for sore eyes and is believed to never run dry:
About fifty-two years ago a great drought took place in the island. Every stream, every well ran dry and water remained only in one place- the Blessed Well. The natives feared that this well too would share the same fate as the others, as the water sank lower and lower until at last it only filled a tiny space in the North West corner. A penny wooden bowl was bought, and for three weeks the natives succeeded in filling barrels, buckets etc with clear fresh water from the well. According to tradition, St. Senan’s well will never run dry, and the above incident somewhat proves the truth of it. (SFC: 196:0630)
The main pattern days to the well were 8th March and Easter Monday and were extremely well attended, often ending in riotous behaviour. If you were unable to attend personally you could hire someone to do it for you:
A holy well in the island, says Mr. Hely Dutton, is resorted to by great numbers of devotees, who, as they term it, take their rounds about it annually on their bare knees; and it is a frequent practice for those who cannot conveniently perform this penance, to pay at this and other holy wells a trifling gratuity to some persons to perform this ceremony for them; I have known a woman to make a trade of this mummery. The common people have a great veneration for this island and its ruins; they carry pebbles taken from it as preservatives against shipwreck, and the boatmen will not navigate a boat that has not taken a round about Scattery in a course opposite the sun. (The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, 1845)
As well as the stones being used to prevent shipwreck, the water water was also taken to keep on board as protection and not just by locals:
Down to a recent period foreign sailors used come ashore to Scattery Island from their schooners, and take some water from St. Senan’s well, with the view of allaying thereby, tempests at sea. Nowadays, since sail has given place to steam, sailors hardly ever visit the island. (SFC:196:0630)
It seems sailors would also take stones from St Cannera’s Grave and would regularly salute her resting place as they sailed by. Who is St Cannera you might wonder and how did she manage to end up on the island so notoriously men only? Well I’m pleased to say she was a Bantry woman, some say she may even had been St Senan’s sister. She was an anchorite and lived in solitude but one day, as she was nearing the end of her life, she had a dream in which she saw flames burning brightly above all the holy places in Ireland. The flames shone brightest over Scattery Island and she knew it was destined to be her final resting place. She left her cell and made the long journey from West Cork to Scattery on foot, a distance of around 170km according to Google Maps. St Senan of course knew she was coming but would not let her set foot on the island instead welcomed her and gave her Holy Communion on a boat. She was now dying and argued for the equal redemption of women through Christ.
Women enter not this island’, saith Senan. ‘How canst thou say that?’ saith Canair. ‘Christ is no worse than thou. Christ came to redeem women no less than to redeem men. No less did He suffer for the sake of women than for the sake of men. Women have given service and tendance unto Christ and His Apostles. No less than men do women enter the heavenly kingdom. Why, then, shouldst thou not take women to thee in thine island?’ ‘Thou art stubborn’ saith Senan. ‘What then’ saith Canair, ‘shall I get what I ask for, a place for my side in this isle and the Sacrament from thee to me?’ ‘A place of resurrection’ saith Senan, ‘will be given thee here on the brink of the wave, but I fear that the sea will carry off thy remains’ ‘God will grant me’ saith Canair, ‘that the spot wherein I shall lie will not be the first that the sea will bear away’. ‘Thou hast leave then’ saith Senan, ‘to come on shore’. For thus had she been while they were in converse, standing up on the wave, with her staff under her bosom, as if she were on land. Then Canair came on shore, and the Sacrament was administered to her, and she straightway went to heaven. (Life of St Senan, in the Book of Lismore.)
St Senan compromised and had her body interred at the low water mark – neither island nor sea, a liminal place. This extract tells the whole story:
About four miles from Bantry on the road to Glengarriffe, there is at townland called Reendisert (the point of the Hermitage). Here on the verge of the Atlantic a holy virgin named Cannera had her shrine. She was the daughter of a local chieftain named Cumania, and was renowned for her beauty. Early in life she consecrated herself to the service of God. She had a great friend and adviser in St Mocomog whose shrine was only a few miles away from hers. Her shrine used be visited by mariners about to undertake long voyages. The legend has it that those who ever prayed there before going to sea came back safely. The tradition states, that feeling her end approaching she resolved to go northwards to St Senan at Scattery Island. She saw in a vision all the churches of Ireland throwing up flames, and those sent up by the church of St Senan were the brightest of all. She set out for the island, but having arrived the saint would not admit her. She then begged to be shriven by him, and having received absolution she died and was buried on the strand between high and low water marks, as the saint would not allow her to be buried on the island. A flag called locally ‘Leac na ban beannuighe’ is still pointed out on the strand, and is supposed to cover her last resting place.
(SFC:011: 0285)
Two very attractive depictions of the St Cannera below, including close ups of the the flames over Scattery.
Her grave, also known as the Nun’s stone, was once visited as part of the rounds but is now too overgrown to get to – I asked.
And should you fear that St Senan was a misogynist, it seems he wasn’t really but wished to pursue his monastic vocation without women present – think of the monastery on Mt Athos, Greece, where women are still forbidden to enter. However, he did found two convents for women on the mainland which he maintained and visited regularly. He was actually at the convent in Querin when he died on the 8th March 544AD (or possibly 1st March) and very thoughtfully produced a relic for them to venerate after his death:
When on his last inspection tour to the extreme west of his Diocese he called at a Convent in Querin (Carrigaholt Parish) and Nuns there – probably feeling that his end was near – asked him to leave them some relic of him. He promised that he would do so on his return journey but he died before he returned. When his sacred body was being carried back for interment in ‘Inis Cathaigh’ it was laid for one night in the Convent Chapel of Querrin and a second thumb grew during the night on one of his hands. The nuns took this as a fulfilment of his promise to leave them a relic and removed it. (SFC:003: 0600)
His body remained uncorrupted for 12 days and strange lights were seen in the sky during that time. Two very different interpretations of him below.
What a man but probably not one for jiving.
Visit Roaringwater’s Journal for a full dissection of the Kevin Kelly stained glass panel, which includes many details on the saint’s life, and for Finola’s account of our day.
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