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Preserving an ancient practice at St Dominic’s Holy Well
January is not a month you would normally associate with pilgrimage – but each year the people of East Galway make a most unique journey to St Dominic’s Holy Well to prepare for the agricultural year ahead.
The well is located in the townland of Esker a short distance from Athenry – and unlike the majority of holy wells, St Dominic’s is not associated with healing or penance.
BY DR LOUISE NUGENT
The pilgrims do not come to say prayers or to leave offerings; they come to collect the holy water from the well which they take home to bless their fields, farmyards, homes and animals.
The water is taken because it is believed to have special powers of protection and healing through its connection with the saint.
Little is known about the history of this holy well. Some believe that the well came into existence following the arrival of the Dominicans, who came to Esker after the destruction of their priory at Athenry in 1652 by Cromwellian soldiers.
Keeping a low profile and at great personal risk they continued to minister to the local people of the area. Following the relaxing of the penal laws, they built a monastery a short distance from the holy well.
The monks were gifted of 150 acres of land, by a local landlord called Daly from Dunsandle, to help support them and their charitable works. The Dominicans remained at Esker until 1896 when the monastery passed to the Diocese.
In 1903 the Redemptorist Order took over control of the monastery and by this time the modern traditions of the well were firmly established. Through the years the Redemptorists have continued to support the well as the Dominicans did before them, and today they still providing blessings of its waters.
The traditional time for visiting St Dominic’s well is from midday on January 5 until midnight on January 6.
On the morning of January 5, troughs are placed beside the well and filled with water taken from the well.
On both pilgrimage days a mass is held at the church in the Redemptorist monastery, and this is followed by a procession from the monastery to the holy well.
A number of short prayers are said and the well and its waters of the well are blessed by the priest. This year the blessing was performed by Fr Seamus Devitt, and afterwards pilgrims fill plastic bottles and containers from the troughs surrounding the well.
On returning home, the water is sprinkled in the farmyard, the fields, just as Easter water was and is still in some places spread on the fields on May’s eve. The water is also sprinkled on farm machinery, cars, out buildings and homes.
The remainder of water is kept throughout the year and used for sick animals and for cows and sheep during calving and lambing.
A number of people told me of what they believed were cures of animals due to these holy waters. Others sprinkled the water again during the planting and harvesting of crops.
For generations the agricultural year of farmers in East Galway has begun with a visit to St Dominic’s holy well – and it’s wonderful to this the tradition continuing into the 21st century.
Dr Louise Nugent is an archaeologist specialising in medieval pilgrimage and author of blog Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland (http://pilgrimagemedievalireland.com)
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
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Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
