The power of Saint Patrick lives on in the Irish holy wells that still bear his name

Healing, curses, traditions and rituals surrounding St. Patrick’s Wells

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St. Patrick's Well at St. Patrick's Church. Marlfield Lake, Clonmel, Co Tipperary

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When writing about St. Patrick’s Well in Leitrim, Joe McGowan, local historian and native of Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo, reported on a 1938 account of the wells curative properties: “For a cure for sore eyes the water is rubbed on, for a cure for a sick animal it is given to the beast to drink. Numerous cures have been reported. People have been cured of sore eyes, sore throat, toothaches, headaches and many other ailments. Cattle have been cured of murrain, redwater, milk fever, spine disease. Elf-shot cows have been cured and cows with chill or fever. Horses has been cured by applying the water to the affected part.”

Blessings and Curses:

Legend tells us that Saint Patrick himself was known to curse as well as bless. The story goes that as the Saint made his way over the River Duff on the Sligo-Leitrim border, he asked some fishermen if he could have some salmon but they refused him, saying “They’re scarce today”.

Unhappy with the fishermen’s mean reply, St. Patrick answered, “May they always be so”, which resulted in the end of fishing in that region for a long time.

When Patrick asked the same question of the Cassidy fishermen on the River Drowes and was granted his meal, he blessed them with the words “May the Drowes never be without a salmon nor a Cassidy to catch them.” SligoHeritage.com reports that the Drowes continues to be a popular fishing spot and generally produces the first salmon of the year.

Many people are sceptical about the healing powers of the holy wells but those that showed disrespect towards such sites were often left wishing that they hadn’t. Joe McGowan tells of a local story surrounding a well in Templeboy, Co. Sligo, which was filled in by an angry district Landlord, Captain King, after he observed the parish people praying around it. The following spring, each of the Landlord’s mares bore blind foals and he himself was later shot outside the Courthouse in Sligo town.

The Rituals and Traditions:

Supposedly, one of Saint Patrick’s favorite places was on the Sligo-Leitrim border in Tullaghan, Co. Leitrim where two wells now bear his name: ‘Tobair Phadhraig’ (Patrick’s Well) and ‘Tobair na Bheartha’ (Well of the Shaving) where St. Patrick and his companions were said to have stopped to shave. Joe Mc Gowan writes that The Schools Manuscript Collection of 1938 records how this ritual should be performed around the well: “The pilgrim begins on the east side of the well at the statue of St. Patrick. Here he says 5 Our Fathers, 5 Hail Mary’s, 5 Glorys and the Creed. He then goes clockwise and on reaching the cairn on the south side he says 3 Hail Marys and casts a small stone on the heap. He proceeds to the well on the west side where he kneels and says 3 Hail Marys and casts another stone on the cairn. On again to the north where he says the same and again casts up another stone. This is done 3 times casting up 9 stones in all.

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