‘Saint Gobnait’s Honey’
Essay – Cath Connelly
Bees…
Vital for the continuity of edible plant-life for humans, working together
harmoniously, creating honey that is both sweet and healing, bees are an extraordinarily
magnificent part of this most sacred of planets.
For
the past four months I have been a bee-keeper.
Still feeling inadequate in my knowledge of good husbandry for my hive,
I am nonetheless wildly passionate about this undertaking and study voraciously
all that will inform me of their ways.
In great anticipation of my first jar of honey, I designed the above
embroidery, intending to use it as my label on any jars of honey that I give
away.
It
is no coincidence that I selected St Gobnait for my honey-jar label. Not only is she the Irish patron saint of
honey (St Ambrose holds this distinction in the Roman calendar), St Gobnait
epitomises much of the ‘strong woman’ archetype of the Celtic psyche. In reading her life through the lens of
feminist theology, thus looking for those aspects of the life of St Gobnait
that empower women, we find much that teaches us of liberation, both for the
individual woman and for her work in the wider community. It is this model of a strong feminine
archetype that we desperately need in the twenty-first century.
Gobnait’s
association with bees extends further than her probable skills as an
apiarist. Early miracle stories tell us
that ‘a band of cattle thieves attempted to steal the cattle of the
neighbourhood; but Gobnait let loose a swarm of bees, and the robbers abandoned
their rustling in terror.’[1]
Another
story relates how a powerful chief prayed to Gobnait for assistance, recognising
his troops to be incapable of victory. Gobnait granted his request by
transforming a hive of bees into military men.[2] Bees, honey, wax and
pollen in early Irish society all held a special place of reverence; indeed,
the ancient laws of Ireland were called the Bechbretha, the ‘bee-judgements’. These laws included six different terms in Gaeilge for the kinds of bee swarms, the
proper ways to decide ownership of a swarm of bees, how to punish the theft of
hives or honey, how much honey a beekeeper should offer their neighbours,
and the Caithchi Bech, the
trespassing of bees.[3] Gobnait would have been familiar with these
laws, indeed they may well have been in the forefront of her mind when,as
leader of her community, she dealt with disputes that arose throughout the
valley.
Certainly
beehives only survive if the colony works together. Each member of the hive has her or his
distinct role and fulfils this role with great dedication. This is a beautiful metaphor for the idyllic community that
Gobnait is said to have fostered. The
members of the community ‘herded sheep and cows, made butter and bread, and
kept a hive of bees… it was a self-supporting settlement, including a limited
amount of metal and bronze workmanship among its craft output. Vegetables and wild berries added to their
daily fare, and their main meal they shared each evening.’[4] The invitation for us in the twenty-first
century to look at the harmonious lifestyle of this sixth century community and
ask serious questions about sustainability, ecology, food-miles, ethical
farming techniques, wise use of limited resources and issues around a lifestyle
based on radical simplicity. As women we
have a vital role to play in bringing about a new / ancient way of being in
harmony with Earth and all that relies on her for our survival.
St
Gobnait is important as an exemplar of important characteristics of a Celtic
Christian spirituality. It was Gobnait
who teaches us how to follow a vision, to trust in a dream. Folklore tells us
that an angel told Gobnait that she would find her ‘place of resurrection’ once
she came across nine white deer grazing together. Such was the power of this dream, such was
the conviction with which Gobnait believed the truth of this insight, that she
travelled across the south of Ireland, finding first three, then six, then
finally nine white deer. The trust in
her dream was exonerated and Gobnait built her community on this place of the
nine deer in what is now known as Ballyvourney, Co. Cork. How often do we ask for direction in life but
do not have the courage to step out to claim the answer? St Gobnait gives us courage to trust in our
own dreams as revelations of that which will liberate us, showing us at the
same time that we do not have to settle for less than the complete fulfillment
of our dream – it was not sufficient for Gobnait to stop after seeing three,
then six white deer, for only nine deer would truly show her that her vision
was fulfilled.
It
was said by the angel that if
St Gobnait followed this vision, she would find her place of resurrection. ‘Go
until you find nine white deer grazing,’ the angel told her. ‘It is there that
you will find your place of resurrection.’[5] One of the core archetypal images of the
early Christian Irish community was that of a (usually male) monk casting
himself off into the oceans with nothing but a wattle and skin coracle to
protect him until he landed on an unknown landmark from which the monk would
wander until he found his place of
resurrection. St Brendan and St Columba
were both such perigrini. Gobnait’s journey to Ballyvourney can similarly
be seen in this light, traversing the countryside rather than the oceans,
trusting in God to show her the final stopping place.
The idea of
finding one’s place of resurrection
comes from Abraham and his decision to leave his homeland and secure
surroundings to head off for ‘a place that I will show you’ (Gen 12:1). This story had an enormous impact on the
Celtic imagination. It became the
inspiration for untold number of Celtic saints – both men and women - to head
out into the unknown, in trust that God had a plan for each one’s life and that
a journey in faith would uncover that plan.
‘We see them moving into hermitages deep in the forest, heading off in
their coracles or currachs or walking
across the countryside in faith and expectation. Many monks found their way to Europe,
establishing communities of faith throughout the continent. The inspiration of Abraham’s journey led
Irish monks to recognise the divine call within themselves to leave the
security of home and to travel to where the spirit would lead them.’[6]
The motivation of
these women and men to wander the countryside was not to spread the news of the
Gospel; this was the end result, but not the motivating force. The effect they had on local populations
wherever they travelled was a fruit of their lives but not the object of their
lives. The reason these monks cast
themselves off into the unknown was to find their place of resurrection. ‘For
the Celtic wayfarer, the ‘place of resurrection’ was sensed as a space of deep
awareness of the harmony and wholeness of all things, as well as, quite
literally, a place in which to settle, physically and spiritually, to await the
fullness of life and experience, and to prepare for death as the gateway to new
life, the end of the old cycle and the beginning of a new.’[7]
The
connection between the eternal world and the physical is nearly unidentifiable
in a place of resurrection – as they are knitted together in an inextricable
pattern where neither can be separated from the other. The place of resurrection then is the combination of both this world
and the world beyond the veil; Ballyvourney was to be St. Gobnait’s place.
I think the core of the understanding of our place of resurrection is
around finding that stance that keeps our eyes sparkling in the service we do
and are for others. In our transient
twenty-first century, where the place of
resurrection is not necessarily located in space, it is as much an interior
place as a physical place. It may be
described as a living out of that place where our work is a joy rather than an
obligation. It is both a place of service and of
at-one-ness. It is here that ‘our deepest
gladness meets with our greatest hunger’[8]. Perhaps it can best be said that the place of resurrection is the pinnacle – ‘that place where one’s
spirit is totally whole, at home, with no longing or yearning to be anywhere
else. A place of resurrection is not only the place where one’s spirit will
resurrect from its lifeless body upon death, but also the place where that
spirit is most alive inside the living body. And I believe that a place of
resurrection is the spiritual home where one is most completely alive and able
to create, to discern, to prophesy … to be wise.’[9]
Another
feature of the community that emerged around St Gobnait that holds significance
to us as women of Celtic Christian intent is the presence of a sacred well. Perhaps Gobnait selected this particular
site, not just because of the presence of nine white deer, but because a
pre-existing well already existed in this place. Whatever this particular well’s beginnings,
it has now become a popular site for those pilgrims who come to honour St
Gobnait.
The
symbolism around sacred wells is rich and full.
At its core, Earth is the dwelling place of the goddess and water
emerging from earth is thus seen as a conduit between the realm of the goddess
beneath Earth and our own realm upon Earth.
All the major rivers in Ireland are named after Celtic goddesses[10]
for the land is feminine and rivers are the outflowing of this knowing. Wells hold a special place in the Celtic
psyche. Pilgrims continue to visit these
places, often walking ‘sunwise’[11]
three times around the well before blessing themselves with the water and
perhaps taking some water home for later use.
Dating back to pre-Christian times, wells are often situated close by a
hawthorn tree (again recognizing that the roots of the tree penetrate deep into
Mother Earth and thus touch her wisdom – to this day, no farmer attempts to
remove a hawthorn tree situated near a well, not wanting to risk disturbing or
dishonouring the deities or tuatha de
dannan who live therein.) At St
Gobnait’s sanctuary, just
next to the well, is a sturdy tree and hanging from it are hundreds of tokens
or clooties that have been placed there by pilgrims hoping to
leave behind a part of themselves as part of their veneration in this
place. Whilst my own practice is to
simply lick my hand and hold it against the tree, thus leaving part of my DNA
to mingle with the saint’s own presence, it is beautiful to look at these
ribbons left by previous pilgrims and wonder at the continuity of practice that
remains throughout the centuries.
Such traditions
as tying clooties and blessing
oneself with water from Gobnait’s sacred well speak of the depth of spiritual
wisdom to be found in this site over the past 1,300 years. It is not just the experiential nature of the
twenty-first century pilgrim that draws one to such places as Gobnait’s shrine
– the experience is vastly richer because of its connection to the spiritual ancestors
who have similarly gathered at this place where heaven and earth meet. Through the centuries people have tended her
shrine, restoring her chapel in the 12th century and again ‘in sixteen-hundreds the
wooden roof was removed to protect the structure from burning by Cromwell’s
raiders and to save the edifice from being used as a stable.’[12]
Being
at St Gobnait’s shrine invites us to enter into ritual. Ritual is transformative. Whilst there are such practices as when, on
her feast day the parish
priest brings out the statue of Gobnait, with the faithful stepping forward to
hold up their ribbons and measure them against the length and around the
circumference of the figure,[13]
ritual need not be fixed in place. The
life-giving aspect of ritual and ceremony is when it can continually be part of
the flow of co-creating, part of a constantly evolving story. Ritual and ceremony are about making
connection between self and my community, be it human, earth, spiritual or
celestial community. Good ritual is a
place of creation – we are both contributing to and receiving from the
experience that emerges as part of its enactment. ‘So often the church has us just as
receiver. We must be co-creators of this
sacred movement. We can’t just receive
because to just receive moves us towards death, not life. This has made us a traumatised species.’[14] Ritual at Gobnait’s shrine allows for such
transformation to take place.
As a scholar of
St Brigid, I am well familiar with the richness that comes from sitting with
the ambiguities of knowing her as both saint and goddess. Whilst Gobnait does not appear to have such a
tangible pagan forebear, her site is unmistakably pagan in origin. We know that when
‘“a committee of the leading men of Ballyvourney” raised the funds in 1950 to
commission a statue of St. Gobnait near the traditional site of her
sixth-century convent, their work was interrupted after significant
archaeological objects were discovered during the site preparation. The small
circular early medieval enclosure called St. Gobnait’s House was found to sit
upon the remains of some 137 forges, perhaps dating to as early as the first
few centuries CE. Thus long before St. Gobnait’s time at Ballyvourney,
the landscape would have been filled with the smoke and the din of an early
industrial site where objects of iron and bronze were manufactured.’[15] For millennia, people have lived and loved on
the site which is now known as Gobnait’s place of resurrection.
Perhaps there lingers a touch of the pagan origins of this place
in the presence of the sheela-na-gig
carved over into an oval recess in the lintel of one of the church windows. Considered a protector of the site, and less blatantly
sexual than many such sheelas, she is
standing upright, with her hands gently resting upon her abdomen and genitals. Touching
the sheila-na-gig carving is part of
the regular practice of walking the turas
around the church.
The
possible meaning behind carving sheela-na-gigs
into church architecture is varied and controversial. There are those who see the presence of sheela-na-gigs as flagrantly lewd, as ‘a shockingly crude, naked female with
splayed legs and fingers holding open a gaping vulva. Two odd breasts, one with
two nipples, a triangular Celtic head and a pipe-stem neck … whose attitude and
expression conspire to impress the grossest idea of immorality and
licentiousness.’[16] In contrast, for the scholar Maureen Concannon, the sheela-na-gig is
a pagan symbol of the Generative Mother: ‘study reveals
that the origins of the Sheela symbol lie… in ancient pre-Celtic Ireland, and
have been incorporated into subsequent cultures and religions on this island.
The source of these carvings can be traced back to a goddess religion practised
before patriarchal religions surfaced. Sheela carvings are symbols of the
Divine Hag of the Celts, the source of life, death and regeneration.’[17] Mary
Condren tells us that when a sheela-na-gig is carved over the top of the
archway leading into a church, such as at Killinaboy, Co. Clare, this is
effectively allowing the congregation to enter the church through the ‘womb’ of
the Mother Goddess.[18]
Christian women of the twenty-first century gain so
much by allowing ourselves to embrace those aspects of our spirituality that
portray characteristics of a woman as independent, strong and powerful. There is a deep need for a return to the
feminine, for reclaiming our stories that speak of transformation and renewal. This is where St Gobnait arises as an
exemplar of the strong, Christian woman.
We celebrate Gobnait as ‘a healer, faith-seeker
and pursuer of justice’[19];
so too do we honour her as visionary, as strong woman, as dreamer of visions,
leader of women, and most beautifully, do we honour her as a woman of
tenderness with her care and handling of bees.
‘In this
age, where bees need all the nurturing they can get, anyone who inspires
beekeepers to continue their amazing work has earned sainthood several times
over.’[20]
As
Easter approaches, we await the singing of the Exultet, bringing in the Easter
message of resurrection. The earliest
form of the Exultet, possibly dating back to the 4th and 5th
centuries, entering our liturgical books in the 8th century[21], includes a most
beautiful paragraph offered in praise of the bees who make the wax for the
Easter candle. Might St Gobnait have
been aware of this text? Might she have
sung these words? Indeed, might St
Gobnait have been the woman who penned them?
Among the living creatures which are
submitted to human beings, the bee holds the first place.
In spite of the tininess of its
body, it carries in its little heart a great soul.
Its strength might be feeble, but
its spirit is strong.
After being reassured that the
pleasant season has returned, after the frosts of winter have put aside their
white covering
and the gentle warmth of spring wipes away the old age of the
icy season,
Then the bee is fired with zeal to
recommence its labours.
These insects scatter after having
lightly folded their wings and they position themselves by hanging by their
legs.
A band of them gathers from the
young flowers and returns to the hive, carrying their stock.
There, other bees, with an amazing
skill, construct cells using a strong gluten;
Others gather together the liquid
honey;
Others change the flowers into wax;
Others fashion their young with
their mouth;
And others store up the nectar that
they have gathered on the leaves.
O bee, truly happy and worthy of
admiration!
The males cause no violence to their
sex,
Childbirth does not disturb them,
And their virginity is not destroyed
by giving birth,
Just as blessed Mary conceived in
her virginity
So that as a virgin she gave birth,
and remained a virgin afterwards.
Bibliography
· Buechner, Frederick. Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC. New York: HarperCollins, 1973.
· Burgoyne, Mindie. St. Gobnait – Patron of Beekeepers – County Cork. March 21st,
2017. https://thinplacestour.com/st-gobnait-patron-ballyvourney-county-cork/.
· Chaomhánach,
Eimear. The Bee, its Keeper and Produce,
in Irish and other Folk Traditions, Department of Irish Folklore. Date
unknown. http://www.ucd.ie/pages/99/articles/chaomh.pdf.
· Concannon,
Maureen. The Sacred Whore: Sheela, Goddess of the Celts. Cork:
Collins, 2004.
· Condren, Mary. The
Serpent and the Goddess: Women, Religion and Power in Celtic Ireland. San
Francisco: Harper and Row, 1989.
· Goldbaum, Howard. Balleyvourney Monastic Site, date unknown. https://voicesfromthedawn.com/ballyvourney/
· McCabe, Pat. The Hedge School Podcasts, https://www.thehedgeschool.org/the-hedge-school-podcast-pat-mccabe/
· Meehan, Bridget & Oliver, Mary Regina
Madonna. Praying With Celtic Holy Women.
Liguori: Liguori/Triumph, 2003.
· Molloy, Dara. The Globalisation of God: Celtic Christianity’s Nemesis. Inis Mor:
Aisling Arann, 2009.
· O’Riordan, Mary. St Gobnait: Patron Saint of Bees and Beekeeping, February 13th
2016. https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outdoors/gardening/st-gobnait--the-patron-saint-of-bees-andbeekeeping-381607.html.
· Pixie, Amber. Saint Gobnait – She of the Bees. February 11th 2015. https://www.pixiespocket.com/2015/02/saint-gobnait.html
accessed March 28th
2019.
· Silf, Margaret. Sacred Spaces: Stations on a Celtic Way. Oxford: Lion, 2001.
· Willcock, Christopher. Bees in the
Exultet. Sermon given at St Mark’s Anglican Church, Fitzroy, Melbourne. May
4th 2017.
[1] Bridget Mary Meehan
& Regina Madonna Oliver, Praying With
Celtic Holy Women (Liguori: Liguori/Triumph, 2003), 75.
[2] Eimear
Chaomhánach, The Bee, its Keeper and
Produce, in Irish and other Folk Traditions, Department of Irish Folklore, http://www.ucd.ie/pages/99/articles/chaomh.pdf, 7.
[3] Amber Pixie, Saint Gobnait – She of the Bees,
February 11th 2015. https://www.pixiespocket.com/2015/02/saint-gobnait.html accessed March 28th 2019.
[4] Meehan & Oliver, Praying, 75.
[5] Mindie Burgoyne, St. Gobnait – Patron of Beekeepers – County
Cork, March 21st, 2017. https://thinplacestour.com/st-gobnait-patron-ballyvourney-county-cork/ accessed March 28th
2019.
[6] Dara Molloy, The Globalisation of God: Celtic
Christianity’s Nemesis (Inis Mor: Aisling Arann, 2009), 163.
[7] Margaret Silf, Sacred Spaces: Stations on a Celtic Way
(Oxford: Lion, 2001), 93.
[8] Frederick
Buechner Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC (New York: HarperCollins,
1973), 118, 119.
[9] Burgoyne, St. Gobnait, https://thinplacestour.com/st-gobnait-patron-ballyvourney-county-cork/.
[10] For example, the River Bann is one of Ireland’s largest
rivers and its name in Irish, An Bhanna,
means ‘the goddess’. The River Boyne's
name is derived from the Irish queen and goddess Bóann. The River Erne takes its name from a mythical
princess and goddess of a tribe of people called the Érainn.
[11] The
tradition of walking ‘sun-wise’ (clockwise) around a well or as part of walking
turas arose with the arrival of
Christianity in Ireland. Before this
time, the practice was to walk around sacred sites in a counter-clockwise
direction. This was seen as the direction
to walk in which to honour the Great Goddess, the woman’s way of walking. Many Christians now consider it a curse to
walk in this opposite direction, pointing to an often-unconscious removal of
the feminine within a patriarchal church.
[12] Meehan & Oliver, Praying, 73. The example here of destroying the roof to
save the building raises interesting questions for our 21st century
pilgrim. What has to be destroyed in our
current times to protect it for the future? I would suggest that some of the
metanarratives that need to be shaken to their foundations, to have the roof
raised, are those paradigms that exist within a ‘power-over’ rather than
‘power-with’ mindset. These include the
institutional church, relationships with earth, women, refugees, other faith
traditions.
[13] Burgoyne, St. Gobnait, https://thinplacestour.com/st-gobnait-patron-ballyvourney-county-cork/.
[14] Pat McCabe, interviewed
on Sharon Blackie, The Hedge School
Podcasts, Episode 1. https://www.thehedgeschool.org/the-hedge-school-podcast-pat-mccabe/. Accessed February 1st 2019.
[15] Howard Goldbaum, Balleyvourney Monastic Site, date unknown. https://voicesfromthedawn.com/ballyvourney/ Accessed April 1st 2019.
[16] Goldbaum, Balleyvourney Monastic Site, date
unknown. https://voicesfromthedawn.com/ballyvourney/
[17] Maureen
Concannon, The Sacred Whore: Sheela, Goddess of the Celts (Cork:
Collins, 2004), 17.
[18] Mary Condren, The Serpent and the Goddess: Women, Religion
and Power in Celtic Ireland (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1989), 65.
[19] Meehan 78.
[20] Mary O’Riordan, St Gobnait: Patron Saint of Bees and
Beekeeping, February 13th 2016. https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outdoors/gardening/st-gobnait--the-patron-saint-of-bees-andbeekeeping-381607.html. Accessed April 2nd
2019
[21] Christopher Willcock, Bees in the Exultet, Sermon given at St Mark’s Anglican Church,
Fitzroy, Melbourne. May 4th 2017.
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