By Mike Cuffe
St. Patrick, primary patron saint of Ireland, took on profound meaning when we walked in his footsteps, kneeled in his first church in Ireland, drew water from his well, and breathed in his centuries old Evangelism.
Hey!! Just like any 75-year-old grandson of Irish immigrants, I always took pride in the legends of St. Patrick and the grand American celebrations each year on March 17.
We finally made the trip home to the old sod across the Atlantic in late summer 2022 to include an ancestor-chasing tour of the Emerald Isle. On our fourth day out of Dublin we came across Cuffe Car Sales and Repair based in Belcarra, Castlebar, County Mayo. The young grandson of the founder, seemed to know little about his ancestry, but he did direct us to a cemetery several kilometers into the countryside.
Each cemetery has a directory near the entry gate, and this one soon led us to another Cuffe burial plot of relatively recent time. A pile of tumbled rock overgrown with bushes and briars was the ruins of a church founded by St. Patrick. The mounds outside the fence were ancient Druid burials; pretty darned interesting, almost by itself worth the trip.
The young Cuffe of the car dealership had also told of a nearby pub and café. We found it and the most exciting part of our trip at Ballintubber Abbey, where St. Patrick first located after entering Ireland. Initially the attention getter was an elaborate and ornate burial site of Mick Cuffe, popular and well-known singer, guitarist, and entertainer… Well, yes, I think so, but believe what you want. Same last name in the same county my Grandfather had left in the 1880s.
In gold-gilded letters, the headstone for Mick listed his death as Sept. 13, 2002, at the age of 50. I knew the name from Internet research but had not expected to see the grave!
My wife JoAn and I were starving and crossed the road to lunch with a Guinness. The real deal! Meanwhile, our daughter Molly Jo took an extended wander around Ballintubber Abbey. (An Abbey is a place to house monks or nuns.)
Molly took pains to arrange B and B accommodations on our journey. She drove her parents in a rental car on narrow lanes, skimming past rock walls and large tractors, and whistling through what seemed like wrong way roundabout intersections on the left side of the road. We were impressed and proud of the worldly little freckle-faced redhead we brought into this world.
With face aglow, Molly Jo hurried to our table in the pub. She announced we had come to Ground Zero: The first place, the site of the first Roman Catholic Cathedral—the beginning of Christianity in Ireland—exactly where St. Patrick had begun his Mission in Ireland. Where he had used a three leafed sprig of clover to illustrate the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, All in One.
In addition to the beginning of his mission and the construction of a large stone Cathedral, there was more, exciting more, which we must come see. Our 50-year-old daughter, a devotee of Yoga and world traveler, was almost breathless with excitement, insistent but forcing a casual approach past the remains of Mick Cuffe and toward the Cathedral, the underground nativity scene, office, gift store and staff.
Unable to hold the suspense longer, she finally told us she had felt compelled to follow a path through a gate, past a friendly flock of sheep peacefully grazing in a pasture. The dirt path led to a spring on a hillside. It had been dug out Centuries earlier, lined with stones and stone steps with a small stream tumbling down into a meadow.
A sign explained that this is where St. Patrick had obtained water for his first Christian rituals and Baptisms. We dipped water from the spring as a gentle shower began. We were filled with a marvelous spirit, especially realizing Druids had used the spring prior to the arrival of St. Patrick in the year of our Lord, 411, AD. Furthermore, we were in awe, soon to be soaked with increasing rainfall, when Pauline, the kind manager, came running across the field with raincoats, umbrellas, laughter and more information.
There is more to see and do and feel and experience at Ballintubber Abbey. The staff, each one, was so kind, so gentle, so understanding and informative. We were in a very special zone of wonder and awe. Yet, in such a simple, fundamental place, like a Babe in a manger, to see St. Patrick’s spring, in a field of grazing sheep, three pilgrims on a journey who found more than they could imagine.
Molly Jo hosted her parents on this journey, our “Quest for Roots.” We visited small churches and huge cathedrals, pubs, a castle, the Famine Museum, The Waterford Crystal Factory and Waterford home of Thomas Meagher. Meagher was a famed Irish orator and a leader of the Young Irish Uprising of 1847 and eventual governor of Montana Territory. We also visited my grandmother’s lovely Dingle Bay, grandfather’s beautiful hills of County Mayo, music, and so much more.
I soaked in great understanding of my roots, but “The Spirit of St. Patrick” spoke to each of us in a unique and unforgettable way. Go see for yourself! MSN
