Gobnait

Saint Gobnait (Gobnat, in the Anglo-⁠Norman tradition Abigail or Deborah), venerable, was an early medieval Irish saint who founded a convent at Ballyvourney in County Cork. She is the patron of beekeepers and of the sick and is commemorated on 11 February.

Her life according to tradition

She was born in County Clare at the end of the fifth century or the beginning of the sixth. According to some Kerry traditions her father was a pirate, and according to others she was the sister of Saint Abban. Fleeing a family feud, she took refuge on the island of Inisheer in the Aran Islands, where, according to tradition, she was the only woman allowed. There an angel appeared and told her that she would not remain on the island and that she should look for a place where she would find nine white deer grazing together. She found the deer at the place now called Saint Gobnet's Wood and founded a convent there, of which she became abbess, according to tradition on the advice of Saint Abban.

Celtic belief held that the soul of a dead person leaves the body as a bee or a butterfly. Gobnait took up beekeeping, founded a community and devoted her days to helping the sick. It is said that she used honey as a remedy.

Miracles

Several miracles are attributed to her. At Ballyvourney she is said to have healed the sick of plague and driven the epidemic from the village. She chased a brigand who wished to steal cattle with a swarm of bees, and the frightened thief fled and returned everything he had taken. It is told that when invaders were building the castle of Carrigaphooca she threw a stone at the wall and brought it down, and the conquerors were forced to withdraw. Near Ballyagran stands her well, with healing power, where it is said that a white stag can sometimes be seen. Rounds were made at this well until around 1870.

Veneration

In 1601 Pope Clement VIII granted a special indulgence to those who on her day visited the parish church, went to confession and communion and prayed for peace among Christian princes. She was a patron of ironworkers, and excavations at Ballyvourney have yielded evidence of ironworking. She is among the Irish saints venerated not only locally but throughout the country, especially in the south. The main centres of devotion are Inis Oírr (Aran Islands), Dún Chaoin in West Kerry and Ballyvourney near the border of Cork and Kerry. She is depicted in a stained glass window of the Honan Chapel in Cork, made by Harry Clarke, and her name survives in places called Kilgobnet, meaning church of Gobnait.