St. Gobnait – Patron Saint of Bees and Beekeepers

11 November 18 | Posted in Animals, Garden, Saints

St. Gobnait is a patron saint of bees and beekeepers.  Her fondness for bees suggests a calm and gentle nature. Tradition associates her with St. Abban and suggests she lived during the 6th century.

Gobnait was born in County Clare, but fled to Inis Oirr (Inisheer) the smallest of the Aran Islands to escape a family feud. There an angel appeared to her and told her to continue her journey until she should come to a place where nine deer were grazing. The angel told her this would be the “place of her resurrection.”

She traveled south in search of this place and her many stops are marked by churches and holy wells dedicated to her.  At various stages of her journey Gobnait met with deer of varying numbers but it was only when she reached Ballyvourney in County Cork that she found the nine deer.  They were grazing together on a rise overlooking the River Sullane and looking towards the Derrynasaggart Hills.  This is where she settled, died and was buried “to await her resurrection.”  The “resurrection place” is where the soul leaves the body.  Celtic lore believed the soul left the body as a bee or butterfly.

St. Abban is said to have worked with her on the foundation of the convent and placed St. Gobnait over it as abbess.  The nuns must have kept bees, since there are many stories about bees associated with the saint.  In one story she cured one of her sick nuns using honey. Many accounts exist of how St. Gobnait prevented raiders or robbers from stealing cattle.  Gobnait commanded the bees from the convent hives to drive them away. When a plague threatened the people, Gobnait walked to the village border and drew a line in the earth with her walking stick.  The pestilence halted before reaching Ballyvourney.

The local chieftains, the O’Herlihys sought her help in a border war.  One of her hives turned into a bronze helmet and the bees turned into soldiers.  The O’Herlihys handed down the bronze helmet from one generation to another until it was lost in the 1700s.  Another version has the beehive turning into a bell which then became Gobnait’s Bell.

For more on St. Gobnait:  Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland and Pixie’s Pocket.

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