Day 4: St. Ciaran’s Monastery (Clonmacnoise), Homecoming & Galway

By friar Bob Roddy, OFM Conv.

We left Dublin today and journeyed to the ruins of a monastery, university and church founded by St. Ciaran (Kieran) on the banks of the Shannon River in the Irish Midlands in County Offaly in 545. Tragically, St. Ciaran died young (30), but his influence through this monastic center lasted for centuries more. The site has numerous ruins on it including many old and contemporary burial sites. St. John Paul II visited this site on his trip to Ireland in 1979.

The site was situated on a major crossroads of the Shannon River and the Eischir Riada, the major East-West land route across the island. Because of its location it often came under attack from the Vikings and later the British.

There are three high crosses on this site, though the outdoor crosses are copies of the originals, which are housed in a very nice visitors center. According to the guidebook, the site is the home to the largest collection of early Christian grave slabs in western Europe.

After a short tour with an Office of Public Works Guide, we headed to Athlone, a small city of 21,000, for lunch at Gertie Browne’s pub. The short visit to Athlone was particularly meaningful for me as this was the departure point for my great grandfather, John C. Roddy, and his brother, Patrick Roddy, when they left Ireland for the United States sometime around our Civil War. As I gazed at the town and the church, which was probably built long after my great-grandfather and great uncle had left Ireland, I couldn’t help feeling a bit of nostalgia. “What would it have been like for them to say good-bye to family and friends and make a new life for themselves in a fairly new country?

We arrived in Galway for Mass at St. Mary’s Church and after Mass settled in our hotel for the evening. After dinner, a few of us went in search of live music in one of the local pubs, but alas, Tuesday is not a prime night for music. An Arts Festival is in progress here right now, so the streets are full of people from all over the world.

SS Peter and Paul Church, Athlone, County Westmeath.

My good friend, Len Browne and myself posing in front of Gertie Browne’s pub in Athlone.

St. Mary’s Church, Claddagh. This church is served by the Dominican Friars.

Our group enjoying a drink at a local pub after dinner.

Friar Blogs, friar Bob Roddy, OFM Conv.

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