Saint Athracht of Killaraght
The eleventh of August in the Orthodox Church is the feast-day of Saint Athracht, a compassionate Irish holy woman of the sixth century. A contemporary and disciple of Saint Padrig of Ireland who received the monastic tonsure at his hands, Saint Athracht is best-known for her corporal works of mercy for the poor. She established a hostel at her monastery of Killaraght which served primarily travellers, pilgrims and the homeless.
Saint Athracht [also Adhracht, Aracht, Attracta or Atty] was born to noble parents, traditionally in County Sligo. Her name probably has little to do with the Latin verb attrahere (though the accounts of her life agree that she was very beautiful in her youth), instead deriving from a Gælic word of unknown origin. Athracht was captivated by the Gospel from her very early youth, and desired a life of contemplation. She delighted in almsgiving, and generously gave to the poor; and she also fasted with tenacity during the periods when it was demanded. When she came of age, she was sought as a bride by a number of men, something which pleased her father greatly but which did not please her. Her father sought to have her married off profitably; however, Saint Athracht desired to embark on the monastic life.
Ultimately she left her father’s house – whether or not with his blessing is unclear – in the company of two other women, and sought out a place where they might live in holy seclusion. At first, they made a small monastic cell in the south of Connacht, not far from where her father lived. However, they were forced to move; and Saint Athracht led them to the place which now bears her name: Killaraght on Lough Gara. She established a monastic cell here, and also another in Drum (now near Boyle) in County Roscommon. Both of these cells grew into major convents.
Legend has it that it was Saint Padrig himself who tonsured Saint Athracht as a nun, and indeed helped her to found the monastery at Lough Gara. It is written that as Saint Padrig had consecrated her to holy virginity, a wimple descended from heaven and lit on his chest. He took this wimple and asked her to wear it lifelong as a sign and blessing from God. Athracht, in her humility, felt herself unworthy of such a blessing and was deeply reluctant and resistant to receive it, and it was only with much persuasion from Padrig that she consented to wear it.
In addition to these two, where Saint Athracht lived and was made patroness, she was also involved in establishing monastic cells and churches throughout her area of northwestern Ireland, in Counties Sligo and Galway. Her preference was to found such religious houses at or near crossroads, for the greater benefit of travellers and the homeless who found themselves on the road. She instructed her nuns, as she did herself, to keep the doors of their enclosures flung wide to welcome within strangers and the poor, and she devoted much of her attention to feeding them, healing them and praying for them. By her prayers, which were always spoken in great humility and poverty of spirit, she was able to work wonders. She healed people who were crippled or paralysed, and even raised a drowned man from the dead. In another story, she made the sign of the Cross and fended with her staff, and thus destroyed a ravening beast which was stealing the livestock and terrorising the countryside around Lugna.
Her main monastic house, at Killaraght, was no exception to this rule. It became renowned as a hostel, a hospitable house for pilgrims and the indigent. Saint Athracht was deeply loved by the people of western Ireland, and on account of her gentle spirit and wise advice she was sought out for all manner of help from the common folk – and all of it she gave willingly and in a spirit of humility. Athracht had all the marks of an anchoress after the ‘desert’ type, being meek and self-effacing, but also gentle and joyful of spirit. She was especially kind to the poor, and took them in as a mother would for as long as they needed – she listened with patience to their woes and did all within her power to heal them and advocate on their behalf.
Before her blessed repose in the Lord sometime in the sixth century, Saint Athracht firmly and stringently enjoined her sisters in Christ to continue unbroken and on a permanent basis her practice of radical hospitality and solidarity with the poor. Thus the Killaraght cloister served as a hostel for centuries, from her repose up until the Reformation; it gained and kept this reputation as per Saint Athracht’s request, for nearly a thousand years. The church at Killaraght kept and venerated for the same time the cross and the cup of Saint Athracht.
Saint Athracht has a holy well, Tober Adhracht, in her home parish of Killaraght, and a number of holy well dedications besides throughout County Sligo and County Galway, and she is the patroness of Tourlestrane in County Sligo as well as Lough Gara. At her well in Clogher, it is said that she banished from the well a serpent which lived nearby, so that the stones around her holy well there are called ‘serpent’s eggs’. At another of her holy wells, at Kiltura, there is a ‘marriage stone’ with an aperture through it, where lovers and married couples in older times would clasp hands through the hole and swear fidelity to each other. The folk traditions or ‘patterns’ which sprang up at these holy wells were a form of popular devotion by Irish people for their saints that persist down to the present day. Holy and venerable Athracht, steadfast aid of travellers and generous friend of the poor, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!
Saint Attracta’s Church, Killaraght, Ireland
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