|
On the 13th. September this year crowds will gather in Clonmacnois to celebrate the Annual Pattern Day. The Annual Pattern Day event has been happening for so long that no one can be sure just how old this tradition is.
In 2009 we are celebrating two significant moments in the history of this ancient and holy place. On the 14th. of September 1969 the Pattern Day Mass was celebrated for the first time in the new sanctuary which had been recently erected here. Then years later, thirty years ago now, the most distinguished visitor who ever came to Clonmacnois prayed in that same place. I refer, of course, to Pope John Paul II.
In his homily for Pattern Day Mass in 1969 Cardinal Daly, then Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, quoted words from a distinguished Irish scholar, Donnachadh ÓFloinn about Clonmacnois written just one year before. He began as follows : "Maynooth is now a hundred and seventy three years of age (This was in 1968); Clonmacnois survived six Maynooth lifetimes. When it was nearly three times as old as Maynooth is now, the Cross of Scriptures was erected. Another Maynooth lifetime passed and it was producing another work which still survives, the Book of the Dun Cow. (Clonmacnois) had passed its thousand years when Henry VIII suppressed it".
In the same article Father ÓFloinn went on to say : It would be, indeed, a great vanity were we to endeavour to restore those things which were the trappings and accidents of the old Irish world, while neglecting what was its soul and centre. The thing about the old Irish world which is most needful to revive is its holiness. Happily, this is the only restoration about which there is no uncertainty whatsoever, if only the young men and women of Ireland can be brought to believe in their destiny".
When Pope John Paul came to Ireland in 1979, we have no reason to believe, I think, that he would have been aware of these words of Father O'Floinn. However, Clonmacnois touched him in a way which would suggest that his vision and that of Father O'Floinn were very similar. After his return to Rome following his Irish visit he had the following to say : "The ruins of the monastery and of the churches speak of the life that once pulsated there. It is difficult to look on these ruins merely as a monument of the past; whole generations of Europe owe to them the light of the Gospel and the structural framework of their culture. These ruins are still charged with a great mission. They stillconstitute a challenge. Here is Ireland : at the heart of the perennial mission of the Church, which St. Patrick started".
Pilgrims who gather to celebrate the Pattern Day of 2009 are in a Clonmacnois which is significantly different from what it was forty or even thirty years ago. Over the years an immense amount of work has been done to ensure the preservation of these ancient churches and artistic monuments. Tens of thousands of visitors who come here in the summer season are introduced by competent guides to the magnificent history of Clonmacnois. In the comfort of the Visitors Centre they receive an introduction to Clonmacnois with images and words, words which are available in any one of five or six languages. The High Crosses suffering greatly in the past from acid rain and other forms of environmental damage are now safely on display in the Visitors' Centre. The manner in which the ancient churches of Clonmacnois has been expertly restored is admirable in every way.
And yet, and yet! All that has been achieved begs a question. How in fact are we responding to the questions posed by an Irish scholar and a Polish Pope? Father O'Floinn was moved by the
|
|
