LOUGH Derg has been designated as one of Ireland’s three pilgrimage sites for the Jubilee Year of Hope.
St Patrick’s Purgoatory was named alongside Knock Shrine and Croagh Patrick as the national pilgrimage site for the jubilee celebrations throughout 2025, during last week’s Irish Bishop’s Conference in Maynooth.
The Donegal holy site, located on Station Island close to the Fermanagh border, is Ireland’s most ancient place of pilgrimage and attracts thousands of visitors each year.
As the legend goes, St Patrick, while on a quest to convert the Irish to Christianity, was sent a vision of a cave on Station Island that was said to the be an entrance to Purgatory. It was said that by showing this gateway to the people, they would believe all he said.
At last week’s Spring 2025 General Meeting of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the gathered bishops praised prior of Lough Derg, La Flynn, as well as Fr John Kenny, administrator of Westport Parish where Croagh Patrick, and Fr Richard Gibbons, parish priest and recotr of the International Eucharistic and Marian Shrine and Knock.
The three clerics were commended for the creation of the concept of the ‘Pilgrim’s Passport’, which encourages visits to all three of the national pilgrimage sites during the Jubilee Year of Hope.
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