Even in the land of saints and scholars, we tend to get rush from St. Brigid’s Day to St. Valentine’s Day without a thought for St. Gobnait’s feast day on February 11th. She isn’t a household name around the world like St. Patrick and you won’t find her image on Irish gifts, but Gobnait is still beloved throughout the province of Munster. Local communities in Clare, Kerry and Cork particularly have their own traditions for honoring her and she has interesting connections to Spring, Bees & Shamrocks
We don’t know much about her, but many Irish saints, her stories involve travelling. The descendant of a high king, Gobnait was born in the fifth or sixth century in County Clare. Fleeing a feud, she moved to Inis Oirr in the Aran Islands. According to legend, an angel appeared to her there and told her to travel inland and stay in a place marked by nine white deer. She found them in what is now the village of Ballyvourney in County Cork. We can trace the route she took as it is marked by a series of holy wells and churches dedicated to her.
She lived the rest of her life in Ballyvourney, where, with help from her brother Abban, she founded a convent. Gobnait spent her life caring for the sick and keeping bees. She used honey in many of her treatments, and she is credited with protecting the area from the plague.
Bees were very important in medieval Ireland. People believed that when someone died, their soul left their body and took the form of a bee. Honey and milk was a popular drink, and people cooked with honey and used it as a condiment. Brehon law detailed the value of a hive of bees and the compensation due if a bee stung someone or if someone killed a bee.
The Saint and the Bees
Bees were very important in medieval Ireland. People believed that when someone died, their soul left their body and took the form of a bee. Honey and milk was a popular drink, and people cooked with honey and used it as a condiment. Brehon law detailed the value of a hive of bees and the compensation due if a bee stung someone or if someone killed a bee.
But Gobnait’s bees were exceptional. Legend tells us that she trained them to attack people and that sometimes they even took the form of soldiers. Gobnait, like Ireland’s most famous and beloved women in history, didn’t suffer fools and tolerated very little nonsense. She was a humble, modest person, but don’t annoy her by mistreating others.
Spring is the perfect time to honor a saint associated with bees. Without bees, we wouldn’t have some of the vital symbols that adorn Irish gifts. From Belleek’s gorgeous pieces with floral motifs to the Tree of Life, Irish imagery is very focused on nature. Traditional Aran knitting features stitches inspired by nature such as the tree of life stitch, moss stitch and of course the honeycomb stitch. We wouldn’t even have shamrock without the pollinators.
Spare a thought for St. Gobnait and the bees in the spring. She’s the patron saint of bees and beekeepers. She shares the role of patron saint of bees with St. Valentine, making February a pretty big deal for the little pollinators. Gobnait is also the patron saint of iron workers.
You might also know this Irish saint by the names Deborah, as Gobnait is an Irish version of that name, or inexplicably as Abigail.