In St Patrick's Footsteps

SLANE AND THE HILL OF TARA

The story has different versions, but one of the most dramatic is that recounted by the Irish scribe Muirchu Moccu Machteni, a 7th-century priest in the Armagh archdiocese. He had read an early version of St Patrick's Confessio, and wrote a Life of Patrick sometime between or about 661 and 700 AD - though he modestly admitted his shortcomings as a biographer. Nevertheless his work became part of the priceless 9th-century manuscript of the Book of Armagh. It was Muirchu who claimed that Patrick first landed on the coast at Wicklow on his missionary journey to Ireland, and later that he had sought a reconciliation with his old slave-master Miliucc at Slemish. It was also Muirchu who wrote the vivid story of Patrick's encounter with the pagan King Laoghaire at Tara.

He describes how Patrick and his followers travelled at Easter to the great plain of Brega, near the royal palace at Tara. They lit a huge fire on the Hill of Slane to the north of Tara, and in the context of the story this was symbolic of the Biblical 'burning bush', as Patrick and his companions worshipped God in the full view of the forces of darkness.

This was in direct defiance of the King who had decreed that no-one could light a fire before he had done so….The King and his retinue were aware of what Patrick represented, and concluded rightly that this fire of 'divine' origin was a threat to their way of life. The King's druidical advisers warned him that unless the fire was put out immediately "it will never be extinguished at all." This was indeed to be a trial of strength which would determine the future of Christianity in Ireland.

final part of extract from Slane and the Hill of Tara>>. Extracted from In St Patrick's Footsteps by Alf McCreary, published by Appletree Press.