The Irish Abbey that Would Not Die
Mass has been celebrated at Ballintubber Abbey for 800 years despite its destruction twice
I’ve visited dozens of the gray-stone Catholic monastery and abbey ruins that haunt the Irish landscape. Some were destroyed by Vikings, others during Henry VIII’s dissolution of monasteries after he founded the Anglican Church. Still others had their lands confiscated by Oliver Cromwell’s armies in an effort to promote Puritanism. However, one abbey stands out, not for its size or its beauty, though it is compelling. It resonates because its worshipers would not let it die.
Ballintubber Abbey in County Mayo, Ireland, was founded in 1216 by Cathal Crovdearg O’Conor, the King of Connacht. After O’Conor’s death, the Annals of Connacht described him as “the king who best established peace and tranquility of all the kings of Ireland.”
The story goes that O’Conor pledged the founding of an abbey because he had been shown great kindness in his youth by a man named Sheridan in the town of Ballintubber. However, the king learned years later that the church had been mistakenly built in Baile tobair Bhrighde, Rosecommon, instead of Baile tobair Phadraig, Mayo. The king then vowed to build an abbey seven times better in Ballintubber, Mayo, and it was done.
