Saint Gobnait (fl. 6th century?), also known as Gobnat or Mo Gobnat or Abigail or Deborah, is the name of an early medieval female Irish saint whose church was Móin Mór, later Bairnech, in the village of Ballyvourney (Irish: Baile Bhuirne), County Cork in Ireland.

She is associated with the Múscraige and her church and convent lay on the borders between the Múscraige Mittine and Eóganacht Locha Léin. Her feast day is February 11.

Gobnait was born in County Clare in the fifth or sixth Century, and is said to have been the sister of Saint Abban. She fled a family feud, taking refuge in Inisheer in the Aran Islands.

Here an angel appeared and told her that this was "not the place of her resurrection" and that she should look for a place where she would find nine white deer grazing. She found the deer at the place now known as St. Gobnet's Wood. Saint Abban is said to have worked with her on the foundation of the convent and to have placed Saint Gobnait over it as abbess.

Celtic lore held bees in high esteem, believing the soul left the body as a bee or a butterfly. Gobnait is said to have added beekeeping to her life's work, developing a lifelong affinity with them. She started a religious order and dedicated her days to helping the sick. It has been speculated that she used honey as a healing aid. She is credited with saving the people at Ballyvourney from the plague.

Legends

One story tells of how she drove off a brigand by sending a swarm of bees after him and making him restore the cattle he had stolen.

Some traditions associate her with the legendary saint Latiaran, the patroness of a sacred well in Cullen, making them two of three sisters.

St Gobnait's well

St Gobnait's well is situated to the north of Ballyagran in a high field to the left of the road to Castletown. Rounds were made and a pattern was held on 11 February until around 1870. The well has now dried up but the site is still known. It is said that a white stag could sometimes be seen at the well. There is also a well in Dún Chaoin County Kerry and is visited on 11 February every year by locals.

DID YOU KNOW Saint Gobnait?

Feast day: 11th February.

Other names: Gobnaid, Gobnad, Abigail and Deborah.

In old Brehon law, they wrote the bee-judgements ('bechbretha') in the seventh century. These covered all sorts of issues to do with bees. For example, what to do if bees trespassed, how to decide who owned bees, how to punish bee or honey theft, and how much honey a beekeeper should offer their hours. It is always important to have good manners. In modem Ireland, there are well over 2,000 beekeepers with 2,000 colonies of honeybees!

in a Co. Kerry version of the story, Gobnait's father was a pirate who came Shore at Ventry (Fionntraigh) in Co. Kerry. However, there's not much evidence for this version.

Some deer are white due to 'leucism', which causes the hair and skin to lose their natural colour. White deer were considered to be messengers from the Otherworld in some Celtic myths. The white deer that Gobnait saw would have actually been the red deer species with leucism.

Bees taste not only with their tongue, jaws and antennae, but with their front feet! They beat their wings approximately 11,400 times every minute - that is what makes the buzzing sound. As well as making honey and wax...

Crosswords

TASK

Bee friendly ideas! Plant flowers that bees especially like, such as lavender and sunflowers, or leave a section of your garden wild so dandelions can grow (they provide essential bee food). For more of a challenge, build a 'bee hotel' for solitary bees!

Crossword solutions

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