Saint Dabheog is the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

and a founder of a monastery on an island in Lough Derg, a lake in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, near the town of Pettigo and shouldering the border of counties Donegal and Fermanagh. His feast day is 16 December.

Biography

Little is known about his biography but local records mention his existence as an abbot of ''Lough Derg'' in the 5th century. Healy states that Dabheog was born in Wales. He was the son of King Breca (or

Brychan Brychan ap Anlach of Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog (Brecknockshire, alternatively Breconshire) in Mid Wales. Name variations Brychan had Irish ancestry and came from Ireland to Wales, therefore his original name ...

), the great father of a host of Welsh saints. Healy, John. ''The Life and Writings of St. Patrick'', M. H Gill & Son Ltd., 1905
/ref> Dabheog is considered to be a disciple of Saint Patrick who became responsible for caring for the site known as St. Patrick's Purgatory, which was on one of the islands in the lake known as Lough Derg. He took charge of the church and hermitage in Tirhugh. There is a firmly established tradition regarding St. Dabheog, who presided over, and possibly established, the monastery on the site during the lifetime of Patrick. His name has been associated from early centuries with several places in the area: St. Dabheoc's Chair on the south bank of Lough Derg, the townland of Seedavoc (St. Dabheoc's Seat), and a mountain in that townland, Seavadog Mountain. One of the islands in Lough Derg was also named after him: St. Dabheoc's Island, which may have been Saints Island. Many of the modern Catholic pilgrimage rituals at Lough Derg are focused on devotion to St. Dabheog: including the short hike to a pre-Christian

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

burial site (known as Dabheog's Chair or Seat) on a hill overlooking Lough Derg, and the meditation upon one of the beehive cells on Station Island which is dedicated to the saint.McGuinne, Joseph: "St. Patrick's Purgatory: Lough Derg", page 18. Columba Press, 2003 One of the boats which transports pilgrims to Station Island is named after Dabheog, as well as the valley overlooking

Lough Erne Lough Erne ( , ) is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is the second-biggest lake system in Northern Ireland and Ulster, and the fourth biggest in Ireland. The lakes are widened sections of the River E ...

. The Clan McGrath, who were the Coarbs (hereditary overseers) of Lough Derg from the 13th-17th century, consider Dabheog as their patron saint. Dabheog is also known by the following aliases: Dabeoc, Davog, Davoc, Daboc, Beoc, Mobeoc, Mobheog, Daveoc, Daveog. This variation is due to the lack of standardization in the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

and the ambiguity of the saint's historical origins. The plant name ''

Daboecia ''Daboecia'' , or St. Dabeoc's heath, is a small genus of flowering plants in the family (biology), family Ericaceae, containing two evergreen shrubs, closely related to the genus ''Erica (plant), Erica''. They are native plant, native to cliffs ...

'' has been given to St. Dabheog's heath.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dabheog 5th-century Christian saints 5th-century Irish abbots Medieval saints of Ulster People from County Donegal