The Legend of St. Patrick's Purgatory: Tales of Ireland's Ancient Pilgrimage Site

For over a thousand years Lough Derg, County Donegal, Ireland, has been a place of pilgrimage, where the faithful come to walk in the footsteps of Ireland's beloved patron saint. Legend says that it was here St. Patrick spent forty days and nights in prayer and fasting and faced many temptations. In the end, he was given a vision of Purgatory that he might share with the Irish people. Throughout the centuries pilgrims came to Lough Derg, and after intense fasting and constant prayer, were led into Patrick's "Purgatory"-the cave where he prayed-and left there over night with hopes of achieving a vision. Although the cave has long since been filled in, pilgrims still visit Lough Derg to this day. In The Legend of St. Patrick's Purgatory, originally published in 1917, Shane Leslie has collected several tales surrounding the ancient pilgrimage site.