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Ireland's Holy Wells County-by-County

Wells of County Monaghan

St Dymphna,  Caldavnet, by Tydavnet August 10, 2009.jpg

Opening to St Dymphna's Well

St Dymphna's Well

St Dymphna's Well is in In a pasture in Caldavnet with a stone enclosing structure topped with a decorative smithed sign of the site's name with metal shamrocks, a "Celtic cross" and a St Brigid's cross. Behind the well is a stone altar for outdoor masses and a stone surround with a niche for the saint's statue.

The waters are thought to cure all sicknesses, particularly nervous disorders and peace of mind for those who have endured abuse and incest.
The pattern day is 15 May.
One version of the many prayers to St Dymphna:
O God, we humbly beseech you through your servant Saint Dymphna, who sealed with her blood the love she bore you, to grant relief to those who suffer from mental afflictions and nervous disorders, especially (mention the afflicted person). Saint Dymphna, helper of the mentally afflicted, pray for us. Saint Dymphna, comforter of the despondent, pray for us. Saint Dymphna, renowned for many miracles, please pray for us. Follow with one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be.

Intentions brought to St Dymphna's well were formerly brought for nine days in a row in a novena.

Jaundice Well or St. Patrick's Well

The name of the well in English is the "Jaundy Well" or Jaundice Well. Its name in Irish is the Greallach Bui Mór. The well is also associated with St. Patrick. The well is located in the townland of Drumcru, near Stone Bridge, in the Parish of Clones, County Monaghan. It's a large spring surrounded by whitethorn, hazel, alder and rowan trees.

The well is thought to cure jaundice and skin conditions. One says three Aves and three Paters, and three Glorias and wash the afflicted area with the water. If people had jaundice, there was a peculiar tradition associated with it where they took off their shirt and washed it in the water and then drank as much water until vomiting. In nine days, they would be cured.

There was no particular pattern for the well; people just went as needed.

It is believed that Saint Patrick stopped there for a rest when he was fleeing Slemish. His shirt had gotten dirty on the way and he took it off and washed it in the waters. Later on, when he returned to Ireland, he baptised the local people in the well.

This information was gleaned from folk tradition as it was passed on to Seáinín Mac Brádaigh.

St John's or St Anne's Well

This well has many names. It went by St John's Well after the pattern day, St Anne's well, after the church that was there before the English, and it was also known, the contributor thinks but can't be sure, as Tobbernannny.  According to the contributor's grandmother, it was associated with many saints: St Tiarnach, St Laobhain, and St Croonan.

It's found in the townland of Annaghkilly in the County of Monaghan near the bridge of Annalore. It is only a wet patch in the middle of a field now, it has been disused for many years. There is a stone imprint of the Saint's hand in the field.

It has the cure of skin complaints, toothache and head pain. The pattern was on St John's Eve, but people went to it when they needed it.  Supposedly, there was a bush where people left rags.  As far as prayer rounds and stations, visitors were thought to just say a prayer and blessed themselves.

There are conflicting stories about the well. One has it that St. Tiarnach blessed the waters. Another one has it that either St. Croonan or St. Laobhin were looking for a place to found a monastery and came to the ford at the River Finn. An old leper man stood on a stone in the middle of the river and guided people across safely in return for food. The saint was guided across kindly by the man who refused to take a payment for his services, and the saint walked back across the water to him and took him by the arm and the hand. The saint guided the man up to the well, and the saint put his hand on the stone and took some water and poured it into the stone. He annointed the leper,  who was cured.

The saint then went on and, in St. Croonan's case, founded the monastery of Killycoonagh nearby.  St. Laobhins, with night falling, asked for a sign from God to where he should found his monastery. There was a woody bog in that place then, and it was difficult to pass, but a strange light appeared in the sky over the hill where the bog was, and by its light, the saint was able to find his way through the bog to the hill of Killeevan where he founded the monastery of Killeevan. In either case, the monasteries always kept lepers at the bridge of Annalore and fed and clothed and looked after them until all the lepers were cured hundreds of years later.

The other story is from the time of Cromwell. There was a priest of Killeevan, Father Eamonn Mulligan, who, when he heard English soldiers were coming, went to the chapel of Killeevan to save the Blessed Sacrament. Having saved it, he was hiding the statues when a woman, all covered in black, arrived at the church and told Father Mulligan that the priest of St. Annes had been hung, and there was no one to save the Blessed Sacrament there. Father Mulligan went to Analore and consumed the Holy Communion. He was just coming out the door when he saw a group of Cromwell's soldiers standing at the gate of the church. The soldiers dragged Father Mulligan out of the church and tortured him and drowned him in the well. They threw his body in the church and set the building on fire. The woman in black who had watched from a distance saw it all and went to tell MacMahon who was the Lord here at the time that the soldiers were near and he better scarper. She came to his house at Lough Roosky and found that Mac Mahon was praying in his chapel in our townland of Killykeskeame, but the soldiers followed her and destroyed the church there too, but MacMahon escaped.

Wells of County Monaghan