Croagh Patrick oratory was erected 119 years ago
By Tom Gillespie
‘THE Oratory on the Mountain’, by John C. Boyne, was published in The Connaught Telegraph on Saturday, August 3, 1940.
It read: Crowning the summit of Croagh Patrick, high above the sea, there stands a little concrete structure which for 35 years (in 1940) has braved the western storms.
Alone and lonely for most of the year, an empty shell with four bare walls, sloping roof and simple altar, it wakes to vibrant life on the last Sunday in July, when thousands of pilgrims climb the steep height to honour Ireland’s holy Patron.
Charles O’Malley of Westport, one of the 15 workers responsible for building the historic little church, told the simple, but graphic story of its construction.
To Canon MacDonald, P.P., of Newport - recently deceased - goes credit for the achievement: the workers were from Westport and district, and most of the material used was obtained locally. The plans were designed by a Dublin firm.
In 1905, during the driest and finest summer in living memory, the church was built, taking approximately four months to complete.
Broken stones and gravel mixed into a strong concrete formed the materials for the walls and roof. The cement, brought from Westport - about six miles away - was taken up the mountain by donkeys; sometimes when no donkeys were available the men carried up large quantities upon their backs.
The largest single load taken up at any one time was the inscription stone, weighing three hundredweight.
Work on the rocky crust of the mountain soon yielded a sound foundation.
While clearing under the east gable, the workers were startled to find human bones laying about one foot below the surface. They carefully gathered them together and reburied them beneath a concrete slab.
For nearly three months during the construction, Mr. O’Malley and the contractor - the late Mr. H. Heneghan of Louisburgh - slept on top of the mountain, coming ‘back to earth’ on Saturday evenings and returning on Sundays.
Every morning at 8 a.m. the workmen arrived with food and drink for the two ‘hermits’ and the work proceeded steadily until dusk.
Living on the exposed plateau of the Reek provided plenty of thrills. The habitat was a small wooden hut covered with felt and divided into two cubicles, each containing a small bed. Sometimes, during the night, a strong gale of wind would rise, sweeping across the bare peak with terrific force.
Shivering in the cold and fearful of being blown down the long slope into island-dotted Clew Bay, they would place heavy stones about the hut and take turns at watching until the storm died away.
The biggest job of all was putting on the roof. Three steel principals formed the main portion, and these were carried up in sections and assembled on site.
Following this the proper quantities of concrete were measured out, turned three times and finally mixed with water. Such work is not unduly hard when performed on ground level, and with an ample supply of water at hand, but the workers on Croagh Patrick had to scramble more than halfway down the west side of the mountain for every drop of water required, and their troubles often increased when, in spite of the fine weather, a great blanket of fog would suddenly obscure the rough track and wet the ‘water men’ to the skin.
But in spite of all these difficulties the roof was actually erected in two days, the large door was fitted and the altar set into position. It was rough and heavy going for the whole four months, but the building was completed without accident.
Previous to 1905, Mass was celebrated in a small stone hut covered with a corrugated iron sheet. With the opening and blessing of the new oratory, an increasing number of pilgrims visited the holy spot, and Rev. Canon MacDonald celebrated the first Mass in that year.
Of the 15 men who took part, 12 were alive in 1940, and Mr. Charles O’Malley, then 57 years of age, looked forward to climbing the Reek for the 28th time on Sunday, July 28, 1940.