Days 16 & 17:
Glendalough
Glendalough is an ancient medieval monastic city situated in
a gorgeous glacial valley. The ruins of the city are well preserved, as is much
of the cemetery that surrounds and intermingles with the stone structures. St.
Kevin founded this monastery at some point in the 6th century.
St. Kevin had given his life to God. He lived bouncing between
a stone beehive structure on a ledge overlooking the Upper Lake of Glendalough
and in a cave also over looking this body of water. St. Kevin, as most saints,
was kind of a strange dude. There are stories of him standing in the icy cold
lake up to his neck and praying for hours. And as legend has it, a woman who
was in love with him (supposedly he loved her too, but wait for the end of the
story and you be the judge) made romantic advances toward him and his response
was to throw himself into a bed of nettles and then beat his would be lover
back with nettle branches. Like I said, a weird dude.
It is also said that St. Kevin befriended a monster from one
of the two lakes in the city. Some have wondered if this befriending of a monster
was metaphorical to embracing or accepting his dark side. So, ultimately
accepting his strangeness or perhaps his humanness. This is why I love stories
about saints because they are hardly ever what we commonly think of as saintly.
I love that the stories of saints challenge the concept that a holy person must
be pious, as it is my experience that piety is the enemy of holiness.
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