Saint Gobnait is the patroness or saint of bees and bee keepers

[dragonyphoenix]

Saint Gobnait is the patroness or saint of bees and bee keepers. February 11th is St. Gobnait’s feast day -the day the memorable life of Saint Gobnait is celebrated. Saint Gobnait founded a religious community for women, performed memorable – some say miraculous works, A tall statue of St. Gobnait that was erected in the 1950s stands near the monastic site in Bally-
vourney, Co. Cork, southwest Ireland (in photo). She appears with a nun’s habit standing on a bee hive surrounded by bees.

There are several legends recalling Gobnait forcing invaders and thieves out of Ballyvourney by setting swarms of bees upon them. See stained glass artwork representations of these events (in photo). It’s is believed that Gobnait had a close relationship with bees and used honey in healing efforts, as she is best known for her care of the sick.

She is one of the few Irish saints that is not only remembered in her native region, but has been proclaimed by the Irish bishops to be a national saint. There are shrines and places of devotion to St. Gobnait in all the places she is believed to have stopped on her journey - including Inis Oírr. But Ballyvourney, where she carried out most of her ministry, is the place that draws the greatest number of pilgrims devoted to this saint.

Bechbretha: an Old Irish law-tract on bee-keeping from the seventh century AD
(modern translation by ed. Thomas Charles-Edwards and Fergus Kelly - 1983)
Bechbretha ‘bee-judgements’ provides a detailed account of early Irish law relating to bee-keeping, and covers such topics as ownership of swarms [ According to Eva Crane the laws "display a detailed knowledge of the sequence of swarms that could issue from a colony in the course of the summer", listing 7 Welsh terms for the types of swarms, and 6 in Irish. (the world history of beekeeping and honey hunting)], theft of bee-hives, Caithchi Bech ‘trespass-penalties of bees’, and neighbours' entitlements to honey from a beekeeper. The author also refers to the law-case which resulted from the blinding by a bee-sting of the eye of the Ulster king Congal Cáech, who died in 637. On linguistic and historical grounds, the editors date this remarkably well-preserved text to the seventh century AD. This volume includes a description of the manuscripts, linguistic and legal introductions, an account of early Irish bee-keeping, a restored text with translation, and textual notes. The appendixes contain other Irish legal texts relating to bee-keeping, as well as Medieval Welsh legal material on this topic.

The Irish Beekeepers' Association was formed in 1881, April 21.



From Ethnobeeology
 

Comments

[maramcreates]

This was a pretty interesting read. I was surprised to see that such a saint existed, though I'm not sure why (honey and bees were just as important in the 6th century as now, if not more so).
Out of curiosity, is your interest in this due to the bees, saints, or both/something else?

[dragonyphoenix]

My interest is complex. I used to make mead, well I tried to. So there is an interest in honey from a mead-making PoV. But I also once read a comment - I wish I remember where - that claimed that Saint Gobnait and Saint Bridget were once one and the same. When I was in a Celtic based Pagan group, I did feel an affinity for Bridget as a Goddess.

[maramcreates]

Ah! I *totally* forgot about the whole mead connection with honey.

Regarding the Saint Gobnait and Saint Bridget relation:
I decided to see if I could find anything, and discovered quite a few sources when I used Brigid instead of Bridget. Here's a link to my DuckDuckGo search results.

[dragonyphoenix]

Cool. The Roaringwater Journal associates Gobnait with blacksmithing, which was also a thing of Brigid's although this post doesn't mention that.

And the Diocese of Kerry has this to say:
It should be noted that there are 11 daysbetween Lá 'le Bríde and Lá 'le Gobnait. There are similarities between the tradition about both saints and indeed as noted above there is some suggestion that their names parallel those of a triad of bandéithe in the mythological tradition ... .

In regard to the 11 days it is interesting to remember that the reform of the Julian calendar in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII led to 11 days being omitted, thus restoring the accuracy of the calendar (Gregory also gave us our leap year system which has kept us more or less right since). Is it possible that Lá 'le Gobnait was originally on the 1st of February? Is the 11th of February in the the Julian calendar the same as the 1st of February in the Gregorian Calendar?