The history of the Our Lady’s Island pilgrimage is lost but the organisers estimate that it dates back to the 5th or 6th century.
The earliest official historical document is a Papal document which was found on the island by a ploughman, and subsequently sent to the British Museum in 1417, granting indulgence to the pilgrimage.
Under persecutions, the pilgrimage died for about three hundred years, but was revived at the beginning of this century.
It had been a spontaneous pilgrimage for people coming from Lough Derg, and it was the local Parish Priest, Fr Whitty, who established the custom of the public Pilgrimage Procession on 15th August, so that people could pray together.
In this documentary, Donncha O’Dulaing speaks to a woman who remembers her first pilgrimage there in 1902 – the year when Fr Whitty saw an apiration of Our Lady, in a spot where there is now a statue.
Produced by Cathal O Griofa
Presented by Donncha O Dulaing
First broadcast 21st August 1977