JOURNAL OF THE COUNTY. DONEGAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY 'CobAtt nA n,6.1n5eAt ( THE ANGELS' WELL ) Quoniam Angelis suis mandavit de te . (Ps. 90, verse 1) "SIR, said the cripple (to a Man he drd not know), I ihave no one to let me d0iwn into tihe pool when the water is stirred." Sitting on thie brink of J31oolb's Well, Ghrist taughit the Samaritan woman the passing Of tJhe Old Covenant. Fir6m time immemorial, Jeiws and Gentiles, iPopes and kings, saint.$ and sc!holars, glilants and dlWia.rfs hia'Ve, time and a.gain, set their seals of ~pproval on such shrines .as those at Holy:weU in Flintsihire, Karrup at Vibol'lg and, over and albove a11, Lourd·es. In P:ag.an Eurqpe well-iworshi(p was common. Sit. Eunan tiells us that St. Col umba bl-2.s. .sied and conver:ted to CihriSiti.a:n Ulses '''a .fon.mtain, famous .among tll:J.5 neathen peoip~e which f oolisn men, b1in:d•ed 'bY the devil, worsh'l1pip.ed as .a divinity." St. P1atri0k bl1e1S1sed a well Oif thiis kinid called Slan in Clonnaugih!t; and very many holy w·e1ls tJhrougihout the land are asso1c:iated with his name. St. Bri'gkl's W1e:U at Faugha:rt, Oi:aran's and Firi.ian's wells at Clonmacnoi.se a.nd Eun.an\:; near Skreen are' famous. To these and a thousand others cling names and troottions and a love Jarbrougilrt from out tJhe storied pa.st. Le1t the wo!l'lld spin for ever down the ring'in:g groovies Olf Clhanig·e, these holy wells, flair otr from .the da.mour of Uars 'belied in a hubbuib of lies. continue to telil thelir truithlful tale with the .soul's ¥oicie o! holiy J.rel:a:ndhtlhe treiasurehouse in wllllch her :hear1t i's :guarded from the polll\litliion oif the rotting world. The late Henry Morris compiileid a list o-f over a hundred holy wells of Donegal, and surmised th:a;t there were some tiwenty more. Turais are still made at forty-six of tihem. One of these is Tobar na nAingea.l in tJhe town1and of Beanndhuibih in the parish 01f C!iJltaoibhog. 'Dhat its turas occ1urs on 206 May Eve may, possi\bly, point to its veneT:alble antiquity. For, the near:biy broak, pratJtling the primrose f1ancieis of tJhe !bog .and ch1aitt·erinig over its stony ways, would scar!ce have heard the busy ell.ck of the elfin hlaimmer. Cihristians who do not scruple to use the·name a.f a Roman goddess or that of an Iriisih idol-god to designate t!he first monith of summer will hardly .cast a stone at the peo!ple who congregate· at the Ange1ls' Well to begin the summer by worshiP!Ping tJhe God Who created it and thetn. ~or, 1€11:1 no one forget that thes.e pe.o:pl·e live in the sUtPernatural, 1tlhat tJhey ·1m0w that the Spirit of God Uv·es Within them, and that they are not su:riprised to find that God is wonderful in ms works. That is wh1y one looks wit.ih prid€ O'Il! the cr~ystal wiaters Olf these hoiy weH:s and views With hope these siltes of :flruith un1cih1anged by storm. an unchanging in the c1alm. Tlmt was wlh.y tJhe e.arly. EngJtsh Christians honoured temples tha.t once were pagan. 'Dh.rut was why the early Scotch ChristJi.ains, venerated the wihite stone plieked up by Ool'Ulm!ba from the Ri'Ver ·Ness. That is whtv p1re:sent-day Irish ChrLslt:ians Vis:i1t tJhe An1g€ll:s' Well- .a reUc of d.a~s when dlOgis. were tJaugiht al~e. to run ·U{POn the S1Cent of wollf and friar. Close by a new road and not far from tJh,e ·o]ld casan na mbrathair, in a hazel copse where the· rose and woodibine twine, is ·tihe .Alnlge1s' Wen. There ar.e, in f:a.c·t, two wells -one, circulai: and rubout thir.ty inches in dli:ameter and partly covered by a stone sla1h; the other, smaller, oval, and deep. iBle1tween them is a hoUow, oval! stone (Ut which Js used lbY p!Lgrims for rubliultion purposes. ·Above the weJJs t)here· is a stone structure about siX feet long and three fe·et high. On tJhis stone table rests a weH-jpreS!erved wooden cross which. it is said, was
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQxNzU3