The Legend of St. Patrick's Purgatory

According to Celtic mythology, Donegal’s Lough Derg is the home of the terrifying Corra, a monstrous manifestation of a Celtic warrior goddess. The tranquil waters of the freshwater lake have other, equally hellish associations from early Christian times. In the fifth century a.d., a revelation from Christ led St. Patrick to a tiny island in the middle of the lake. There, he was told, he would find a cave that was the entrance to hell, and therefore know that heaven and hell exist.

Legend has it, as St. Patrick paddled across Lough Derg’s misty waters at dawn, the great Corra rose from the shallows and swallowed him. It took St. Patrick two days and nights to cut his way free. As the monster died, the lake ran red with her blood, giving it the name Lough Derg (Red Lake), and the monster’s body turned to two large stones—the two islands in the lake today. Finding the cave on one of the islands, St. Patrick descended into the darkness as a door closed behind him. Here, in Purgatory, he stayed for a day and a night and experienced a vision of hell.