17-strong group enjoys landscape during St Patrick’s Way pilgrimage

17-strong group enjoys landscape during St Patrick’s Way pilgrimage

30 April 2025

PILGRIMS from Essex have just completed a six-day adventure on St Patrick’s Way, exploring the landscape and Christian heritage of Co Down.

The 17-strong group, which included pilgrims from Chelmsford and Colchester, was led by Sr Moira O’Sullivan, Prioress of the English community of Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre, and Pauline McAloone.

In partnership with The Saint Patrick Centre in Downpatrick and McCabe’s Pilgrimages in Basingstoke, they stayed at Tobar Mhuire 

Retreat Centre in Crossgar and were guided along St Patrick’s Way by Martina Purdy and Elaine Kelly. 

The Easter Week pilgrimage featured walks and tours in Downpatrick, Newcastle and Rostrevor in what was described by Sr Moira as “an extraordinary week”.

The pilgrims also visited Down Cathedral, St Patrick’s Church, as well as sites at Saul, and Struell Wells and Inch Abbey.  “The week exceeded all expectations and was rich and meaningful for every one of us,” said Pauline McAloone. 

Some of the highlights included a talk on Celtic Spirituality by Fr Ephrem Blake at Tobar Mhuire, who explained how the Christian faith fused 

rather powerfully with the Celtic wonder at creation and the elements.

The pilgrims also received daily scrolls of St Patrick’s own words from his Confessio, made by Downpatrick designer Sinead McLaughlin, who provides bespoke crafts through her business, Made.by.Sinead.

Christine Bailey, from Chelmsford, said the pilgrimage was an “amazing experience” pointing to the beauty of the scenery.

“What amazed me most is that I discovered the great faith of St Patrick,” she remarked, Madeleine Augier Chopping, from Wimborne, Dorset, who is originally from the the Dauphiné region of France, said she particularly enjoyed walking along the coast from Ballyhornan to St Patrick’s Well and the Shimna River in Tollymore Forest. 

She said she knew little of St Patrick before her visit. “The first time I heard about the life of Patrick I thought he should be a saint for people who have been trafficked because he was taken away as a slave.”

Sr Moira was also accompanied by another member of her historic community, Sr Gabriel Mary Foley.

The Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre are a teaching order and follow the rule of St Augustine. The order can trace its English roots to around 1642 though it was first documented in 1300, as the female branch of the ancient religious order of that name, The Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre.