Today, February 11th, is St Gobnait’s Day, patron saint of bees and beekeepers. If it happens to be your birthday you may be called either of the anglicised versions of the name – Abigail (Brings joy) or Deborah. Believed to have born in County Clare in the 5th or 6th Century Gobnait fled her home from an unnamed adversary and took refuge on the Aran Islands. Here she received directions in an apparition to settle and devote her life’s work in the place where she would find nine white deer grazing. No easy task you would think but after traveling to several sites around the south coast she eventually came upon the prophetic pastoral scene in Ballyvorney, Co Cork. The same angelic message also instructed her to find her “resurrection place” where the soul leaves the body. Celtic lore held bees in high esteem believing the soul left the body as a bee or a butterfly. So it is not surprising that Gobnait added beekeeping to her life’s work developing a lifelong affinity with them. She started a religious order and dedicated her days to helping the sick, most probably using honey as a healing aid.

Typical of the ecclesiastical records of the era, lots of miracle-embellished stories survive where Gobnait and her superhero bees save the day. One story tells of how one of her hives transformed into a gold helmet while her bees morphed into soldiers to successfully chase off marauding cattle thieves.

As with many great stories most likely there is a grain of truth lurking in there somewhere. I imagine St Gobnait was a kind, formidable lady, fiercely protective of her flock – she was obviously well revered. Her fondness for bees suggests a calm and gentle character. She has a considerable fanbase outside of the Catholic Religion. Her spirit lives on in apiary circles where she has become quite an icon. In this age, where bees need all the nurturing they can get, anyone who inspires beekeepers to continue their amazing work has earned their sainthood several times over. Everybody needs a hero and in this case St Gobnait fits the bill nicely!