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 It
was in 1475 that Nuala O'Donnell, wife of
Hugh Roe, asked the Franciscans to establish
a Monastery by the shore of Donegal Bay,
and more than four centuries since the Abbey
was demolished. Here,
as elsewhere during the centuries that followed,
the tyrant's policy of extermination was
carried on, and the Penal laws were enforced
with Saxon ruthlessness. No Catholic could
live within a three mile radius of Donegal,
once a centre of Catholic learning and a
stronghold of the Celt.
O'Donnell
Castle became the mansion of Sir Basil Brooke;
the Abbey, the crumbling ruin by D'Arcy
McGee, and its precincts, the burial place
of people of all religions - and none. Yet
it remains one of Ireland's proudest monuments,
chiefly because out of its hallowed ashes
arose what must be the most remarkable record
in the keeping of any nation...the Annals
of the Four Masters.
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With the destruction of Donegal Abbey, the natives
fled to Townawilly and the surrounding areas.
Some of the hunted friars built a humble refuge
for themselves on the banks of Lough Eske, in
the heart of the Blue Stack Mountains. From this
secret hide-out, the Friars walked through the
mountain passes, saying Mass and giving the Sacraments
in sheltered places, from the Croaghs to
Commeen and Ballykerrigan, which
was then known as Baile na Sagart. Casán
na mBráthar (The Friar's Walk) is a rough
and rocky path through the Blue Stack Mountains,
well known to sheep farmers and hill walkers.
 Legend
has it that one of these Friars, An Bráthair
Ó Buí, was celebrating Mass on a
rock overlooking a deep well and a smaller well
in the townland of Beanndubh (Bindoo). It was
here, in a hazel copse where rose and woodbine
twine, that two men kept a look-out for priest-hunters.
Suddenly, a group of soldiers appeared on horseback
over one of the peaks. There was no time for the
priest to escape...he went to the well, and knelt
in prayer.
 Just
then, a dense mist surrounded the priest and people,
hiding them from view. Angels in shining robes
stood on guard, while the soldiers miraculously
passed by...seeming, without seeing priest nor
people. An Bráthair Ó Buí
blessed the wells, and asked that the people should
come there and pray for him at both wells.
One well is circular and about 30 inches in diameter;
the other smaller, oval and deep. Above the wells
is a Mass Rock. On the site are 7 round stones.
These are applied by pilgrims to sores and afflictions.
The prayers prescribed by tradition for the turas
are the ordinary, simple, Catholic prayers; and
they are said at certain specified places or stations
around the well. The turas ends with the recital
of three Pater and Aves for the soul of An Bráthair
Ó Buí, who blessed the well.
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