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Although the early history of the Parish of Kilteevogue is
shrouded with obscurity, there is still evidence in plenty
of these times, strewn with profusion throughout our valleys
and glens, hilltops and passes.
The Finn Valley is full of interesting place names, which
reflect and enshrine beautiful cameo histories of the countryside.
Most important of these is Kilteevogue, which is the
modern pronunciation of Kill-Dabeoc (the church of
Dabeoc).
One version of the Kilteevogue myth is that the saint from
which Kilteevogue takes its name was none other than St. Dabeoc
of Loch Derg. Another version is that the O'Deveneys were
associated with the foundation of the Patriarch Church of
Kilteevogue. Their ancestor, Maine (son of Niall of the Nine
Hostages) was the then ruler of the countryside surrounding
Loch Derg.
St. Dabeoc of Loch Derg was his grandson and the brother
of Fiachra, who was in turn the great grandfather of St. Rioghan,
foundress of the monastery at the Reelin. The following is
recorded as one of the most authentic traditions dealing with
the foundation of Kilteevogue:
"It is said that Taodhog was a sister of the ruling
chieftain, Daimhim or Deveney, and that St. Patrick visited
this noble magnate on his way to Donoghmore, where he founded
his Church, and had the satisfaction of receiving the whole
princely family into the Christian fold. Taodhog became a
nun and obtained from her brother five townlands to endow
a church and a convent. Rioghan is stated to have been Taodhog's
sister and to have impressed her name on Killrathen, by founding
a church and religious house in that locality" (a quo
Reelin)
Tradition telescoped approximately four hundred years of
Glenfin's history, and focused it into a colourful story in
which St. Patrick commanded those mentioned to build Christian
edifices "where the salmon leaped
and the deer frisked." Such romanticism is
no real reflection on the motives which prompted St. Patrick
(or indeed any of the early missionaries) to build Christian
churches in our locality...these men and women were realists
and attacked paganism in its strongest citadels.
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| Cloghan Lodge - "Where
the salmon leaped" - 2002 |
Here in the Finn Valley, we can see Christianity radiate
from the Patrician foundation at Donoghmore. Killcadden, the
church of the "Patron of Fasting," became Christianity's
alternative to the Dallans, or Stone Gods of Killygordon and
Crolack. The pagan ceremonies at the Wells of Carricknaman,
Killtown, Loch Allan and Drumbo became shrines, where St.
Brigid drove the memory of the Brigids of Celtic Mythology
from the folkmind. Christianity left nothing of their pagan
practice to survive, save the harmless mementoes.
Most important of all was Dabeoc's church in the townland
of Ballybotemple, for it gave its name and site to each parish
church down through the ages in the combined parishes of Glenfin
and Stranorlar. It lay within the shadow of Altnapaste, which
(like Loch Derg) is still associated with the Serpent Legend
(the sacred symbol of the pagan Gael). The boundary marks
of its sanctuary were the dolmen of Gortness, the tumulus
and Seefin-Dallan of Cloghan, all of which enclosed sanctuary
lands, made up of such historical place names as Cashel, Clogher,
Ballynaman and Ballybobaneen. With these in mind, it would
appear that Dabeoc (of the O'Deveney line) carried out St.
Patrick's wish to assail our local Druids in their greatest
local stronghold.
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