Lá Fhéile #Gobnait Shona - Happy Saint Gobnait's Day

Dublin, Ireland,  February 11, 2026 ‍

#Ireland is the land of "Saints and Scholars" and today we honour one of Éire's most beloved saints, whose very name connects her to the ancient craft of #metals and metalworking.

"Gobnait" derives from "gobha" — the Irish word for smith and the Mac Gowan or Mac Gabhann clan was the family or clann associated with metal smithing and crafting.

She is best known as patroness of beekeepers and metal working.

Her most famous miracle united both traditions: when raiders came to plunder her community at Baile Bhuirne (Ballyvourney) in Cork, she unleashed her bees upon them, transforming the bees into a powerful weapon of nature as effective as any forged in bronze or iron.

The smith shapes metal to create beautiful works of art, weapons for defence and means of exchange and stores of value - thus creating abundance.

The beekeeper tends creatures who produce liquid gold - delicious medicine. In Gobnait, these ancient and sacred arts converged.

Having lived in the 5th or 6th century — centuries before the Christian Schism of 1054 — Gobnait is a saint of the undivided Church, venerated in both East and West.

In the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Clement VIII granted a special indulgence to pilgrims visiting Ballyvourney on her feast day in 1601, and her commemoration was added to the Irish national liturgical calendar in 1999.

In the Orthodox or Byzantine Church, she is honoured among the pre-schism saints of Britain and Ireland, whose collective feast was formally approved by the Holy Synod of the Russian Church in 2007 on the third Sunday after Pentecost.

Her holy well of sacred water in Ballyvourney, County Cork, remains a place of pilgrimage to this day and people will gather their today to celebrate her and her life, work and wisdom.

She shares this root with Goibniu, divine smith of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who formed one third of the sacred craft triad known as the Trí Dée Dána — the three Gods of Art.

Goibniu forged metal instruments and weapons for defence, Credne worked the #silver — the airgead. Luchta shaped the wood. Together, they provied abundance for the Tuatha Dé Danann and armed them for battle against the greedy, invading Fomorians.

It was Goibniu who crafted the most famous silver object in Irish mythology: the arm of King Nuada, who lost his limb in battle and was restored with one wrought in silver — earning him the name Nuada Airgetlám, "Nuada of the Silver Arm."

In an Ireland where smiths held near-sacred status — the only craftsmen permitted to remain seated in the presence of a king under Brehon law — Gobnait's name was no ordinary name.

In a time of great division, it is important to remember what common values unite us ... peace, love, joy and unity have never been more important.

⚒️🐝
#SaintGobnait #IrishHeritage #CelticChristianity #Ballyvourney #NuadaAirgetlám #TaraCoins
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