IRELAND'S ANNUAL Lough Derg pilgrimage will not take place this summer, the organisers have confirmed.
While the cancellation will not come as a surprise, as most mass gatherings, festivals and concerts have been postponed until next summer, the Prior of the pilgrimage island confirmed for the first time today that the religious tradition will not go ahead this year.
The 3-day Lough Derg pilgrimage brings an estimated 5,000 worshippers to the Donegal island each summer to pray, worship and reflect together, and organiser Fr La Flynn acknowledged that this would be a "disappointing" time for all of them.
He himself had travelled to the Lough Derg island on 1 June, where he will remain alone until 15 August in order to continue the centuries-old tradition of summer prayer on the island.
The Lough Derg pilgrimage island, where up to 5,000 people Christian pilgrims visit each year (Lough Derg / Facebook)Fr Flynn told RTÉ News that this year would be the first time the pilgrimage had been cancelled in almost 200 years: in the year 1828, the religious tradition had been called off due to an argument with boat-men who had, among other things, been selling poitín to visiting pilgrims.
While the Irish Government are beginning to ease lockdown restrictions, Prior Fr Flynn said that the restrictions that remain in place-- including social distancing measures-- would detrimentally affect the traditions of the pilgrimage, and the small space of the island was the deciding factor in the decision to postpone.
However, believers around the world are invited to take part in a 'virtual' pilgrimage to Lough Derg on the weekend of 27 - 29 June-- you can find out more here.
