The story of St Catherine of Alexandria

St Catherine was born in 282AD in Alexandria, Egypt to King Costus and Queen Sabinella.  She was exceedingly well-versed in all the arts, sciences and in philosophy.  She converted to Christianity and became a bride of Christ.  She approached the Emperor Maximinus II in relation to his persecution of Christians.  In response Maximinus II organised fifty philosophers to debate against St Catherine.  His attempt to defeat her not only failed but she also succeeded in converting the philosophers to Christianity.  Enraged by this, Maximinus II had the philosophers burned alive.  The Emperor asked St Catherine to marry him, to which she refused.  Maximinus II had Catherine imprisoned and scourged.  She proceeded to convert the Emperors wife along with two hundred soldiers, who were then beheaded along with the Empress.  The Emperor  then had Catherine put over four wheels joined together with sharp pointed spikes, that, when the wheels moved her body might be torn to pieces.  As the torture began the wheels broke apart and killed and injured many of the spectators, after which the Emperor finally ordered to have Catherine beheaded.  It is said that at her beheading milk poured from Catherine’s veins instead of blood.  Her body was removed from Alexandria and taken to Mount Sinai in Egypt.  The Monastery of St Catherine, founded between 548 and 565, still survives to this day in the Sinai Peninsula.  The location of the monastery was selected at the site where Moses saw the burning bush.

In the 12^th and 13^th century’s the crusaders returned to Europe with tales of St Catherine and the monastery in her name, which caused the cult of St. Catherine to gain mass popularity.

The popular story of the introduction of the cult of St. Catherine is that a party of monks were making a voyage on the west coast of Ireland.  The boat was caught in a great storm and the monks prayed to St. Catherine “patron saint of sea farers” to protect them and take them safely to shore.  They vowed if they reached land they would dedicate a holy well in her honour.  The monks arrived safely in Killybegs and dedicated the well to St. Catherine.

The feast day of St. Catherine of Alexandria is celebrated on the 25^th of November.

Virtual Tour of St Catherine's Church and Graveyard

This Life-sized scaled reconstruction of St Catherine’s Church and graveyard was created with Google SketchUp; a 3D modelling application.  We then created an animated fly through and converted this to video format.  We hope this will give a realistic impression of the physical layout of the site.

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Locations of Kit's Castle, St Catherine's Church and Well

Welcome to our Website

St Catherine's Church, Killybegs

 With this new website on St Catherine's Church and Graveyard, the trainees from the FAS Killybegs Local Training Initiative (LTI) will continue with their efforts to create an awareness and interest in the conservation of these historic and important ruins.

St Catherine's Church and Graveyard is situated in Killybegs Co Donegal.  The Parish of Killybegs takes its name from the early monastic cells known as the “Little Churches”.  Tradition represents the town as dedicated to St Catherine, as its patron from the sixth century, when the “Little Churches” or early monastic “Cells”, were first erected.  The ruins of the present church are possibly the remains of St Catherine's friary, founded by Mac Swyne, chief of Banagh, for the Third Regular Order.

Headstones and Ferns

In this website we are going to try and raise awareness of the church and its declining condition due to over a hundred years of neglect. In doing this we will hopefully make the conservation of what is left of the church a reality.  We will also be providing history on the church and the Saint it was built for.  

Each Friday we will produce an article including facts on the Church's history and connecting legends, as well as the life of its patron Saint, St Catherine of Alexandria.

Fininsion 1703

In 1986 a partial survey was undertaken of the graveyard, by Felix O Neill.  From 2002 onwards the Local Training Initiative carried out historical research and published a book on St Catherine's Church and Graveyard.  The sales from this book enabled the Killybegs Local Training Initiative to commission a report by John Cronan and Associates.  This report outlines structural problems of the church and details the necessary steps that if carried out correctly will lead to a successful conservation of the Church and Graveyard so they will be enjoyed for generations to come.

If you have any questions or want to find out more detailed information about St  Catherine’s Church and Graveyard please feel free to drop a comment on our site.