Literature
Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii is a twelfth-century account in Latin of a pilgrimage to St Patrick's Purgatory. Marie de France translated it into French and expanded it into the Legend of the Purgatory of St. Patrick.
Other medieval works include The Knight of Hungary, or George Grissophan, Provençal, mid-fourteenth century; the Vision of Louis of France (Visio Ludovici de Francia), French, 1358; the Vision of Raymond de Perehlos, 1397; The Vision of William Staunton, English, after 1409; and the Vision of Laurent Rathold de Pasztho, 1411. A fascinating account of a visit to Lough Derg by Catalan pilgrim Ramon de Perillos in 1397 is given in Haren and de Pontfarcy's book., along with several other pilgrims' accounts.
Station Island is a long poem written by Séamus Heaney about his experience of the pilgrimage. Other well-known poets, such as Denis Devlin and Patrick Kavanagh wrote works on St. Patrick’s Purgatory as well. "The Lough Derg Pilgrim" by the Irish writer William Carleton recounts his experience there, which led him to abandon thoughts of becoming a Roman Catholic priest; he converted to the Church of Ireland. Pete McCarthy's visit in 1998 is described in McCarthy's Bar.
Froissart's Chronicles mentions it in Book Four, Froissart Revisits England.
Read more about this topic: St Patrick's Purgatory
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