After more than a thousand years, residents of Tory Island have finally received their cross that was promised to them by Saint Columba, except it is made from cardboard rather than stone.
According to legend, Saint Columba promised a Christian stone cross to Tory Island in the 6th century, but it ended up being planted on the mainland, over the ruins of Ray Church.
Sculptor Sarah Lewtas with the cardboard replica of the cross. Photo: Brian Lacey
Sarah Lewtas, who was born England, and Brian Lacey, Irish historian, teamed up to make a cardboard replica of the cross, which is made out of pages from the Bible.
Sarah, a sculptor who currently lives in Donegal, began building the cardboard cross during a series of events that marked the 1,500th anniversary of Saint Columba’s birth last year.
Residents of Tory Island burying the cardboard cross. Photo: Brian Lacey
Residents on the Island helped unload the cross and carry it across the island.
Brian and Sarah spoke at a ceremony after the cross was buried in a grave, as planning permission requirements and wind and rain preventing the erecting of it.
The cardboard cross in Sarah Lewtas’s Donegal workshop. Photo: Sarah Lewtas
A variety of St. John’s wort, which Saint Columba was known to have carried under his armpit, is to be planted over the site.
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