Writer and podcaster Blindboy Boatclub of the Rubberbandits is taking a new direction with his upcoming documentary on early Irish Christianity.
This Thursday, a documentary airing on RTE One will see Blindboy exploring traditions at pilgrimage sites such as the Skellig Islands and Lough Derg in Donegal.
Station Island, Lough Derg, is believed to have been the point at which St. Patrick was shown the entrance to Purgatory. More than 10,000 pilgrims make their annual pilgrimage or retreat here during the summer months.
Blindboy doesn’t believe in any God or religion, and yet, in this documentary ‘The Land of Slaves and Scholars’, he decides to explore the origins and evolution of early Irish Christianity, hermits, saints and monasteries, to try to find out who were these people who had such a profound influence, not just on Irish culture, but on the whole of medieval Europe.
Blindboy, with input from a host of local experts and historians including Manchán Magan, Dr Daniel Curley, Dr Elizabeth Boyle and Dr Niamh Wycherley, interrogates our early medieval history and lays bare the treasures of Ireland for all to see.
Blindboy comments: “I’m a writer who is fascinated with the Irish writing tradition. I believe that the period of early Irish Christianity is a huge facet of this tradition, and I feel queasy about that, because when I think of Irish Christianity, I think of the Catholic Church, and when I think of the Catholic Church, I think about abuse and victimisation. That dichotomy acts as a barrier for me to feel proud about this period of our history.
“I want to find out about the monasteries, about their contribution to literature, about the storytelling. I want to know the saints. Were they even real? Who were the human beings who created illuminated manuscripts, who would go and live on an island off the coast of Kerry in beehive huts? Were they mad?”
Blindboy: The Land of Slaves and Scholars, produced with support from An Coimisiún na Meán’s Sound & Vision fund, airs on Thursday November 21st at 10.15pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
