An estimated 30,000 pilgrims participated in the annual climb of the 2,510-ft Croagh Patrick mountain yesterday, up 5,000 on those who completed the pilgrimage last year.
Mountain rescue teams, the Order of Malta and medical personnel were correspondingly busier than previous years, with 20 casualties having to be taken down the mountain by stretcher.
Despite clashing with the Connacht football final match between Galway and Leitrim, Reek Sunday, as it is known in Westport, turned out to be another wonderful pilgrimage day, blessed from above with sunshine and from below with cooling winds from Clew Bay. Crowds were extremely thick during the early part of the day and the first Mass in the little chapel on the summit at 8 a.m. attracted up to a thousand people arriving at one time.
Hourly Masses were almost as well attended until the last Mass at 3 p.m., when the weather changed and people quickly dispersed from the mountain top in an attempt to flee cold winds and rain. There was a continuous flow of pilgrims in a snake-like procession to the summit and as ever, young and old, well-heeled and barefoot and people of all shapes, sizes and nationalities eventually made their way to the oratory and praying grounds at the top.
The introduction of the mobile phone on to Croagh Patrick in recent years was even more pronounced yesterday. At almost every turn in the path where pilgrims chose to rest and gather strength, electronic ringing sounds disturbed the peace and calm of the beautiful natural surroundings.
Even the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Michael Neary, in his homily for the Croagh Patrick Pilgrimage 2000, commented on the ubiquitous interference of technology in modern life. "The meaning of life does not jump out as us from desktop computer screens.
"Clearly, religious faith presents no charter for technological values of growth but it has a very important contribution to make in reminding us of other values which must be upheld and fostered if the dignity of the person and the common good are to be protected," he said.
Dr Neary added that this Jubilee 2000 year, a year in which many people still suffered much loneliness, provided an ideal opportunity for personal reflection and on the prosperity of the new Ireland which was not being shared equally. As the numbers of pilgrims on yesterday's climb thinned out suddenly after 6 p.m., an emergency phone call was made to Westport gardai alerting them to yet another casualty - an unconscious woman just 100 yards from the top.
The 70-year-old woman was airlifted by an Air Corps helicopter to Castlebar general hospital. Gardai said she had suffered head injuries as a result of a fall.