Stained Glass Window Design of St. Gobnait

Though not well known in the United States unless her alternate names--St. Abigail or St. Deborah--are used, St. Gobnait of Ballyvourney is an immensely popular and much-loved saint in her native Ireland. A 6th-century Irish nun, St. Gobnait is the female patron saint of bees and beekeepers. + This artwork is a preliminary study for a stained-glass window by Harry Clarke (1889-1931). It features a monumental figure of St. Gobnait framed by two small subsidiary scenes at the top and bottom. St. Gobnai is portrayed as a tall, thin, ascetic figure with sharp features, a pale complexion, and long, dark golden-yellow hair. She holds a model of her abbey’s church and a wooden staff with a hook tip very much like a shepherd’s crook as her crosier of office as abbess. Four oversized bees hover around her face. In the small arched space above the saint’s head, St. Gobnait is shown drawing a line and a cross in the dirt with the end of her wooden crosier, creating a sacred space that was a plague-free zone. In the rectangular area at the base, St. Gobnait is depicted driving away cattle raiders with bees. + Although changes were made to the installed window, this preliminary drawing can stand on its own as an artwork of outstanding merit. Both the preliminary sketch and the finished window are highly representative of the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement (1886-1925), which sought a return to medieval handcraftsmanship and designs celebrating traditional Irish motifs drawn from legend and history. + Feast: February 11 - Less