Dublin, Ireland, Dec 6, 2018 / 03:01 am
A unique Irish cross marking the 1,400-year-old grave of a Catholic saint is in danger of destruction due to erosion, and the local community is seeking help to restore the "icon of Ireland's early Christian heritage."
St Mura's Cross is carved into a slab nearly seven feet tall that marks the grave of St. Mura, the first abbot of a sixth-century monastery in the far north of Ireland in what is now County Donegal. The monastery, one of Ireland's earliest, was founded by St. Colmcille less than a century after the death of St. Patrick. It became a center of religion and scholarship and its surrounding settlements gave birth to the town of Fahan, where nearly 600 people live today.
A nearby gable wall must be repaired before preservation efforts on St. Mura's Cross must begin.
"Cracks have appeared on the wall and if we don't stabilize that it could fall. If it does, it will fall on the cross and it will be destroyed forever," Colm Toland of the Fahan Heritage Group told The Irish News in November.