In the year 445, St Patrick established his first stone church in Ireland on the location currently occupied by St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, known as Sally Hill. However, the hill on which the twin-spired Catholic Cathedral currently sits is steeped in Patrician history. The Book of Armagh tells of a lovely tradition that is also represented on the lower part of the Cathedral’s great east window (See floor plan of cathedral n. 17).
A deer and her young reportedly sprang from the bushes as St Patrick gained control of Sally Hill. His friends intended to capture and kill the fawn, but the Saint refused. He carried the animal on his shoulders, followed by its mother, to Tealach na Licci (Sandy Hill), the current location of the Catholic Cathedral. The event has been seen as Patrick’s prophetic allusion to the construction of another Cathedral in his honour 1400 years later.
