Crom Cruach Explained: Demystifying Pagan Ireland’s Greatest Idol

In this corner:

The fifth-century, snake-hating, staff-wielding, Romano-British Christian bishop; the Apostle of Ireland himself, Saint Patrick.

And in this corner:

The pre-Christian, gold-covered, child sacrifice-demanding demon of Magh Slécht; the chief idol of all of pagan Ireland, Cromm Cruach.

Who will win this epic showdown between missionary and monster?

Between a servant of the Christian God and an actual god worshipped by the ancient Gaels?

The answer might surprise you.

Just kidding, Saint Patrick wins. Obviously he wins.

Because the legend of Crom Cruach versus Saint Patrick was recorded by Christian scribes.

So they weren’t gonna have their boy lose, now were they?

Pssst. You can watch a vide adaptation of this essay right here. Text continues below.

Setting the Stage: St. Patrick vs. Crom Cruach

Turns out there are two different medieval accounts of Saint Patrick’s destruction of the Crom Cruach idol, and by Crom!, I’m going to share both of them with you.

That was a Conan the Barbarian reference, FYI. And yes, the Crom referenced in the Conan comics (and movies) was inspired by the legendary Irish Crom.

Now, before we get to the battle, let’s get a bit more background info on why Crom Cruach was so revered (or perhaps feared is the better word) by the ancient Gaelic a.k.a. Goidelic Celtic-speakers of Ireland.

Of course, I could also give you more background info on Saint Patrick but I’m assuming most of you are already experts since you definitely read my book Saint Patrick in Your Pocket and have seen my video/essay on whether or not Saint Patrick was a murderer.

Moving on.

Who (Or What) Is Crom Cruach?

To quote from the oldest known description of Crom Cruach, which comes from the Dindshenchas, or Lore of Places:

Here used to stand a lofty idol, that saw many a fight, whose name was the Cromm Cruaich; it caused every tribe to live without peace. 

Alas for its secret power! the valiant Gaedil used to worship it: not without tribute did they ask of it to satisfy them with their share in the hard world. 

He was their god, the wizened Cromm, hidden by many mists: as for the folk that believed in him, the eternal Kingdom beyond every haven shall not be theirs. 

For him ingloriously they slew their hapless firstborn with much wailing and peril, to pour their blood round Cromn Cruaich. 

Milk and corn they asked of him speedily in return for a third part of all their progeny: great was the horror and outcry about him.

Yikes. 

The Dindshenchas goes on to note that Magh Slécht in County Cavan, the original home of Crom Cruach, derives its name from the people’s worship of the idol.

Hence, Magh Slécht means “plain of prostrations” or “plain of genuflections.”

The most famous of those Crom worshipers is the Irish High King Tigernmas, who arrived “one Samain eve, with all his host: the deed was a source of sorrow to them. / They stirred evil, they beat palms, they bruised bodies, wailing to the demon who held them thralls, they shed showers of tears, weeping prostrate.”

And while the golden Crom was the central figure of this worship, there were also twelve other stone idols surrounding it, and of course that configuration has an obvious parallel with Jesus and his twelve disciples.

Was the Legend of Crom Cruach Lifted From the Bible?

Indeed, there is a school of thought that holds the Crom Cruach legend is simply a reimagining of the biblical story of Moloch, which also concerns itself with idol worship and child sacrifice, and that Tigernmas and St. Patrick were inserted into the Irish legend to give it some local flavor.

This claim is perhaps bolstered by the aforementioned etymology of Magh Slécht, which interprets Slécht as being a loan word from the Latin genuflectere, with genu meaning “knee” and flectere meaning “to bend.”

Of course, there is another school of thought that holds Magh Slécht means ”grave-strewn plain” and was named for all of the stone tombs scattered around the area.

But I digress.

How Did St. Patrick Defeat Crom Cruach?

After a full three-quarters of Tigernmas’s people meet their demise as result of their Crom Cruach worship, Saint Patrick shows up on the scene to take care of business.

How does he do it?

With a big hammer.

To quote the Dindshenchas:

“[The] noble Patrick of Ard Macha… plied upon the Cromm a sledge, from top to toe; with no paltry prowess he ousted the strengthless goblin that stood here.”

Now, in the hagiography The Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland wields a different idol-destroying weapon: 

The Bachal Isu, or Staff of Jesus.

And I quote:

Patrick went over the water to Mag Slecht, a place in which was the chief idol of Ireland, namely, Cenn Cruaich, covered with gold and silver, and twelve other idols covered with brass about him. When Patrick saw the idol from the water named Guth-ard (i.e. he uplifted his voice), and when he drew nigh to the idol, he raised up his hand to put Jesu’s staff upon it, and reached it not, but . . . its right side, for to the south was its face, namely, to Tara; and the mark of the staff still remains on its left side, and yet the staff did not move out of Patrick’s hand.

And the earth swallowed up the twelve other images as far as their heads, and they [still] stand thus in token of the miracle. And he cursed the demon, and expelled him into hell.

Different weapons, different names for the idol, Cenn Cruaich as opposed to the Crom Cruach, but same ultimate outcome, with Saint Patrick emerging victorious.

Crom Dubh: A Later Incarnation of Crom Cruach

But speaking of the different names of the idol, I’d be remiss not to mention a later incarnation of Crom Cruach, Crom Dubh, who was worshiped in the provinces of Munster and Connacht and who also suffered the wrath of Saint Patrick.

Sort of. 

A 19th-century folk tale tells of Irish spades and sickles completing agricultural tasks on their own, thanks to the sidhe, or fairies, until, that is, one fateful Sunday when “Crom Dubh, St. Patrick’s servant” asks Patrick when the sidhe will go to paradise. 

Patrick answers: “Not till the Day of Judgment, for certain.”

And thenceforward, the sidhe stop doing the magical farming and humans have to do their own fieldwork. 

This Sunday, which was either the last Sunday of July or the first Sunday of August, becomes known as Crom Dubh’s Sunday, and is celebrated to this day in Ireland as Garland Sunday or Reek Sunday, an annual day of pilgrimage held in honor of Saint Patrick.

Of course, those of you with a knowledge of the ancient Gaelic-Celtic calendar have no doubt recognized that the late-July/early August date has a special significance. 

So to tie all of this together, I will now leave you with the following quotation from English folklorist and Celtic scholar Alfred Nutt:

“…Crom Dubh, Patrick’s servant, is, there can be little doubt, identical with the Cromm Cruaich, before whose image, set up on the plain of Mag Slecht, the folk of Ireland…were wont to sacrifice a third of their offspring. The legend told how the saint had broken the power of the life-thirsty idol; he touched it with his crozier, and the image bowed itself before him, Crom Dubh became Patrick’s servant. It is significant that the day sacred to him corresponds closely in point of time to that of the great harvest-festival, the Lugnassad, which was celebrated throughout all Celtdom in the first week of August.”

FYI: If you want to learn more about the Celtic Cross-Quarter Day of Lughnashadh, there’s an essay/video for that.

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Want to learn more about Crom’s destroyer, Saint Patrick? Check out…

Saint Patrick in Your Pocket

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