Like the famous Scottish Loch Ness, Ireland’s largest freshwater lake, Lough Neagh, had a mythological creature of its own – a mermaid known as Li Ban. However, unlike Nessie, the Catholic Church confirms the existence of Li Ban, going as far as recognizing her a Saint and celebrating her feast day on January 27^th. A version of her story can be found in the oldest surviving Irish manuscript, Lebor na hUidre (Book of the Dun Cow). According to legend, this 12^th century vellum manuscript was made from another legendary creature, the hide of a miraculous cow owned by Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise. So, let us explore how a mermaid become canonized within the Catholic Church.

The story of Li Ban is captured in the entry “Death of Eochaidh Son of Mairid”. The tale begins with the betrayal of Mairid, the King of Munster, by his sons Eochaidh and Ribh. Seduced by his stepmother and refusing to disgrace his father in his own home, Eochaidh fled from his father’s castle. His noble act is questionable though, especially given he took his stepmother and brother with him. The brothers were looking to settle a new kingdom of their own and, to add insult to injury, also stole a thousand men on horseback and herds of flocks from their father to support this goal. Their plan hit a snag when their soothsayers cautioned against their actions, warning the brothers: “that not in the one place it was fated for them to effect a landed settlement”. Looking to avoid the prophecy, the brothers split their company of men and beasts and parted ways.

Ribh went westwards and encountered trouble when all his horses were slain. Unbeknownst to Ribh they had fallen victim to Midir, one of the supernatural beings known as the Tuatha De Danann. When Midir appeared to the men, seemingly coming to their rescue with a gift of a pack horse, Ribh accepted. He and his men loaded their gear onto the giant horse and continued their journey, eventually coming to Airbthiu’s plain where they stopped to rest. The next day, as the horse lifted itself from the ground, a giant spring appeared in the hollow. Quickly flooding the valley, the spring turned into the Lake Lough Ree, drowning Ribh and all his men in the process.

Eochaidh’s eastward journey took a similar arc when he and his men encountered Aengus, another of the Tuatha De Danann. Slaying all their horses, Aengus demanded the men leave his land immediately, or he would be back the following evening to slay the men as well. Eochaid challenged that giant man, asking how he expected them to take their leave after killing all their horses. In response, Aengus produced a giant packhorse, warning Eochaidh and his men that if the horse stopped, even for a minute, it would bring about their doom. Packing their belongings on the horse, Eochaidh and his men continued their journey, leaving the giant’s ominous warnings behind them.

Eventually Eochaidh’s company reached Liathmuine, where the men decided to settle. Stopping the horse, they began to unload the burdens from its back. Released from duty, the horse took an opportunity to relieve itself. A miraculous spring appeared at the spot where the horse urinated, but undeterred by Aengus’s warnings and Ribh’s fate, Eochaidh circumvented the curse of flooding by placing a flap over the flowing water and building a well house around it to stop it overflowing. Stationing an old woman with the task of guarding the spring, Eochaidh continued with his settlement plans. The years passed quickly as Eochaidh first built his castle, and later, fathered children of his own.

Life was peaceful in the valley, until one day the old woman faltered in her duty, forgetting to lock the wellhouse up. The spring waters surged from the earth below, inundating the valley and flooding the land in an instant. Eochaidh and his subjects were overwhelmed by the rising waters and quickly drowned. Miraculously, Eochaidh’s young daughter Li Ban survived, but she was trapped in her bedroom beneath the waters with only her lapdog for company. As weeks stretched into months, and months into a year, Li Ban’s loneliness increased. Wistfully watching the salmon swimming by, Li Ban prayed to the lord that she could be free to play with these creatures as they passed her window. Granting her request, Li Ban was transformed. Her legs fused together, and scales began to sprout; her feet turned into the lower body of a salmon while her lapdog was turned into an otter. Free at last, Li Ban and her sea puppy happily frolicked with their fish friends amongst the waves for the next 300 years.

One fateful day, Li Ban’s angelic song caught the ear of Beoan, a messenger from St Comgall who was on his way to see Pope Gregory. Looking for the source of the beautiful sound, Beoan called out to Li Ban. As they conversed, Li Ban realized he was a man of God, so she asked for a boon: that Beoan gather all the saints and meet her in the harbor exactly a year from that day. Enchanted by the mermaid, Beoan agreed to the arrangement on the condition that Li Ban would allow herself to be buried in his monastery when she died. With their terms settled, the two parties separated.

A year to the day, Beoan assembled his men, waiting in the harbor for Li Ban to arrive. Fergus from Meelick caught Li Ban in his nets and pulled her from the water and the entire town gathered around to marvel at her form (sadly, her little otter lapdog did not share her fate and was killed by an onlooker). After the initial excitement wore off the men began to bicker over who owned Li Ban. Comgall claimed she belonged to him as she was caught in the waters off his land. Fergus staked his claim as the one that pulled her from the waters while Beoan asserted that he was the one she promised herself to. Calling on God to help settle the dispute the men prayed and fasted until an angel arrived. The angel proclaimed: “from ‘cam Airenn’ or ‘Airiu’s cairn’ will come two stags; upon these yoke ye the chariot [in which she is], and whatever be the direction in which they carry her let them be”.  As predicted, the two prophesized stags turned up the next day, and bore her chariot towards the monastery of Tech Dabeoc where Beoan resided. Once there, Li Ban was faced with a choice – to be baptized and called to heaven immediately or spend another 300 years on earth. Li Ban traded her life on earth for a Christian soul, happily expiring as soon as St Comgall baptized her as Muirgen, that of the sea born.

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When reading through the story of Li Ban, it becomes apparent there are two distinct parts to the tale – before and after she met Beoan. The first part of her tale is reminiscent of the many geo-mythological stories that spring up around the formation of natural landmarks. Lough Neagh is the largest freshwater body in Ireland, and it inspired origin mythologies; Li Ban’s story is not the only account of its creation. There is another tale from the 3^rd Century AD Fianna myth cycle that suggests the lake was created when the epic hero Fionn mac Cumhail picked up a huge clod of earth and hurled it after a giant he was chasing across Ireland. The inclusion of the Tuatha De Danann in “Death of Eochaidh Son of Mairid” places Li Ban’s tale in the earlier mythological cycle of Irish myth, consisting of oral stories belonging to the ancient pagan inhabitants of Ireland.

“Death of Eochaidh Son of Mairid” is more likely a Christian revisioning of Li Ban’s story, with the second part of the tale an addition to the existing pagan tale. “Death of Eochaidh Son of Mairid” was not penned until the 12^th Century AD by Christian monks, despite the origin of Li Ban being a much earlier, and more importantly, pre-Christian oral story. Syncretism is a tactic often employed in conversions of existing religions to a new religion; it is much easier to change existing mythological and folk beliefs into the new religious framework than to erase them completely. Academic in Medieval Irish Studies, Mark Andrew Williams, explains this process in his book Ireland’s Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth:

“ The earliest written evidence for native gods comes from early Christian Ireland, not from the pagan period; this is a pivotal fact which must be emphasized. Christianity did not entirely consign the pagan gods to the scrapheap, but the consequences of its arrival were dramatic and affected Irish society on every level. Pagan cult and ritual were discontinued, and a process was set in motion that eventually saw a small number of former deities reincarnated as literary characters.”

Lough Neagh provides a large percentage of the fresh water in Ireland and is therefore important to the subsistence of Irish civilization. Erasing an origin character such as Li Ban from folklore would have been difficult but converting her to Christianity provided her with an acceptable way to remain in the cultural zeitgeist of the new regime.

So finally, why did Li Ban/Murigen become a Saint, something that is usually associated with miracles? While there are allusions to miracles worked through her, they seem to be short on specifics, although her “remains” were likely used in ritual and prayer. Her main miracle though was probably just in her existence, and her choice to be sacrificed in return for a Christian soul. Irish mermaids were seen similarly to their Greco-Roman counterparts: symbols of temptation and lust, and the antithesis of Christian morals. While chaste, even Beoan could not fight his obsession with Li Ban, a motif we see reoccur when the men fight over her body once she was captured. By choosing Christianity, Li Ban sacrificed her immortality and freedom and left behind the symbolic associations with mermaid life. Her subsequent joy in being reborn as Murigen in the brief moments before her death demonstrated her devotion in her conversion, and her willingness to give up her female sexuality and autonomy, a pious and saintly act within the Christian framework indeed.

Li Ban’s tale is sourced from the version contained in “This is the Death of Eochaidh son of Mairid” from the Book of the Dun Cow Translated by Standish O’Grady. You can access the original text here: https://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/deatheochaid.html