Portrait of St. Gobnait, Patron of Bees, Glass Tree Decoration

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 par excellence. + This artwork is a detail from a preliminary study for a stained-glass window by Harry Clarke (1889-1931). St. Gobnait is shown as a tall, thin, ascetic figure with sharp features, a pale complexion, and long, dark golden yellow hair. Her whitish veil is patterned with light blue flowers. She holds a model of her abbey’s church (not visible here) 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. Changes were made to the actual window that was installed. Most notably, St. Gobnait was reimagined as a redhead, the bees around her face were reduced from 4 to 2, and her veil was silvered. + Both the preliminary sketch and the finished window are highly representative of the Irish Arts and Crafts movement. + ImageCredit: Detail of a stained glass window design of St. Gobnait in pencil, pen and inks, and watercolor on board for Honan Chapel, University College, Cork, Ireland, by Harry Clarke, 1914, Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, Public Domain. + St. Gobnait’s Feast: February 11