St Patrick founded his first stone church in Ireland in 445 on Sally Hill, which is now occupied by St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral. The hill on which the twin-spired Catholic Cathedral now stands, on the other hand, is steeped in Patrician history. The Book of Armagh describes a beautiful tradition, which is also shown on the bottom portion of the Cathedral’s great east window (See floor plan of cathedral n. 17).
As St Patrick took possession of Sally Hill, a deer and her young were said to leap from the bushes. His companions planned to kidnap and murder the fawn, but the Saint refused. He carried the animal on his shoulders, followed by its mother, to Tealach na Licci (Sandy Hill), where the Catholic Cathedral now stands. The occurrence has been seen as Patrick’s foreshadowing of the building of another Cathedral in his honour 1400 years later.
