Modomnoc's Bees: Wonder & Whimsy
Long ago, there lived a young man named Dominic. He hailed from Ireland, but left the green isle for a time to study to become a priest. He travelled to Wales where he met a certain St. David, who was in charge of a monastery. St. David took Dominic under his wing and put the young man in charge of us, the monastery’s bees. Dominic looked after us very well, always talking to us and tending our flowers so we could make honey for their mead. Sometimes we would buzz about his head in response. Dominic loved us very much and gave us the best of care, so we made him the best of honey! Word is the mead was never better in Wales than during the years Dominic studied there.
But soon came the day for Dominic to return to Ireland as a priest. He tried to slip quietly away, but you can’t fool us bees. We followed him and settled upon the mast of his ship. He told us to fly away home and go back to the monastery, but we’re stubborn little bugs and would not budge. Where our dear Dominic went, so would we.
Well, St. David soon wised up and allowed Dominic to take us with him to Ireland, all with the saint’s blessing. Happily, we travelled to Dominic’s homeland where he set up a parish (complete with a garden for us bees, of course). Turns out that Ireland loved Dominic as much as we do—so much that they began calling him “Modomnoc”: “my Dominic” or “dear Dominic.” Modomnoc served the Irish people and us bees with love until the end of his earthly days, and he was later declared a saint! But then there is, of course, us bees.
We bees of St. Modomnoc lived on, and eventually opened a shop on St. Modomnoc’s feast day, February 13, in his honor. St. Modomnoc taught us many things while he looked after us; we bees learned to make much more than honey. Nowadays we make many things—from wreaths (we bees do love flowers, you know) to wool art to twine rosaries and chaplets to children’s toys and more. Since the time of St. Modomnoc, many interesting things have happened in the world. Turns out we bees are rather fond of the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien (yes, St. Modomnoc taught us to read too), and we even have a line of items inspired by "The Lord of the Rings" and his other works; as these items are predominantly wreaths, we bees enjoy puns and like to call them “Ringwreaths.” The story of St. Modomnoc inspires both wonder and whimsy, and it is the hope of us bees that all we make here may do the same! St. Modomnoc, ora pro nobis!
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Please note that Modomnoc's Bees has recently opened our sister shop, Toccet's Toy Barn! Children's toys, collectibles, and more are available at TTB. All toys that qualify as vintage will have share a listing on our Modomnoc's Bees Etsy store (see the TTB: Toys section), but to find more fun items that are still too young to classify as vintage, visit: www.toccetstoybarn.com
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Modomnoc's Bees is co-owned by sisters Sarah and Hannah Keyes (Sarah-Bee and Hannah-Bee). In addition to making the items available in the shop, we work together to write and illustrate children's books! To find a list of our available children's books, please visit: www.hannahkeyesphotography.com/books
