KILKENNY

I have an aunt who is very religious and who goes to Lourdes every year. When I visited her last Christmas we had a discussion about ATMs and PINs and when she happened to say that there was no way that anyone could ever know her secret PIN I said that I could tell her what her number was without even having to guess. Anyway she was totally shocked when I said 1954.

In Ireland 1954 is still remembered by many older people as ‘Marian Year’ and for some reason this had a huge impact both urban and rural areas throughout the country. For some reason statues of the Blessed Virgin began to appear all over the country but especially in working class areas. One important aspect of the story was that they were erected not within churches or within homes but on public land and it is almost certain that planning permission had never been granted.

According to my limited research there are at least 28 in Dublin alone and all that I have seen so far are still in perfect condition even though religion is no longer such an important aspect of normal daily life in Ireland. I am willing that most people would not know what a Marian statue is.

In 1987, Pope John Paul II initiated a Marian year in preparation of the forthcoming millennium but I cannot find any statues related to the 1987 Marian Year and this to some extent demonstrates how much things had change in the Republic Of Ireland. There is a statue in Stillorgan bearing the date 1986 but I am almost certain that there was a Marian grotto at this location well before this date, I say this because I lived in Stillorgan for about twenty years and had left the area before 1986 but remember being aware of a Marian statue near Stillorgan Shopping Center.

While I am not religious I do hope that the statues continue to survive and continue to be well cared for.