Extracts from "The Way It Was", Part 3
compiled and edited by Paul Gannon
"Everything was going lovely
for us and coming up towards one o'clock, Dudley shouted down that he
had seen Biddy coming in the distance, and to put on the kettle. I went
to the kitchen, put more turf on the fire, filled up the big iron kettle
and was about to hang it on the crook when suddenly I heard an almighty
crash in the bedroom. I dropped the kettle and went to investigate, and
what a sight met my eyes. There was Dudley sprawled, smack in the centre
of the bed covered in dust and straw, and right above him a big gaping
hole in the roof. After checking that he was alright I stood there in
fits of laughter. He looked across at me and muttered something. I was
unable to speak and on turning around, who was standing there in the middle
of the room door, still holding the bag of groceries nut the lady of the
house. I felt weak at the knees. She looked at Dudley, still sprawled
on her bed, covered in dust and straw, looked at me and finally the big
hole in the roof and she started to scream and shout. She dropped the
bag of groceries, ran to the fireplace and grabbed the tongs. With that,
Dudley sprang from the bed and out the door. I followed and we both took
to our heels down the boreen with Biddy in hot pursuit, still shouting
and waving the tongs at us. We ran for our lives and did not turn around
until we got to the main road and well out of her reach. We walked home
the rest of the way without one word and I made sure to keep well in the
distance."
From "The Days of the Thatcher",
remembered by Marty Conneely
The Star - 11th August 1994.
Pensioner Mary Salmon
yesterday saw a lifetime's wish come true - on her 80th birthday. The
Catholic Church finally blessed two of her children, refused a Christian
burial 60 years ago. The simple ceremony, conducted by parish priest Father
Patrick Mullins officially recognized Mary's children and hundreds more
in an unconsecrated burial plot as innocents. Prior to that they were
shunned by the Church. All were stillborn or died before they were baptized.
Under church law at the time they could not be buried in consecrated ground.
It meant torment for thousands of Irish parents. Yesterday's blessing
at Letterfrack, Co. Galway, in the rural plot by the sea, was the first
public sign that the cruel rule has been relaxed. Mary's heartache began
six decades ago when as a 20-year-old Mum she watched her husband, Stephen,
carry their stillborn son away to be buried. "I didn't even get to see
the baby," said Mary yesterday. "My husband had the child in a little
box and took it to the seashore two miles away. Then I lost another baby
and it was buried there as well. Hundreds of babies are buried here. We
were told they were in limbo and could not be let into consecrated ground."
Throughout her life
Mary has refused to accept the Church's position. She marked her childrens'
grave with a stone. Recently she had a proper headstone made in memory
of all the children buried in the plot. She asked her local priest to
bless it. He agreed. Mary had eight other children who survived. Many
of them and her grandchildren travelled from as far away as America to
share her joy. She said: "I feel very happy. What was done to us, all
those years ago, was terribly wrong. As far as I was concerned, the children
went to heaven. This is confirmation that the Church now recognizes that."
A Catholic Church spokesman in Dublin agreed that for centuries unbaptised
children were banned from burial in consecrated ground. 'It was not just
a whim, ' he said. 'The whole thing was theologically based. If people
were not baptised.'
by Paddy Clancy
See also
Using St Mary's Church, Clifden's first Roman Catholic Chapel, and the nearby graveyard, as a focal point,
Kathleen Villiers-Tuthill traces Clifden's history from 1812 right up to the present day.
written by himself, on Jürgen Kullmann's
Irelandman.de site.
"...built on land that had been farmed by the Whelan family who were tenants on the D'Arcy estate and resident in the area since before the famine." From
coastguard-station.com.