Post by cato on Sept 26, 2020 16:27:13 GMT
The sacred heart was once enshrined in virtually every Irish catholic home. Ours is still there in my father's house with our names enrolled and the name of the priest who blessed it. I rarely see them in new houses. Indeed for most people they have been replaced in favour of some bland wall decoration. I wonder was the day the sacred heart came down from the wall the real end of Catholicism in Ireland?
This topic may merit a book. This 19th French devotion became the public representation of Christ for most of the history of Irish Catholicism. Contrary to the stereotype of harsh rule based hypocrisy of the old Ireland it is a intimate ,tender , caring image. I have fond childhood memories of the smell of my grandparents turf fire and the light fading in a room lit only by the little red flickering light before the sacred heart picture.
There are shops in the Dublin that sell old religious art . During the Repeal referendum it was dismaying to see sacred heart pictures on display alongside the propaganda of death in their windows. I wonder who buys these relics of an age of faith? It is probably chic and sophisticated in some quarters to sneer at a love that gave comfort , that soothed human heart break and gave courage to souls ground down by poverty and every day worry.
This topic may merit a book. This 19th French devotion became the public representation of Christ for most of the history of Irish Catholicism. Contrary to the stereotype of harsh rule based hypocrisy of the old Ireland it is a intimate ,tender , caring image. I have fond childhood memories of the smell of my grandparents turf fire and the light fading in a room lit only by the little red flickering light before the sacred heart picture.
There are shops in the Dublin that sell old religious art . During the Repeal referendum it was dismaying to see sacred heart pictures on display alongside the propaganda of death in their windows. I wonder who buys these relics of an age of faith? It is probably chic and sophisticated in some quarters to sneer at a love that gave comfort , that soothed human heart break and gave courage to souls ground down by poverty and every day worry.
