Heroes of Antarctic Exploration from Kinsale

The early part of the 20th century was a time of great adventure in the frozen Antarctic wastes, a time when explorers sought to test their endurance and document the uncharted wilderness of the South Pole. This ‘Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration‘ had its own superstars, with two in particular becoming household names.

Probably the most famous is Robert Falcon Scott, later known as ‘Scott of the Antarctic’. Scott  led two expeditions to the South Pole. His first was on board the ‘Discovery‘ in 1901. The second trip in 1910, on the ill-fated ‘Terra Nova‘, was a race to be the first to reach the South Pole. However, when Scott and his men reached their destination, imagine their bitter disappointment  to find a Norwegian  flag already planted there several weeks earlier by members  of Roald Amundsen’s expedition. Tragically, Scott and 4 of his companions  perished on the ice on the return journey to their base camp.

The other memorable name from that era was Ernest Shackleton from County Kildare, Ireland. Shackleton was with Scott on the 1901 ‘Discovery’ expedition but had to return early due to health problems.  In 1907, Shackleton himself led the ‘Nimrod‘ expedition and set a record for a march in the southernmost latitudes. From 1914 – 1917  he led the ‘Endurance‘ expedition to the South Pole, with the aim of crossing the entire continent of Antarctica. The names of  these two explorers, Scott and Shackleton, are synonymous with great polar expeditions and are instantly recognized.

Tom Crean aboard the Endurance, 1914. image Wikimedia-commons

In recent years the truly remarkable courage of  yet another Irishman, Tom Crean from Annascaul, County  Kerry has been recognized and acknowledged for the extraordinary part he played as a great Polar explorer. Not only did he serve on Scott’s ‘ Discovery‘  and  the ‘Terra Nova‘ expeditions, he was also second officer on Shackleton’s ‘Endurance’ expedition. Tom Crean’s  truly inspiring  story  is now well documented. However he was not the only Irishman who ventured into the Antarctic wastes.

Memorial to the McCarthy Brothers, Kinsale, Co Cork

On a recent visit to Kinsale, County Cork, I came across a very attractive memorial to local brothers Tim and Mortimer McCarthy, both of whom had  also participated in ‘the Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration’. The McCarthy boys were brought up overlooking the river estuary in Kinsale and as boys learned how to handle small boats. 

Mortimer (known as Mort or Murt) was born about 1882 and went to sea at a young age  - it is thought that he may only have been aged 12!- and ended up living in New Zealand where he honed his skills as a seaman. Scott’s ‘Terra Nova’  had departed England but stopped off in New Zealand for repairs and to stock up on supplies. Mort was recruited there on the day before she sailed for the Southern Ocean in 1910. Perhaps his reputation as an excellent seaman had gone before him as  Captain Pennell recruited him as helmsman, the only additional crew member taken on in New Zealand.

Soon after setting sail from New Zealand in November 1910, the ‘Terra Nova‘ was hit by a hurricane. The ferocious wind and waves caused havoc on board, with animals and supplies being hurled about the place. ‘Often the waves swept over the stern, almost carrying the helmsman off his feet and he was frequently knee high and sometimes waist deep in water‘ wrote  a  member of the expedition. Having landed the members of the expeditions – a small one led by Campbell  and the major  Scott expedition -the ‘Terra Nova‘ turned for home and once again met with treacherous conditions. She arrived back in New Zealand in April 1911.

The Terra Nova in the pack ice December 1910 . Image from Wikimedia Commons (Herbert Ponting negative)

In December 2011,the ‘Terra Nova‘ again sailed south with McCarthy at the helm. The plan was to return to New Zealand with all the Antarctic expedition members  on board. They made contact with  Campbell  and his men, relocated them further down the coast as planned, and left them enough food for 6 days. They were to be picked up again on the return voyage to New Zealand. The ‘Terra Nova‘ sailed on to pick up the other expedition party, but they learned that Scott and 7 of the 16 men who went to the South Pole had not yet returned. In addition, one of their number Lt.Evans, was seriously ill. Pennel decided that they could not risk getting stuck in the pack ice and decided to  pick up Campbell’s party. The pack ice was very  thick, there were high seas, strong winds and blizzards. McCarthy battled at the helm for 13 days before they were forced to retreat to pick up Lt.Evans. Once again they attempted to pick up Campbell but were beaten by the appalling conditions. They had to abandon the attempt and again headed for New Zealand. This time they encountered the very worst storm while surrounded by icebergs. It was so ferocious that the crew was unable to sit down to eat and had to survive on cold food.  It was reported by Taylor a geologist on board that, when they were swamped by a mountainous wave’ It broke down the canvas screen protecting, but didn’t dismay the jaunty McCarthy’. Later McCarthy spotted a huge iceberg looming out of the mountainous seas and managed to save the ship from a potentially catastrophic collision. They eventually reached New Zealand in April 1912.

In December 1912, they embarked on the third voyage to the Antarctic  arriving in McMurdo sound on 18 January 1912. Here they learned that Scott and his 4 companions had died on the return trek from the South Pole. Campbell and his men had managed to join up with the main expedition  With all survivors safely on board,  they turned for home on 26 January 1913. Again McCarthy stood solidly at the helm as the ‘Terra Nova‘ was battered by the cruel sea and ‘tossed about like a cork’ in yet another hurricane. On 10 February they reached New Zealand and the  tragic news of the fate of Scott and his party was telegraphed across the world.

Mortimer McCarthy remained with the ‘Terra Nova‘ for her return to Britain in June, and shortly afterwards he and the other expedition survivors were decorated by King George V- Mortimer received a Silver Polar Medal in recognition of his valiant work as helmsman on the  three 5,000 mile voyages during which he lost 2 fingers to frostbite. Mount McCarthy in the Barker Range in the Antarctic, is named after Mortimer.

Timothy McCarthy (also known as Tadhgh, the Irish form of Timothy) was born in 1888 and was  6 years younger than Mortimer. As a member of the Royal Navy Reserve he served on a guard ship in Cobh (then Queenstown). Like Mortimer, he was credited with a good sense of humour and was very popular with his fellow crew members. 

Timothy joined Shackleton as an able-seaman on the ‘Endurance’, sailing from London in August 1914, the purpose of the expedition being  to cross the icy Antarctic continent from coast to coast – via the South Pole -a distance of some 1,800 miles. Also on board was fellow Irishman, Tom Crean. Little did they know that they were about to take part in one of the most celebrated tests of human endurance every undertaken in the Southern Ocean.

They sailed from Buenos Aires to the island of South Georgia where they took on supplies and learned much from Norwegian whalers about the often ice bound Weddell Sea. They left there on 15 December 1914  and forged through a thousand miles of pack ice. However a sudden drop in temperature caused the pack ice to freeze solid and the Endurance was trapped 100 miles short of the continent of Antartica.

Endurance in the ice – Image Wikimedia Commons

For months the ‘Endurance’ drifted in the ice, until finally in October Shackleton gave the order to abandon ship. On 21 November, the ice finally crushed her and the  ’Endurance’ sank into the icy sea, leaving the 28 men on the icefloe with lifeboats and some supplies.

Endurance Final Sinking – Royal Geographic Society via Wikimedia Commons

About a month later, they decided to march west, hauling the lifeboats laden with their supplies behind them. For 5 months they wandered on the moving ice floe until finally they sighted Elephant Island. In April 1915, they set out in their lifeboats and safely made landfall on Elephant Island – at least they were off the ice floes.

Map of the routes of the ships Endurance and Aurora, the support team route, and the planned trans-Antarctic route of the British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton in 1914–15. Image Wikimedia Commons.

Colour key to map:

Red:Voyage of Endurance  Yellow: Drift of Endurance in pack ice; Green: Sea-ice drift after Endurance sinks;  Blue: Voyage of the lifeboat James Caird;  Turquoise: Planned trans-Antarctic route;  Orange:Voyage of Aurora to Antarctica;  Pink: Retreat of Aurora;  Brown: Supply depot route

Ernest Shackleton leaves Elephant Island on the James Caird with five other members of the expedition, setting out to reach South Georgia Island 800 miles away. Twenty two men remain on Elephant Island, hopefully waiting. Image Frank Hurley via Wikimedia Commons

On April 24 1916, Shackleton chose a party of 5 men to go with him on the perilous 800 mile voyage to get help back at the whaling station. Among them were the Kerryman Tom Crean and the ever cheerful and reliable Timothy McCarthy. They endured appalling conditions – often frozen and soaked to the skin, the boat often iced up, often battling fierce gales in  the treacherous seas of the South Atlantic.  This voyage of the James Caird remains one of the most astonishing and challenging voyages ever undertaken in an open boat. Miraculously they reached South Georgia on May 10 1916.   Timothy was the first to spot land and the McCarthy Islands of South Georgia were subsequently named after him.

Timothy McCarty was asked to stay behind with two members of the crew who were too ill to undertake the challenging trek across South Georgia to the whaling station. Without compass or navigation equipment and without any mountaineering equipment Shackleton and Crean and Worsley headed off on the arduous march  through the interior. Timothy and his companions were rescued just days later but it took four attempts and some more months to rescue the 22 men on Elephant Island.

In 1917, about 6 months after his adventures in the Southern Ocean,  Timothy McCarthy rejoined the merchant navy. In March of that year his oil tanker, the Narragansett,  was torpedoed by a German U-boat  some 350 miles off the south-west coast of Ireland. All hands were lost. Timothy McCarthy was 28 years of age. Mortimer collected Timothy’s  Bronze Polar Medal. Mortimer lived out his life in New Zealand and made a nostalgic return trip to the Antarctic in 1963 with some comrades from the ‘Terra Nova’.  He died in 1967.

Both he and Timothy who played such pivotal roles in the heyday of Antarctic exploration are remembered by the monument at the harbour in Kinsale that they knew and loved. 

The McCarthy busts at the harbour at Kinsale. (Image Sara Smith, Creative Commons.)

Timothy McCarthy   1888 – 1917

Mortimer McCarthy 1882 – 1967

References:

Great Endeavour – Ireland’s Antarctic Explorers, by Michael Smith,   Collins Press.

http://www.jamescairdsociety.com

http://www.athyheritagecentre-museum.ie

Spring…in her yellow dress

Here in Ireland, chilly easterly winds  have prolonged Winter and Spring has been reluctant to appear. Grass is not growing as a minimum temperature is required for growth. Animals  - cattle mainly – are collapsing due to starvation as fodder supplies have run out and farmers report that animals are ‘crying’ with hunger. Because of the wet summer  of 2012, the fodder has been less plentiful and less nutritious than normal.  There is indeed a  food crisis in the farming sector and the farming community has suffered greatly due to the high cost of importing fodder and the expensive substitutes  that have to be fed to farm animals – if their owners can afford it!  Hopefully this animal food crisis will come to an end within the next couple of weeks as temperatures finally begin to climb and Spring finally takes hold.

A few warm days with temperatures in the mid teens have already produced great signs of hope. Native plants, shrubs and trees are finally beginning to stir. Today as I travelled from Cork, I took a detour to see if I could find Spring in the bleak fields.  I am delighted to report that it IS there!

Blackthorn bears delicate flowers on bare stems

Here we have Blackthorn. Blackthorn is,for me, the real  harbinger of Spring with her beautiful white flowers borne on bare branches. Blackthorn has delicate blossom, and is a precursor to the more feisty Hawthorn (or Whitethorn) whose boughs will bend under the weight of fabulously profuse blossoms that will adorn the hedgerows and whose scent will fill the air for weeks. The Hawthorn bloom is one of the most beautiful spectacles of Nature occurring in Ireland…and I just LOVE it!

In the past few days, the ubiquitous and often unloved Gorse has begun to put on a spectacular display. The sulphur yellow flowers of this otherwise unattractive and spiny shrub are cascading down sheer embankments on new roadways,often distracting this driver! Gorse, otherwise known as Furze, or as Whin in my native Donegal, thrives on disturbed ground and is very much at home along our motorways and major roads.

Gorse often flowers almost all year when conditions are mild, but has been less obvious so far in this this cool year.

Now it is shouting  from rusty gates down country lanes, if only we will look!

To me, Spring is yellow. Apart from the white Blackthorn (!),  many of our wild early Spring flowers are yellow. This has always fascinated me as our cultured yellow daffodils, yellow crocus, yellow Forsythia are also among the first to awaken after winter. If we look at ground level in country lanes and along road verges, there are carpets of yellow there too.

Lesser Celandine flourish along the roadside

Driving along sheltered country roads at this time of year is a real ‘joy-ride’! The banks are covered with the pretty multi-petalled Lesser Celandine (nothing ‘Lesser ‘ about her! ). They  also grow right down on to the road, facing up into every spare ray of sunshine!

Pale Primroses and bright yellow Celandine

Driving these minor roads is an enormous voyage of discovery as the yellow linear meadows follow the road, changing and adapting to the micro-climate  around every corner.They are all the more beautiful as the trees are still bare and leafless, even in these closing days of April.

Profusions of yellow edge the narrow country roads  and sit at the foot of the barren trees.  Yet there are signs of bud burst – delicate green buds are swelling, and some delicate lime green leaves are already opening in sunny sheltered positions.

Yellow -green catkins are in great profusion on the stems of willows, ready to burst forth with a few more days of warmth.

Almost most spectacular of all is the  much maligned  Dandelion,  scattered in great drifts  in the verges of motorways,  (where drivers may not stop to take photographs !) and carpeting  entire fields  colonizing bits of ground where nothing else would think of growing. Yet it delights us at this time of year, with its sunshine colour, defying the cold bleak days of winter and giving us a promise of hopefully yellow-sunny and yellow- warm days ahead!

April 13 1912: Titanic sails in calm waters

On this night 101 years ago, the RMS Titanic is sailing through calm waters. Just over 48 hours earlier she had departed Queenstown, County Cork. Passengers on board expect  to dock in New York on April 17, four days from now.

Among them are wealthy Americans who, having completed their tour of Europe are returning home in the most luxurious and fastest liner on the Atlantic route. Here too are hundreds of emigrants who have bidden farewell to mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and friends all across Europe, and are now looking forward to a new life in a new land.

Members of the Orchestra on board Titanic. Image Wikimedia.Commons

As they steam towards their meeting with destiny in just 24 hours from now, many 1st class passengers may be enjoying and dancing to the music of the on-board orchestra, while many others begin to settle down for the night. The calm conditions  make for a comfortable night’s sleep. The 128 children on board are probably already settled. For many of them –  for most of them – this is to be their last night alive.

References

Wikipedia.org

April 11 1912,Titanic sails from Ireland

On the afternoon of April 11 1912, the Titanic picks up her last 123 passengers at Queenstown County Cork, Ireland. Joining the 2,105 already on board are 113 who will travel in 3rd class, 7 for 2nd class, and 3 as 1st class passengers.

Waiting on the Queenstown quayside to join the RMS Titanic
Published with permission of artist.

For some on board, this was a great adventure, crossing the Atlantic on board a luxurious new ship. Many may have been excited by the prospect of a new life in the New World, while many more would be feeling great sorrow at leaving loved ones behind, not knowing when or where they will meet again.

The last known image of Titanic as she departs Queenstown.Image Wiki.Commons

And so the RMS Titanic steams out of Cork Harbour for a meeting with destiny no one on board could envisage.

St. Patrick: A Man on a Mission

Reblogged from Pilgrimage In Medieval Ireland:

So today is the feast day of St Patrick, Ireland's national saint. It is incredible to think that celebrations in the saints name are taking place all over the world today.  This post was written by  Terry O'Hagan  blogger and archaeologist . Terry is near to completing a PhD thesis on St Patrick at the school of Archaeology at UCD and  is one of the country's experts on the saint. 

Read more… 1,720 more words

For those who wish to know something of the REAL St patrick, Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland blog has posted this essay from Terry O'Hagan, who is doing a PhD on Patrick at the moment. It is a 'potted history' of what is known about the real St Patrick.

St Patrick’s Day:Badges,shamrocks and going green

A bowl of ‘Shamrock‘ on a restaurant table in Adare, Co. Limerick this week

St. Patrick’s Day…When half the world turns green and the other half is out parading –  or so it seems! Airports, rivers, waterfalls, tourist features, buildings, beer and people the world over – all in green livery for the ‘big day’. From Pyramids to Google Doodles- they are all ‘at it’!  But, it is far from all of this that we were reared!

This little 3 leafed plant looks like the Shamrock that we used to pick for St Patrick’s Day. It grew tight to the ground and was difficult to pick the little sprigs.

St. Patrick’s Day celebrations were traditionally simple and apart from obligatory Mass and school being closed not much happened. I have been trying to recall the events of a typical St Patrick’s Day when I was growing up. I remember being dispatched to find some  shamrock a week or so before the big day and again on the day before. The double harvest was required as we had small purpose made boxes in which shamrock would be posted to relatives abroad in England, Scotland or America, and then people at home needed fresh Shamrock to wear on St Patrick’s Day itself.

Shamrock is  a very specific plant that can be found growing in certain places. I recall a roadside bank, and a particular field  where I used to gather quite a bit. The stems creep along the ground and I have vivid recollections of having cold and sore fingers from trying to uproot  stems with a bit of length, so that they could be pinned onto  a coat or lapel. I also recall being castigated for arriving home with clover – which was much easier to harvest as the stems did not cling so tightly to the cold wet earth!

This is clover and merited a clip on the ear if it was brought home for St Patrick’s Day

Clover is a much softer plant with the leaves on longer stems than ‘proper’ shamrock. Clover usually had  a white mark in the centre of the leaves.

Oxalis is not Shamrock either !

As well as wearing Shamrock, we children had a St Patrick’s Day badge. These were bought in the village shop for about 4 pence and consisted of a length of  green, white and orange ribbon. Some had a gold paper harp attached. Several designs were usually available and these were worn with great pride. Later at Mass, the very lively hymn ’Síor Glór do Naomh Padraig‘ was sung.

St Patrick’s Day badges c. early 20th century, from the Museum of Country Life. Image Wikimedia Commons.

It is often said that the designation of March 17th as the Feast Day was an ‘Irish solution to an Irish problem’  as it falls slap bang in the middle of Lent, when most Irish people would be abstaining from sweets, alcohol and other niceties.  Being a feast day, Lenten rules of abstinence and mortification did not apply, so it was certainly a ‘feast day’ with a difference. The tradition of ‘drowning  the shamrock’ appears  to go back for several hundred years. This is variously described as alcohol being poured over a shamrock in the bottom of a glass, or shamrock being floated on top of a glass. Either way, the alcohol was quaffed, and presumably the drowned plant went with it. Public Houses were forbidden to open on St Patrick’s Day from the early 1900′s right up to the 1970s, in an attempt to curb excessive ‘shamrock drowning’. Irish people are of course  aware that neither a ‘closed door’ nor licensing regulations are of much consequence when there is serious shamrock drowning to be done.

St Patrick’s Day is a relatively modern feast day, having been so designated as recently as the 17th Century. It is recognized in many Christian traditions, including Anglican and Eastern Orthodox as well as Catholic. It has now turned into a world-wide festival of Irishness – interesting,  given that St Patrick was not even an Irishman! St Brigid would have been much much more appropriate as a National Saint but for two major failings –  serious enough that she was  tentatively associated with a pagan pre Christian deity,  but worse still – she had a gender issue – she was after all only  a woman and therefore highly unsuitable for such a prestigious position. The foreign Patrick is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland in 432 AD. This is contested as it is believed that there were groups of Christians in Ireland before he ever arrived. Many places in Ireland contain his name, the most famous being Croagh Patrick, a mountain in Mayo and a place of Pilgrimage, and there are numerous holy wells that bear his name although it is highly unlikely that he visited all of them.

Patrick misrepresented in 17th century ecclesiastical garb, with equally misrepresented serpents

It is rather odd that he is depicted wearing a Bishop’s Mitre and green church vestments that were not invented until several hundred years after his death. This is a dishonest portrayal of the truth of who he was . Another myth prevails that he drove the snakes out of Ireland as apparently there were none here in the first place  (arguably there are still plenty snakes here –  of the 2 legged variety). 

Whatever the truth and the fiction, St Patrick’s Day in the early 21st century is far removed from the simple religious celebration of the Ireland  50 years ago. It is now a world wide celebration of all that is Irish and it continues to reinvent itself. For the past number of years Ireland has had parades and the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Dublin have now become an annual  5 day festival.  While we do have to tolerate the  stereotypically awful  ’begorrahs’ and ‘top of the mornin’ and red bearded leprechauns, not to mention the emerging excruciating ’St Patty’s Day’ (be warned – I am a follower of Paddy’sDayNot Patty’s Day on Twitter!), we Irish are immensely proud that the world celebrates us so enthusiastically each year. The blurred boundaries between a national saint’s day and a national Ireland day are easily forgotten when we witness the enthusiasm and the joy and fun as people party for Ireland all over the world.

Lá sona Naomh Pádraig daoibh  go léir!

In Dublin’s Fair City

Last weekend I was in Dublin for a family occasion and stayed – for the very first time – in the rejuvenated  docklands  at Sir Rogerson’s Quay. I have long wanted to see at first hand the cleverly designed, harp shaped new bridge over the River Liffey …and there it was – right on the doorstep of our hotel! In the quiet traffic free hours of a Sunday morning I took a stroll along this lovely part of the South Bank.

The Samuel Beckett Bridge, having ‘the appearance of a harp lying on its side ‘

The Samuel Beckett Bridge carries both vehicles and pedestrians and is, in my opinion,one of the most beautiful structures in Dublin.

The Convention Centre, Dublin

Right alongside the bridge is another stunning structure – the world-class Dublin Convention Centre, with its tilted glass cylinder  beautifully reflected in the  Liffey waters.

The Dublin Convention Centre from Samuel Beckett Bridge

The Convention Centre dissected by the stays of the Samuel  Becket Bridge.

A view of Dublin City through the Samuel Beckett Bridge

Looking back towards the City Centre, some of Dublin’s iconic structures are framed by elements of the bridge. The tall building is  Liberty Hall. Built in the 1960s it is renowned for its non pleasing appearance, but is nevertheless an integral part of the Dublin sky-scape. In total contrast, the green dome is atop one of the most beautiful buildings in Dublin, the fabulous Gandon designed  18th century Custom House. The tall spire to the right of the dome is the Monument of Light, otherwise known as The Spire, reaching 121.2 metres into the Dublin sky.This very elegant and modern  stainless steel structure has been part of the Dublin skyline since 2002.

Liberty Hall, The Custom House and The Spire ‘through the eye’ of Samuel Beckett Bridge

Another view of 3 of Dublin’s iconic structures, all on the north side of the River Liffey,  from the Samuel Beckett Bridge.

Ulster Bank Headquarters, on the Liffey South Bank, from Samuel Beckett Bridge.

Equally iconic, although a recent addition to the Dublin sky scape, is the glass, multi-roofed building that is  the headquarters of the Ulster Bank. It looks very spectacular at night especially when approaching the city from the north side.

The Jeanie Johnston Replica Famine Ship.

Moored  between Séan O’Casey Bridge and the Samuel Beckett Bridge, with the Custom House in the left background, is the replica famine ship, the Jeanie Johnston. Built about 2002 in County Kerry, she is a replica of the original that sailed between Tralee in County Kerry and North America from  1847 to 1855. The Jeanie Johnston was  remarkable in that no life was ever lost on the difficult voyages between Ireland and the New World. She is open to the public. I boarded her when she was tied up in Fenit, County Kerry, some years ago and she is well worth a visit to see at first hand what the living conditions were like for the emigrants who sailed in her.

Statue of Mayo-man Admiral William Brown, ‘Father of the Argentine Navy’

A few yards from the Samuel Beckett Bridge, on the seaward side, stands a statue of  Admiral William Brown, or Guillermo Brown as he is known in Argentina. This illustrious Irish emigrant  changed the history of South America. This piece is from the Connaught Telegraph :

”Admiral William Brown, the hero of Garcia, Montevideo and Los Pozos, is acknowledged as ‘the father of Argentina’s Navy.’But he was even more than all that. He was a champion and friend of human liberty and the emancipator of a whole nation. In fact, the entire continent of South America owes him a debt of gratitude that can never be fully repaid. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that he was one of the world’s foremost and greatest men of action, and that his exploits and heroism have profoundly influenced the course of history.”

Beyond the statue of Admiral Brown, looking seaward there are reminders of the history of the old Dublin Port when ships were once moored along these docks.

The modern Dublin Port in the distance, with these once busy quays now providing an excellent recreational, commercial and residential amenity.Reminders of the past are all along the quay wall.

References

http://www.jeaniejohnston.ie

http://www.con-telegraph.ie

Happy Valentine’s day – from St Valentine, Dublin, Ireland

Red Rose – Symbol of love . Image Wikimedia Commons

The red rose – a great symbol of love! February 14th is  a day when cards and tokens of love  are exchanged by lovers, spouses and partners. It  is almost a rite of passage for young teenagers to buy or make cards in quantity and send them anonymously to the objects  of their desires –  or if all else fails –  to send them to themselves, so as not to feel excluded when the peers arrive with barrowloads  from every male in the area. We could be forgiven for thinking that Valentine’s day is an invention of Hallmark Cards, as tens of millions of Valentine cards are bought each year, but would we be correct? As well as cards, millions of flowers will be handed over as tokens of undying devotion to loved ones to mark the annual Love-day,  the Feast of St Valentine.

But where did the tradition come from? Valentine’s or St Valentines’ Day is  a celebration of the feast day of the Saint of that name.  Scratch any religious ‘feast’ very gently and not far  under the surface there will be a pagan or ancient  celebration. In mid February, or the ides of February, there was the ancient fertility festival of Lupercalia  where there appears to have been some ‘blooding ‘ ritual whereby young women were touched with the  hides of freshly skinned animals. They then  placed their names in a container. Young men would select a name and would be paired with the girl of his choice for the following year, and apparently marriage often ensued. This practice was outlawed in the 5th century about the same time as  St Valentine’s Feast was announced.

Several men with the name Valentinus were martyred in the early church. One story suggests that a particular  Valentinus was imprisoned for performing marriage ceremonies for soldiers. Soldiers were forbidden to marry as having a wife might distract them from their soldiery duties. When in prison,this particular Valentinus supposedly healed the daughter of his jailer and some stories suggest he fell in love with her. Prior to execution he is said to have written her a farewell note signed :  ”from your Valentine”. Whatever the origins, the Feast of St Valentine is marked in many cultures and   communions - such as the Lutheran Church, Anglicans, and  Eastern Orthodox.

In 1382, Chaucer  composed a poem to mark the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II to Anne of Bohemia, where he refers to Valentine:

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.

(For this was on Saint Valentine’s Day,

when every bird cometh there to choose his mate)

Oldest known Valentine message c. 1477 from British Museum

By the 1600′s  it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers  expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confections  and sending greeting cards.

In 1850,Joseph R Chandler in an article entitled ‘St Valentine’s Day‘ in Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art , wrote:

‘The commercial revolution has loosed St Valentine Day from its previous  moorings in folk culture and redirected it into new and little charted waters”.

And it would seem that this  commercial revolution has continued unabated in the intervening 160+ years.

The St . Valentine Shrine in Whitefriars Church, Dublin . The carved image of Valentine, martyr, stands above the reliquary that is venerated on February 14 each year.

On November 10, 1836, a strange event was taking place in Dublin. A reliquary containing  remains of St Valentine were brought in solemn procession to the Carmelite Church on Whitefriars Street. These had been the gift of Pope Gregory XVI  in appreciation of  Carmelite John Spratt who had visited Rome. John Spratt was as an eloquent preacher who ‘wowed’ both the elite of Rome and the Church itself.   In Dublin he was a well- known and respected figure who worked tirelessly for the poor and disadvantaged in the Liberties area and who had built the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Whitefriars  Street. The gift of relics was accompanied by a letter in Latin which translates as follows:

“We, Charles, by the divine mercy, Bishop of Sabina of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Odescalchi Arch Priest of the Sacred Liberian Basilica, Vicar General of our most Holy Father the Pope and Judge in Ordinary of the Roman Curia and of its Districts, etc, etc.

To all and everyone who shall inspect these our present letters, we certify and attest, that for the greater glory of the omnipotent God and veneration of his saints, we have freely given to the Very Reverend Father Spratt, Master of Sacred Theology of the Order of Calced Carmelites of the convent of that Order at Dublin, in Ireland, the blessed body of St Valentine, martyr, which we ourselves by the command of the most Holy Father Pope Gregory XVI on the 27th day of December 1835, have taken out of the cemetery of St Hippolytus in the Tiburtine Way, together with a small vessel tinged with his blood and have deposited them in a wooden case covered with painted paper, well closed, tied with a red silk ribbon and sealed with our seals and we have so delivered and consigned to him, and we have granted unto him power in the Lord, to the end that he may retain to himself, give to others, transmit beyond the city (Rome) and in any church, oratory or chapel, to expose and place the said blessed holy body for the public veneration of the faithful without, however, an Office and Mass, conformably to the decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, promulgated on the 11th day of August 1691.

In testimony whereof, these letters, testimonial subscribed with our hand, and sealed with our seal, we have directed to be expedited by the undersigned keeper of sacred relics.

Rome, from our Palace, the 29th day of the month of January 1836.
C.Cardinal Vicar
Regd. Tom 3. Page 291
Philip Ludovici Pro-Custos”

All Catholic Churches have relics, usually contained in a cavity on the altar, or in a reliquary. The St Valentine relics are in a separate reliquary normally kept under a shrine to the Saint. It is not known what exactly is in the reliquary as it has never been opened. However it is recognized that there may be relics of this particular St Valentine in up to 10 different locations – not surprising when one thinks of the numbers of bones in a  skeleton! But, no matter! Whitefriars Church in Dublin,marks the feast of St. Valentine each year with special ceremonies that includes the blessings of rings. A beautiful sentimental tradition attached the the most ecstatic emotion of LOVE!

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my readers!

References:

http://carmelites.ie

http://www.history.com

 

St Bridget reaching across the generations

My last post was in celebration of the Feast of St Bridget, (or Brigid, Brigit, Brighid, Bríd, Bride). Bridget is known as ‘Mary of the Gael’ and also as a pre-Christian pagan goddess.

I am very fortunate to know Dr Louise Nugent, a friend of family, who was awarded a Ph.D for her study of the archaeology of Medieval Pilgrimage in Ireland. Louise has a superbly interesting blog entitled Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland, arising from her studies and her continued interest in praying and supplication of the Irish at places of pilgrimage.

I attended boarding school at the St Louis Convent, Dún Lughaidh,in Dundalk, County Louth from  1961 – 1966. Although I had for years been making St Bridget’s Crosses and reading about her in school, it was in Dundalk that the knowledge grew. Here each February we were taken on pilgrimage to Faughert, invariably in soaking wet and freezing conditions. Usually a day of misery for us boarders!

Fresh Green St Brigid’s Crosses – Image killybegsonline.org

I was fascinated to read Louise’s account and to see her pictures of modern pilgrimage to this same site – 50 years on. 50 years ago it was different  - no tacky modern ‘grotto’, and instead of modern paths we had to ‘rough it’ through a wooded area alongside a stream!  Our pilgrimages were sufficiently far removed from exams, being in February, that there was no vested interest or immediacy in being devout, so it was endurance, plus not having to spend a Sunday afternoon in Study rather than anything else, that sustained us both spiritually and emotionally!

Louise’s account of a several days in Dundalk exploring modern devotion to Bridget is here .  She has promised to post more on the cult of St Brigid and I will be happy to reblog on this page. If you have an interest in Bridget, I commend this great post to you!

References

http://pilgrimagemedievalireland.com/

http://www.stlouisdundalk.ie/

 

Saint Brigid and Imbolg

Saint Brigid’s Cross made from fresh rushes. Image Wikimedia Commons

On 1 February each year, Ireland celebrates the feast of ‘Mary of the Gael‘, St Brigid (Also pronounced Breege  or Bríd.) Most people of my generation will recall going to school on the  day before St Brigid’s day armed with lots of rushes that had been carefully pulled from their sheaths. There we would fold and turn the soft green stems until we had a swastika shaped St Brigid’s Cross.  The ends would be tied, the rough edges straightened up and cut and then we had it! A really simple pleasure that was very easy for even the youngest child. The Cross was then brought home and placed over the front door (on the inside) or behind a picture,  and there over the coming year it would gradually dry out and turn a straw colour as it acted as a talisman to protect the house and all those within.

Brigid we learned, was born in Faughart, County Louth in the 6th century and one of my abiding memories as a boarder in the St Louis Convent in Dundalk County Louth was the annual pilgrimage to her Faughart birthplace on cold wet god forsaken February days!  Bridget we also learned was a great friend of the other great Irish saints – Patrick and Colmcille – and is reputedly buried with these  two in Downpatrick in County Down – an unusual enough occurrence I suspect that a female would be buried alongside two holy men.

According to tradition a sacred fire has burned in Kildare since pre-Christian times and  priestesses gathered on the hill of Kildare to attend to the ritual fires dedicated to the goddess Brigid in return for protecting their animals and their crops. St Brigid is also associated with Kildare as it was there that she founded her monastery and church and where she kept alive a tradition of keeping a fire burning on a hill. For her and her nuns the fire represented the new light of Christianity, which reached Irish shores early in the fifth century.

The Perpetual Flame Solas Bhride Brigidine Order

There is definite convergence then between St Bridget, the Christian Abbottess and the pre Christian goddess, Bridget  and their symbolic use of fire.

Imbolg or Imbolc is a Celtic festival marking the arrival of Spring. It falls half way between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. It is one of the fire and light festivals in the Celtic tradition and marks new beginnings  longer days, return of the sun and animals  preparing to breed.

The Christian festival of Candlemas also occurs at this time – so-called as this was the day of blessing for all church candles for the coming year. On Candlemas night, people lit candles in their homes to ward off evil spirits.

St Brigid, the goddess Bridget, Imbolg and Candlemas are all celebrated at this time of new beginnings. Whether pagan or Christian is arbitrary… what is certain is that here in the Northern Hemisphere our days are lengthening – we are pulling away from the darkness of the winter solstice, towards new beginning, new life, a new season.

Lá fheile Brighid fe mhaise daoibh!

References

Pagan Imagery in the Early Lives of Brigit: A Transformation from Goddess to Saint? by

Lisa Lawrence

Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium, Vol. 16/17, (1996/1997), pp. 39-54

http://www.solasbhride.ie

Wikipedia.org