Friday, April 06, 2007

There's something about Marian!

Do you know any middle aged woman called Marian? If so, try saying to her... "You look well for a 53 year old!"

Chances are you will be right, or at worst she may be no more than a few years younger.

It's hard for us to grasp today the power which the 1954 Marian year had at the time throughout the Catholic World. Here in Ireland there must be hundreds of Marian shrines which were built that year in towns, villages and housing estates. This photo taken yesterday was in Monkstown here in Dublin. You can see the care and attention which is still put into the maintenance of this walled dedicated garden.

I was born a year later in 1955. In my late teens - as I went to discos with my shoulder length John Lennon hair, deep purple shirt and groovy bell bottoms - one of my cheesy comments if I met a girl called Marian was..."I can't be seen with an older chick!"

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know - it never occurred to me that I knew so many women called Marian!! Now I know why. Thanks.

It's all part of the John Paul syndrome.

I do remember my father muttering at the time about "all those damn crosses cluttering up the skyline". Strangely, he was quite a religious man, but a little bit 'unorthodox'! He was ahead of his time.n

Brian Damage said...

I have an uncle a priest. Unfortunately his sisters put down everything to God, which can be rather grating. One of my aunts was in a car accident, which she survived with only bruising, and then attributed her survival to a religious medal, not the airbag, seatbelt, or structural soundness of the car she was driving.

I'm a practising Catholic, but I've always found the notion that God has some divine influence over the fates mildly amusing.

grannymar said...

The John Paul syndromeis bad enough, but I remember a man who back in the Pius X11 era called his son William Pius.

Poor fellow probably still goes through life called Willie Pee!

John of Dublin said...

Grandad - you are a cool dude knowing so many Marians! The directors of Earth and Universe accept no liability in the event that use of the phrase suggested in my opening paragraph results in you being seriously assaulted!

ppmoore said...

Hi John,

I also know a few Marians. One of them is married to Joseph!