A few Sunday’s ago I was brought back to a time when as a short
trousered youngster I was one of a group of soutaned mass servers who attended
the blessing of the Marian shrine at St. Joseph’s Terrace. The Parish Priest Fr. Steen was the chief
celebrant on that day. The Marian year
had passed by the time the shrine was finished and ready for the ceremonial
opening. The delay however was not due
to any fault on the part of the local committee of St. Joseph’s Terrace folk
who had started the work on the project a year previously. The committee under the chairmanship of Paddy
Doyle known locally as “Chevit” Doyle comprised Jim Fleming, Tony Byrne, Eddie
Delahunt and Joe O’Neill. They were all
members of the St. Joseph’s Welfare Club which had been in existence for many
years previously.
A strike in the cement works at Drogheda curtailed work on the site
which had commenced in 1953. The site
chosen for the shrine was directly opposite the five terraced houses which once
comprised Slatey Row. These houses were demolished
in the early 1930’s prior to the building of St. Joseph’s Terrace.
The event which I recently attended at St. Joseph’s Terrace was the formal
taking in charge by the local branch of the Organisation of National Ex-Service
Men and Women of Ireland of the Marian shrine.
The O.N.E. as it is known was founded in 1951 when a number of
associations formed by demobbed service personnel following the end of WWII
came together. Its initial purpose was
to help maintain the comradeship and companionship fostered while in service
but in recent years it has taken on the additional commendable object of
providing accommodation for ex-service personnel of the Irish Defence
Forces. Its official name is Oglaigh
Naisiúnta na h’Éireann or in English, Organisation of National Ex-Service Men
and hence the letters O.N.E. by which it is generally known. The former army and navy personnel all living
in retirement in the Athy area have committed themselves and their organisation
to maintaining the Marian shrine.
For the past 60 years this shrine which contains the work of many
local craftsmen of 60 years ago has been cared for, initially by the original
shrine committee and following their passing by residents of St. Joseph’s
Terrace. The cut stone which adorns the
shrine was assembled by John Murphy of St. Michael’s Terrace, a craftsman whose
work can also be seen in the beautifully crafted stone wall entrance to the
Dominican Church. McHugh’s Foundry of
Meeting Lane made the small gates while the Fleming brothers, Tom and Jim with
J. McEvoy were largely responsible for the wall erected around the Marian
shrine.
On the same week as the handing over took place our Parish Priest,
Fr. Gerard Tanham said his last Sunday morning mass in St. Michael’s Church
before leaving Athy for Howth Parish. In
the six years Fr. Tanham had been Parish Priest of St. Michael’s Parish he
endeared himself to local parishioners and proved a popular pastor. As befitting a man related to the Irish
patriot Thomas Kettle, Fr. Tanham displayed remarkable appreciation of our
community’s responsibility to remember the hitherto forgotten folk from Athy
and the surrounding countryside who died in the town’s workhouse during the
Great Famine. When I first approached Fr.
Tanham soon after his arrival in Athy to seek his help in holding a service in
St. Mary’s Cemetery on National Famine Commemoration Day he readily agreed to
participate. Not only did he do so but
he also prepared and printed a service which he made available to those
attending the commemoration ceremony.
Incidentally this year’s famine commemorations service will take place
on Sunday, 27th of September but more on that next week. Our good
wishes goes to Fr. Tanham and a welcome is extended to Fr. Frank McEvoy our new
Parish Priest who some years ago served as a curate in St. Michael’s Parish.
In congratulating the members of the O.N.E., the residents of St.
Joseph’s Terrace and our departing and incoming Parish Priests I must not
forget to welcome a very important person who joined us just three weeks
ago. Emmet Taaffe Harward, my very first
grandson following four lovely granddaughters is the latest addition to the
Taaffe extended family.
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