Statue of the Blessed Virgin

Statue of the Blessed Virgin

One of the best-kept secrets of Irish culture is the moving statues phenomenon that erupted in the mid-eighties all over the republic of Ireland. In August 1985, there were reports from the small town of Mountcollins that a statue of the Blessed Virgin had been seen to move. In the following months there were reports of the same phenomenon coming from small rural areas all over the country. Many people traveled to county Limerick to view the statue at Garryowen, following reports that some people had seen blood coming from one of the hands of Our Lady. The Rosary was recited several times each night as hundreds converged on the shrine. I myself went to once such gathering late at night at Mountcollins to see what was going on. The crowd chanted the Rosary over and over with their eyes glued to the statue of the Virgin Mary that was standing up in an alcove of a fake grotto similar to hundreds all over Ireland. It was dark and the statue had a spotlight on it. Behind the faithful, there was a wood with the main road beyond. The Rosary recitals gradually gave way to "Mother of God, pray for us" that quickly became a rather feverish chanting of "Pray for us, pray for us, PRAY FOR US"! that got faster and more desperate as time pasted.

Scenes like this sprang up nationwide with new sightings everyday. Everyone was talking about it at the pub, church or school and the media fanned the flames even more with daily coverage. Each person you spoke to who believed it was a true miracle, claimed a unique experience of the phenomena. Some said they saw the statue's hand move a bit or that a tear feel from her eye or most commonly the apparition of Christ's face upon the statue of Mary's face. The most skeptical about the whole rumpus was actually the clergy who found themselves dealing with a religious happening that was not within their control with impromptu prayer gatherings springing up everywhere. Their calls for caution in the media were generally disregarded by the members of the public caught up in the excitement. Some of this excitement began to turn a bit sour when rumors began to circulate that these miracles were actually dire omens of a coming apocalypse. It was reported in the papers that some woman claimed to have had a vision that this was the beginning of a series of pre-apocalyptic portents that heralded the end of everything.