March CatholicMom article up today! ☘

sanctanomina CatholicMom.com writer, , ,

Last year on the Eve of St. Patrick (tomorrow) I gave a talk at a dinner for a local Irish Catholic women’s group called the Daughters of St. Patrick on the topic of the history of the name of Mary in Ireland, which I drew from for my March column at CatholicMom, which posted today! Check it out: Our Lady, Queen of Ireland.

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That image is from the Book of Kells and is the earliest existing example of a Madonna and Child image in a Western manuscript — the Irish have long loved Our Lady!

As I say at the end of the article, I’d love to hear any stories you have of the use of the name Mary (girl or boy) in your families if you’re of Irish descent—and even if you’re not! So many of you have shared such stories in the past, and I love them all!

10 thoughts on “March CatholicMom article up today! ☘”

  1. We aren’t Irish, but my Grandparents were Italian (my grandfather born in Italy) and both had Marian names. My Grandfather was Assundo after the Assumption, my Grandmother was Alvera Virginia after the Virgin Mary. They also gave their daughters Marian names, Donna after the Madonna, Dolores after the Via De La Rosa, and Suzanne after my grandfathers nicknames (Sue and Anthony) and St. Anne. I thought it was interesting that none of them were the typical Italian Marian names. My grandfather is also the only Assundo I’ve ever heard of. When we were in Italy we asked around and no one there had even heard of the name either.

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  2. So interesting!

    I LOVE this: regard to language, for example, the greeting “Dia dhuit” (“God to you”) is answered by “Dia is Muire dhuit” (“God and the Blessed Mother to you”).”

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  3. My Irish American great grandmother was Mary Jane. My mother’s sister, named after both grandmothers, is Mary Rose. My aunt’s name was smushed into “Mose” in college. I think everyone but family now calls her just Mary. Her daughter, my cousin, is called Marika. It’s an Americanized spelling of the Lithuanian version of Mary. Everyone above is/was Catholic.

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  4. My name is Mary! My dad is a cradle Catholic (the only one out of his 7 siblings to still consider himself Catholic) and my grandpa, his dad, is Irish! My mom is Filipino, but wasn’t raised Catholic (whoa!), so I like to think my name came from our Irish side! 🙂

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