Holy Innocents
The 28th December is the Feast of the Holy Innocents or was when I was a child. It was one of those ‘Special Church Days’ in my father’s calendar. It commemorated the memory of those infant males killed by King Herod in an attempt to kill Jesus. Being a holyday we were obliged to attend Mass.
Fasting from midnight before Holy Communion was the norm when I was very young. This meant that we were woken from our sleep very early and ready for 6 or 7am Mass. Can you imagine the job my mother had to waken five young children (it was before my sister was born), wash the sleep from their eyes, dress them and comb their hair and have them all ready to sit in the car just when my father said he was about to leave the house? In his eyes, looking after the children was my mother’s job. She did it well.
My father had a preference for Order Churches so we attended Gardiner Street, home to the Jesuits and where my older brothers sang in the junior choir. The boys always sang during the first mass of the day. Thinking about it now brings on the internal shiver that was partly from the cold air in the large building and partly from the internal shock of being woken suddenly from sleep.
Once the mass was over we returned home for a cooked breakfast. Now hold on a minute…. This cooked breakfast was prepared by mammy and she was with us. So she had to start in to cook bacon, sausage, eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms when we arrived home. Daddy sat with the Sunday papers waiting for the food to appear on his plate.
As you can imagine we youngsters were at times fractious at the table. They were the days before central heating so we were tired, cold and hungry. Sparks flew and arguments flared easily.
On one particular morning the bickering went on at the back of the table. Daddy raised his head and complained about the arguments and asked if we thought that ‘The Holy Family’ behaved like that at the table? Mammy muttered something to him and he pushed back his chair and left the room in a hurry, his breakfast forgotten!
It was years later that we learned what she said:
‘It was easy for them, they had only one child!’
whoopsadaisy said,
December 28, 2008 at 11:41 am
Haha good woman Mammy Mar
I didn’t know that today was a holy day, bold me. I don;t even remember it from years ago…must ask my mother, she is normally aware of all the holy days (and observes them)
Magpie11 said,
December 28, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I used to accompany my grandmother to her Communion when I stayed with her…she always smelled funny when she came back from the alter….Come to think of it she was the only person in my family who ever really praised me. I remember once that she said she loved going to church with me because i was the only person she knew who sang the Psalms with the choir as opposed to half a beat behind them.
Sunday breakfast? Boiled eggs and toast. After a bowl of cornflakes with full cream, unpasteurised Guernsey milk! Can’t get it now! Nanny state! Huh!
wisewebwoman said,
December 28, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Thanks for the memories, GM, I passed out I don’t know how many times on the cold hard tiles of the church, one time gashing my head on the end of the kneeler. Blood sugar problems were diagnosed after I had long left home.
In the meantime I was told to buck myself up and not be offending Holy God.
XO
WWW
elly parker said,
December 28, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Hi all - Grannymar asked me to let you all know that her internet has disappeared today, and she can’t get any help to fix it until everyone goes back to work tomorrow….
She’ll be back as soon as she can and she’s missing you all!
Maureen said,
December 28, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Your mother must have been a saint! To have a house full of children co-operate is something I deeply admire. I have a hard time getting 3 kids to go to a 9 or 10:30 Mass.
Her response to your father was priceless!!
Maz said,
December 28, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Hi GM, hope you get your internet sorted soon and hope you had a lovely Christmas. Best wishes for the new year. Maz
Baino said,
December 28, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Love it, a ‘what would Jesus do’ moment if every there was one! Actually a friend of mine queried the saying of Grace at the Christmas Table “Why do we have to thank Jesus, he didn’t do the cooking!”
steph said,
December 29, 2008 at 12:30 am
Thanks! Elly
Don’t tell Grannymar…
but I didn’t actually have time to miss her today. Sshh!
I’ll pretend she was desperately missed
Grannymar said,
December 29, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Thankfully I am back online once more.
Do you think my father arranged the break in transmission?
Dorothy Stahlnecker said,
December 30, 2008 at 12:32 am
Oh the memories they are so wonderful good or bad..and the holidays are sure to ignite them.
Dorothy fronm grammology
grammology.com
Grannymar said,
December 30, 2008 at 11:18 am
Dorothy,
I hope you had a good Christmas with plenty of memories old and new!
stwidgie said,
January 2, 2009 at 4:17 am
Good story! I’m impressed with your mother’s ability to mobilize all those kids. My brother’s seventh arrived last Saturday. I’m happy to report that he’s a modern dad and shares the parenting admirably with my sister-in-law. But I don’t think going to super-early church services is on their agenda very often.
I hope it’s not maudlin of me, but I’ve always loved the Coventry Carol . Just my kind of melody, I guess.
Grannymar said,
January 2, 2009 at 9:25 am
stwidgie,
The Coventry Carol is a very popular one!