County View
John Healy
IN the small townland of Kiltullagh, close to the Mayo border with Roscommon, an ancient standing stone on a hilltop marks a mystery which continues to engage the attention of historians and archaeologists.
Here, some years ago, was found a shallow grave containing the skeleton of a man. Carbon dating tests carried out at Queen’s University in Belfast placed the date of the burial as circa 430 AD, plus or minus some 20 years.
The intriguing aspect of the find was that the burial had taken place in an east-west orientation, the hallmark of burials carried out in the Christian tradition.
This in turn raised the question of whether the grave could be that of one of Ireland’s first early Christians, given the date of the burial and that St Patrick had founded the church of Kiltullagh only a short distance away.
That ancient church is still visible and stands on a steep hill with a magnificent view of the surrounding countryside. Legend has it that in the fifth century a local chieftain, Enda O’Flynn, converted to Christianity and gave the land to St Patrick to build his church. The present ruined building is thought to date from 1441 and it is said to have been destroyed by Cromwellian forces in the mid-1600s.
Current interest in the Kiltullagh church and the skeleton of that first Christian has been re-awakened by the erudite Noel O’Neill of the Mayo Historical and Archaeological Society, whose excellent photographs of the ruined church have been posted on the internet.
He in turn pays due acknowledgement to the late and fondly remembered Gerry Cribbin of Ballyhaunis, who pioneered much of the early research into Kiltullagh in the early 1990s. His painstaking work on the ancient site was eventually documented and, in 1995, appeared in the form of an article by Gerry Cribbin entitled ‘A Pagan-Christian transitional burial at Kiltullagh’.
Noel O’Neill continues to entertain and inform with a wide range of topics drawn from both ancient and more recent history. With the sort of enquiring mind which ranges from the story of the Creteboom on the Moy to ogham stones across North Mayo, he never fails to remind us of the richness of the heritage all around us, and which we so often ignore or overlook.
MICHAEL MOORE’S ‘SICKO’
TO some he’s an irritating loudmouth with a penchant for self-publicity; to others he is the working man’s hero against an uncaring establishment. Either way, writer and film-maker, Michael Moore, has a ready talent for rattling cages and peering under boulders in search of the truth.
His film, ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’, was a smash hit success. Decried by official Washington as a completely skewed view of the events surrounding 9/11, the film nevertheless caused millions of Americans to ask disturbing questions about whether they were told the full truth about the events of that terrible day.
Now Moore is back with ‘Sicko’, a documentary launched at the Cannes Film Festival which has just gone on general release. Its subject is the inequities of the American healthcare system and, because healthcare is such a vitally important issue to its citizens, the film could well have a major impact on the next bout of US presidential politics.
The film has already been panned by senior political figures in Congress, not least because of what they see as Moore’s unsavoury methods of drumming up publicity for his venture.
In making the film, Moore gathered a group of people, survivors of 9/11 who could not get proper healthcare at home. He took them to Cuba, but first tried to get them help at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, where local officials claimed that Al-Qaeda detainees are receiving outstanding free healthcare.
His group of Americans were rebuffed by the military, so Moore carried on to Havana, where the Cuban authorities were only too happy to provide treatment for a pittance.
Needless to say, this has not gone down too well back home. Accused of pandering to the hated regime of Fidel Castro, Moore is the target of a government investigation because his trip was in breach of a trade embargo against Cuba.
All of this, meanwhile, is grist to the will of Michael Moore, whose populist touch is more than a match for all that his government can throw at him.
THE ROSARY PRIEST REMEMBERED
A REMARKABLE story of a remarkable man is as fitting a description as any of the recent Mid West Radio programme on the late Fr Patrick Peyton of Attymass, known throughout the world as ‘The Rosary Priest’.
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the man of the humble origins led the Rosary crusade, and millions of followers in the US and Europe took up his mission of re-introducing the tradition of the family rosary.
His catchphrase, ‘The family that prays together, stays together’, was a powerful one, and his skills as a communicator and master of the media made him an international figure.
In 1909, Patrick and Tom Peyton, sons of John Peyton and Mary Gillard, set sail for America with the intention of studying for the priesthood, a vocation denied them at home because of the lack of a second level education.
They joined the Holy Cross Order but, a year before his ordination, Patrick was struck down with tuberculosis. His miraculous recovery he ascribed to the intervention of Our Lady, which led him on his ordination in 1941 to declare his crusade to promote the family rosary.
He started by harvesting the power of the mass media, and his radio programme of saying the rosary over the airwaves was broadcast to millions of listeners across the entire United States.
Soon, he enlisted the help of Hollywood stars like Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Gregory Peck, who joined him in reciting the Rosary. The crusade spread like wildfire and two years later came the breakthrough into television.
The Rosary crusade went international, and millions of people turned out to attend mass open air rallies across the US and then in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia.
Now, 15 years after his death, the cause for the canonisation of Fr Peyton is under way. Back at the Fr Peyton Memorial Centre in Attymass, his memory and his message are kept alive in a most informative and well laid out series of usual and cinematic displays.
And thanks to Teresa O’Malley’s radio documentary ‘Fr Patrick Peyton: the saint we knew’, a whole new generation is learning of the humble priest who touched the lives of millions.
WHEN THE SPEEDING HAS TO STOP
IN what can only be described as a considerable understatement, Garda Assistant Commissioner, Eddie Rock, opined during the week that speeding on our roads has not yet received the level of attention which it should.
It’s an observation which should be blindingly obvious to anyone who drives the N5 from Castlebar to Charlestown, or indeed to any urban resident who stands at his front gate and watches the breakneck speed of motorists who pay not the slightest heed to speed limit signs.
Mr Rock’s good news, however, is that the Gardaí are about to buy 100 new mobile speed cameras which will be deployed in marked Garda vehicles across the country before the end of the year.
This will be in addition to the 100 speed cameras to be outsourced to a private company and which will be installed at various locations set by the Gardaí by early next year.
The new cameras will be installed on Garda vehicles and will have the capacity to detect speeding vehicles when patrolling in traffic or when stationary. One of the reasons for using marked, rather than unmarked, vehicles is to avoid the perception that speeding enforcement is merely a revenue generating operation.
The new emphasis on speeding enforcement comes at a time when the pendulum of road accident causes seems to be swinging away from drink driving. The four people who were killed on the roads over the June bank holiday weekend were involved in crashes which took place between 3pm and 7pm in broad daylight.
BALLINTUBBER national school anniversary
THE idea of schooling being confined to the teaching of the three Rs – as it was called in earlier times – has long been discarded in favour of a more rounded education for children, a charge which will be specially highlighted in celebrations this weekend.
Ballintubber National School will mark its 150th anniversary over the coming days when, as part of the ceremonies, former Mayo footballer James Horan will officially launch the commemorative booklet ‘150 years in the Heart of the Community’.
However, the founding figures of the school could hardly have envisaged the way in which education would develop over the following century and a half, as exemplified in a wonderful Third World link programme which the young children of Ballintubber have been involved in since 1995.
In that year, a link was established with Oloirien Primary School in Arusha, Tanzania, and every year since then the Ballintubber pupils have sent a financial donation for the improvement of buildings and facilities in Arusha. Classroom doors and windows, flooring and roof, toilet and sanitary facilities have all been installed, thanks to the generosity of children from halfway across the world.
To date, over €12,000 has winged its way from Ballintubber to Oloirien Primary School, the proceeds of Halloween fancy dress parties, augmented by a generous share of Communion and Confirmation monies. And while the exchange of funds has been in one direction only, the children of Ballintubber would readily acknowledge that there are benefits which come the other way. A new awareness of the needs of children who are less well off, and a sense of moral duty to help those whose needs are great, have been key aspects of the educational experience at Ballintubber.
There could hardly be a better monument to all those who contributed to the development of Ballintubber National School over a century and a half.
