Pious Legends

PIOUS LEGENDS

BASIC R.C. BELIEF The name given by Roman Catholics to local superstitions which are supposed to bolster the faith of the uneducated. One concerns miraculous wells, where Mary is supposed to cause water to rise on the eve of her feast days. This water has great power against evil. Such pious legends abound in older Roman Catholic cultures.

MIRACULOUS WATER There are a number of wells located in various places that are supposed to remain dry 364 days a year, but on the eve of some special feast day (usually of Mary), water miraculously springs up. The faithful often frequent such spots and use the miraculous water as a means of spiritual and physical blessing.

One such shrine is Ladywell Shrine, Dundalk, Ireland. The legend is that on the eve of the Feast of the Assumption, Mary causes miraculous water to come into the well at this shrine.

On August 15, 1968, I was driving through Dundalk, Ireland, and was attracted by a large group of people congregating at Ladywell Shrine. I went in to see what was happening, and on the way bought an empty sauce bottle from a young boy for two pence. Inside the shrine, these receptacles were being filled by another boy who was in the shallow well.

I wrote a letter to the parish priest, D. Campbell Aiden, St. Patrick’s, Dundalk, Co. Louth, Eire, asking him about Ladywell Shrine. This is his reply: “Dear Mr. Jackson, “A pious legend exists locally that the Ladywell Shrine which you

visited is one of the many `miraculous wells’ which exists in this country. One cannot, of course, discount the possibility that their appearance at some time in the past may in one or two cases have had certain peculiar characteristics. Generally, however, it is safer to regard these matters as belonging to the domain of pious legend, and – provided nothing superstitious is allowed to intervene – to allow them to be used as a means towards a recollection of spirtitual things.

“In the case of Ladywell, the tradition is that the water in the well rises at midnight on the Eve of the Assumption. You will easily understand that I personally do not think this to be so, as I do not think Our Lady is given to working `gimmicks’ – even for the best of reasons. “Yours sincerely, “/s/ D. CAMPBELL AIDEN”