“The Decree of Ne Temerre.*”

…

There is a photograph taken at People’s Park,

my mother, father and sister,

standing in front of the open gates,

I am a child in my mother’s arms.

…

An uncle had died of TB,

a particularly virulent strain,

his brother he’d infected was in Dublin,

in a TB ward never to return.

…

His brother had come home,

when the war was done,

his lungs carried the strain,

one brother infected by his brother.

…

There was no freedom here,

a grandmother of one faith,

married to a grandfather,

of the state recognised religion.

…

But the freedom was of love,

the way they joshed and laughed,

cocking a snook at cruelties conventions,

in dangerous times for either.

…

Their love persevered,

in spite of the disconnection,

families estranged, rejection,

and so a lesson was learned.

…

The love of a church to murder children,

with its smiles, those killing smiles,

the freedom of a church to traffic children,

with closed eyes and the endless miles of lies,

…

the love of a church to brutalise,

young, single mothers, with nowhere to turn.

The freedom of a church to hide,

its crimes and the deaths of small children.

…

And in their black clothed piety,

set themselves above all others,

absolve themselves of guilt,

set themselves above Christs teachings.

…

There was no freedom here,

we watched with open eyes.

…

©robcullen110321

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• Enunciated in 1907, Ne Temere requires that all children of a mixed marriage be brought up as Catholics. Before 1907 the tradition was that the boys in such a marriage would be brought up in the father’s faith and the girls in that of their mother.
• Ne Temerre resulted in couples of both faiths being rejected by their families, particularly farming families, where the oldest boys who married a catholic would result in the Catholic children of that family inheriting the land. But the impact of Ne Temerre had much, much wider repercussions than this and its a subject that requires greater study. I would recommend “Different and the same” by Deirdre Nuttall.
• Ne Temerre to all intents and purposes was a cleansing of Protestants from the Republic of Ireland.
• “Under the stone eyes of Mary” is the title of a novel I am currently editing.
• Being second generation Irish was confusing on many levels, returning “Home” raised further confusions.
• Having a Catholic grandfather excluded by his farming family, and a Protestant grandmother excluded by her family provided a minefield when returning “Home”.

©robcullen110321