“The heart of the city was silent in prayer”: Devotion in Dublin during the 1954 Marian Year

Christine Falls is set in 1950s Dublin in a world in which women’s sexuality was tightly controlled and pregnancy outside of marriage was shameful and dangerous. In this talk Katie Blackwood, Dublin City Council Historian in Residence, will discuss the themes of the book in the context of the Marian Year in Dublin. 

1954 was declared a Marian Year by Pope Pius XII to mark the centenary of the Immaculate Conception as official Catholic doctrine. In Ireland there was an outpouring of devotion to the Virgin Mary in which many Dubliners took part in public processions and erected shrines in housing estates and parks. This talk will examine the broader political and social history of the 1950s, the public participation in the Marian year and the impact of religious doctrine on ordinary Dubliners' lives. 

Photography will take place at this event for promotional use by Dublin City Libraries and the One Dublin One Book programme. Photographs may be used as publicity material by Dublin City Libraries and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, to include social media, print media and digital media and/or in newsletters, programmes, on radio and TV, on websites or for public display.