'After the Mass we were taken to the local pub and put sitting on a bench'

My name is Lauren Grace, I am 12-years-old, and I am a First Year student in St Mary’s Secondary School, Nenagh.

With the resumption of celebrating the Sacraments in the church now post-Covid lockdowns, I got to wondering ‘what was it like celebrating the Sacraments when my grandmother was a child’.

With that in mind I sat down with my grandmother Anne, and asked her to share some of her memories. I hope you find them interesting to read.

What are your memories of your First Confession?

I remember for our First Confession, we as a class, were all marched down from the school to the church in the local village which was a half mile away.

We were directed into this dark box which was terrifying at the time and I’d say each one of us rhymed off the same confession that our teacher had taught us for months before namely, ‘I was bold, I was disobedient and I told lies’, which covered a multitude.

Mind you I never knew what these things meant. The only sin I did understand was fighting with my sisters and brothers and that was top of my list of sins for many years to come.

Having received absolution, I felt I had an awful weight off my shoulders but by the time we were marched back up to school again it seemed like a very hard day’s work.

What are your memories of your First Holy Communion?

My First Holy Communion Day was a really special day.

I was dressed in a beautiful knee length white dress with a lovely white veil, white stockings and shoes.

The dress was worn by each member of the family down along and if it was not being worn by one of us it was worn by some neighbour’s children.

I had a lovely First Communion Book and white beads. I felt really special. About 15 of us made our Communion on that day.

After the Mass we were taken to the local pub and put sitting on a bench while the owner prepared lemonade and biscuits for all of us.

That was a fantastic treat for us as we never knew the inside of hotels, restaurants or any other establishments up to that point.

What are your memories of your Confirmation Day?

My Confirmation Day was a big disappointment for me. As I was too young to make it in Fifth Class and it only took place every two years I had to come back out to the Primary School from First Year to get it.

At that time the Bishop came to the school to ask you questions out of the catechism. I was so nervous on the day that I wasn’t able to answer but I still got my Confirmation.

It turned out that three of my family got it together, me being the oldest.

My Mam made our clothes for it.

My sister Gerri and myself had red jackets and I had a brown check box pleated skirt while Gerri had a black box pleated skirt.

My sister Carmel wore a blue skirt and jacket and a white blouse.

I remember being so disappointed that I got a homemade outfit.

I just wanted something from a shop. Looking back now my mother should have and could have been a dress designer.

We got our Confirmation in Killenaule where almost 100 people made it on the same day. We could not hear, see or make any sense of it all as there were so many people in the church.

After the ceremony which went on for hours we got an ice-cream in Kathleen Foley’s shop and that was the highlight of the day.

It was home after that to change our clothes and spend the day playing.