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And so, it came to pass. That time of the year which came upon us, the season of Spring.
And at Spring: our Confirmation.
A great way to end the Primary school years was receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Confirmation is one of the three sacraments of Initiation into the Catholic Church, with Baptism and Eucharist being the other two. Confirmation confers the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit onto the recipient and makes an indelible mark on the Spiritual Character of the recipient.
It is nearly the Catholic equivalent of the Bar Mitzvah. And ours was around the age of 11; where you move from childhood into the shadow of adulthood.
And for Confirmation you must select a name, i.e. a Confirmation Name. Usually a Saint’s name.
You can’t just pick any random name. It has to be a Saints name, and if it is an Irish Saints name… all the better.
A few of the lads picked Michael. This annoyed the teacher. At this age, once one picked Michael the rest followed suit, as it was a cool name. I thought different. I thought of my Da. He was called Maurice. There weren’t too many Maurices about. Nobody else will pick Maurice.
When the day comes to use this name as my confirmation name, I would be different and unique.
Even if you were a fella you could pick ‘Mary’. For example, Declan Flannagan picked Mary and along with his middle name(s) he became Declan Gregory ‘Mary’ Flannagan. As Mary was the Mother of God, this didn’t incur any criticism in the school yard. It was quite common.
The Confirmation name came after your middle name. Rarely if ever used. Not on official documentation. It was there for symbolism. A Catholic thing. I had not one but two middle names and now a Confirmation name, and a first name and a surname,… ‘am’t I brilliant….?’
……………
The Bishop was paying us a visit at the end of next week on Friday afternoon. We had to come into school on Monday morning with our Saint’s name selected. And the teacher then gave us another task to fulfil by Friday which was; to research the history behind your Saint’s name, for the Bishop would ask of you, who this Saint was and what did he do…his miracles and the miracle of his Sainthood.
How would we find this out? I asked after having my hand raised for several minutes.
‘Go and visit the Parochial House this evening and ask the Priest,’ said the Master.
The Priest had a large book, apparently it was A Book of Saints and contained ALL the Saints names, and All their miracles and ALL their stories of Sainthood.
I hadn’t bothered to visit him. I had forgotten to do so.
And along came Friday… in our Sunday Best uniform, combed hair, and a shower the night before.
How neatly were we turned out?
In came Father Mel. Not the Bishop like we were promised – he was away off doing Bishopy things. But everybody liked Father Mel, he was easy going, laid back, full of craic. Not too demanding. You want a Father Mel doing your Mass so you do. It’s over and done in thirty minutes. Not a strict priest but sure he does a great mass and doesn’t take too long at it.
In came Father Mel and took over the show.
Who has chosen their Confirmation names?
All the hands go up,
He selected one pupil.
Stand up and tell me your name:
Jessica
What would your Confirmation name be Jessica?
My confirmation name would be…
Jessica was a reader, she always was. She had all the Harry Potter Books read already before everybody else did. She was reading Order of the Phoenix now. Its about x700 pages.
And up stood Kyle he picked Michael as did about x4 or x5 other fellas.
All these hands held up, all quiet, and well behaved were these bunch of 11 year olds - so obedient to the delight of the Master.
Eventually he looked at me...I was delighted. Everybody will hear my Confirmation name. Nobody else has this name. Even Stacey who sat at my table said it was good that I picked Maurice and not picked Michael for everybody else was picking Michael.
She was always good at telling me to do my own thing and be comfortable with my own choice even at the age of eleven!
Who is Maurice? asked Father Mel.
Maurice is the name of my Da.
And was he Saint?
Could have been, I really don’t know.
The Master was seething. I can still see him now. Turning his head and grinning with disapproval.
Maurice was a Gladiator in ancient Egypt I was informed by Father Mel. Obviously, he had read the Book of Saints as he had it in stored in the Parochial House.
I was told to sit down, and Father Mel moved on. He didn’t ask everybody only a select few pupils I felt great…
And nobody had picked Maurice!
Up until the Confirmation ceremony, that was the talk, running around the playground, asking everybody, all your classmates, ‘What’s your Confirmation Name?
Once the Confirmation was over not a word. Onto a new phase in life.
And still, it isn’t mentioned. So, I thought I should mention it now.
Joseph Conlan 10.12.2023
