Moving statues

{{Short description|1985 reported movement of statues in Ireland}}

{{Infobox event

| title = Moving statues in Ireland

| image = Grotto at Ballinspittle.jpg

| caption = The Ballinspittle grotto, where one of the first sightings occurred in the summer of 1985

| native_name = Bogadh na nDealbh

| native_name_lang = ga

| date = {{start date|1985|7|22}}

| location = Ballinspittle, County Cork

| type = Phenomenon

}}

The moving statues ({{Langx|ga|Bogadh na nDealbh}}) phenomenon occurred during the summer of 1985 in Ireland, where, in several different parts of the country, statues of the Virgin Mary were reported to move spontaneously.

In Ballinspittle, County Cork, in July 1985, an observer claimed to have seen a roadside statue of the Virgin Mary move spontaneously."The Miracle at Ballinspittle." Granta 23, Spring 1988 Similar occurrences were reported shortly afterward in Mount Melleray, County Waterford, and at around 30 other locations around the country. They were not all Marian apparitions. Some involved other divine figures and/or saints who appeared in stains on church walls etc. Thousands gathered at many of the sites out of curiosity or to gaze in wonder and to pray. Up to 100,000 were said to have visited the Ballinspittle site alone.Mulholland, Peter. (2008) 'Moving Statues and Concrete Thinking'. [https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/1919/1/PMMoving_Statues.pdf Quaderns de l'Institut Català d'Antropologia: sèrie monogràfics 23]. The Catholic Church remained reticent or highly skeptical and a bishop declared the whole phenomenon 'an illusion'. The Ballinspittle statue was damaged by a gang of hammer-wielding Pentecostalist protesters against idolatry (or Mariolatry), led by Robert Draper, who was found guilty to smashing other statues and went on to do six months in prison,{{Cite web |date=2015-07-19 |title=The Moving Statues and Me – Irish Imbas Books |url=https://irishimbasbooks.com/the-moving-statues-and-me/ |access-date=2024-10-01 |website=irishimbasbooks.com |language=en-US}} but the Ballinspittle statue was repaired. In 2002 the BBC planned a documentary on the phenomenon.[http://www.independent.ie/national-news/bbc-to-pay-homage-to-the-moving-statues-phenomenon-501058.html "BBC to pay homage to the moving statues phenomenon"]

Author John D. Vose set out to see for himself in his book The Statues That Moved a Nation.[https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1852000023 The Statues That Moved a Nation] He interviewed witnesses who told him the most amazing stories of miraculous happenings.

A team of psychologists based in University College, Cork (UCC), recorded 31 apparition sites and explained the visions as being optical illusions caused by staring at objects in the evening twilight.Ryan, T. and Jurek Kirakowski (1985) Ballinspittle: Moving Statues and Faith. Cork and Dublin: Mercier Press Others have argued that the moving statues and other extraordinary international phenomenon like the "flying-saucer" religions and many other new religious and occult movements are best explained as responses to an existential angst that was exacerbated by the Cold War and other sources of social stress but with ultimate origins in cultural or religious norms, family dynamics, and personal psychology.

Anthropologist Peter Mulholland argues that the continuing role of Marian apparitions in Irish popular culture is a reflection of psychological insecurity stemming largely from adverse childhood experiences and a concatenation of historical, cultural, political, religious and sociological factors.Mulholland, Peter, "Marian apparitions, the New Age and the FAS prophet". 53 - 73 in Olivia Cosgrove et al. (eds), Ireland's new religious movements. Cambridge Scholars, 2011

Moving statues have also been reported in Poland, another devout Catholic country.{{Cite web|last=Czapla|first=Martyna Bunda, [współpr ] Agnieszka|date=2011-10-21|title=Polski natchniony katolicyzm|url=https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/spoleczenstwo/1520256,1,polski-natchniony-katolicyzm.read|access-date=2021-12-14|website=www.polityka.pl|language=pl}}{{Cite web|last=Bałuk|first=Kamil|date=30 April 2019|title=Przychodzi Maryja do Polaka...|url=https://wyborcza.pl/ksiazki/7,154165,24692938,przychodzi-maryja-do-polaka-przeczytaj-o-wszystkich-cudach.html?disableRedirects=true|access-date=2021-12-14|website=wyborcza.pl}}