The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Meitheal back at work on Faha grotto
SIXTY years after Faha Grotto was built, locals are busy on a restoration project and among them is a man who worked on the grotto when it was originally constructed with pick and shovel at the foot of Mount Brandon.
The original idea for the grotto came from a Tralee tailor who joined a pilgrimage to Mount Brandon, led by Cloghane Parish Priest Father James O’Connor, to honour the first Marian Year in 1954. On his descent from the mountain the tailor pilgrim, John O’Connor, was inspired with the idea of building a shrine to Our Lady on the hillside at Faha. He shared his dream with locals, their enthusiasm matched his own and plans were set in motion.
Mike Moriarty donated a site for the grotto and on Sunday after Sunday, and in the long summer evenings the young men of Faha, Baile na Leacan and Cluain Searrach worked with pickaxes, shovels, sledgehammers and crowbars to prepare the site.
The hillside provided a plentiful supply of stones for the job and with stonemason Mike Moriarty supervising the work, the grotto was completed in four years. Today the grotto, which is admired by everybody who climbs Mount Brandon from the Cloghane side, stands as a monument to Mike Moriarty’s workmanship.
Among the original volunteers on the job was Seanín O’Connor from Faha and in recent weeks he has been back on the site, now aged in his 80s but still well able to work a shovel.
Seanín remembers how John O’Connor would cycle out from Tralee every fine Sunday on a ‘common bike’ (high nellie) and a meitheal of five or six locals would join him on the job. The tailor made garda uniforms for £5, which earned him a profit of £1 and, according to Seanín, he used the money to buy a bag of cement or some materials for the grotto.
“He was a saint of a man. He must be to start that thing, you know,” said Seanín.
The grotto, which was completed in 1958, includes statues of St Patrick and St Brendan, along with a fine Italian marble statue of Our Lady (Muire Na Sléibhte), which was donated by Charles Tiernan from New York and his wife Bridget (nee O’Connor), who was originally from the last house at Faha, nearest to the grotto.
To mark the 60th anniversary of the grotto, the current restoration project is being undertaken by a group of volunteers, led by Clochán/Bréanainn Tidy Towns.
“Much credit is due to local Faha men Colm O’Connor, who led the project, assisted by Martin O’Connor and brothers, along with extended members of the O’Connor family and many local volunteers who worked at the grotto and local businesses who supported the restoration project,” said Ann Fitzgerald of Clochán/ Bréanainn Tidy Towns.
Mass will be celebrated by Bishop of Kerry Ray Browne at the restored grotto on the Feast Day of Saint Brendan, May 16, at 7.30pm. All are welcome to attend and to enjoy the best of local hospitality afterwards.