Some voters, apparently seeking divine intercession, deposited Miraculous Medals in ballot boxes in last week’s referendum in Ireland.
The vote was held to seek approval for two proposed constitutional amendments, both of which dealt with family life. One concerned redefining the family by elevating relationships other than marriage; for example, by inserting the definition ‘whether founded on marriage or on other durable relationships’. Another sought to change wording on the role of mothers – which suggested that the home and caregiving were their primary responsibility – by inserting a more general constitutional commitment: ‘The State recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to Society a support without which the common good cannot be achieved, and shall strive to support such provision.’
The measures were widely supported by Ireland’s political parties, and by organised civil society. Religious organisations tended to be more sceptical, with the Catholic Church opposing the amendments. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland said that the proposals were ‘disappointing, but [were] an indication of Ireland’s changing culture.’
Despite polling suggesting that the public favoured the amendments, both were resoundingly rejected. Just short of 68% of voters rejected the amendment on the family, and around 74% the amendment on motherhood. With one exception on one of the amendments, no constituency across the country delivered a majority yes vote.
Pundits suggested that the vote was intended to showcase Ireland’s changing, more cosmopolitan identity, and a departure from its traditionalist Catholic roots. The influence of the Church has indeed been waning, and in 2018, a referendum supported legal abortion in the country.
However, Eoin O’Malley, a political scientist at Dublin City University, described the vote as ‘a poorly executed referendum that nobody needed or wanted. It was politically designed to secure a liberal legacy for Leo Varadkar, but it makes that legacy look opportunistic.’
The Irish government has also alienated a part of its population with perceived lax immigration controls and indifference to public concerns about this.
The discovery of religious icons in ballot boxes was a reminder that Catholic commitment endured as a cultural and political impulse in Ireland. Similar objects were found during the abortion referendum.
The Miraculous Medals have their origins in 1830 in France, where, according to Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to St Catherine Labouré. Medals were made to record images she had seen. ‘Have a medal struck upon this model. Those who wear it will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around their neck’, Mary is said to have told her.
A local paper in Donegal took up the story with the headline: ‘Did “miraculous medals” help swing the vote in Donegal?’