'We were given to understand that to chew the host and, by extension, the mint sweet was a serious sin and a cause for confession'

'We were given to understand that to chew the host and, by extension, the mint sweet was a serious sin and a cause for confession'

Harry Browne remembers his First Holy Communion.

Harry Browne

Trinity College Dublin

1949

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Harry Browne

Childhood and Early Life

Life Story

Gardiner Street, Dublin

1940's

First Communion was received in St Francis Xavier's Church in Gardiner Street in the Ignatian Chapel. Some days before the event we all went in a crocodile to the chapel for a rehearsal. Instead of a host we had a mint sweet placed on our tongue. We were given to understand that to chew the host and, by extension, the mint sweet was a serious sin and a cause for confession. One of my classmates was so bold as to nip back to the end of the line and receive a second sweet. We thought that he would be blasted by a thunderbolt from Heaven. After the communion we went back to the school for milk and buns while our parents assembled at the top of the class and gazed fondly on their adorable angels.The best part of First Communion was the money given by neighbours and relatives afterwards. It was a cause of great competition to tell afterwards the amount of money so gained. The person with the biggest purse was considered very lucky.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)