St. Columban's, North Essendon praying card

Datec 1960

Object numberANMS1400[002]

NamePraying card

MediumPaper, ink

DimensionsOverall: 100 x 65 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Scott Carlin

Terms

DescriptionA praying card from St. Columban's, North Essendon. The card features an image of Jesus sitting on a cloud with arms open. Text on the reverse reads 'Teach Us, Teach us, good Lord, To serve You as You deserve, To give and not to count the cost; To fight and not to heed the wounds; To toil and not to seek for rest; To labour and not to as for any reward; Save that of knowing that we do your will. St. Columban's Nth. Essendon'. This card is part of a collection of paper ephemera relating to Irish-Australian Johanna (Annie) Crowle (1908-1995) and her participation in the Fourth National Australian Pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1960.HistoryAnnie Crowle was either born with a crippled foot or contracted polio as a child. She lived in Chippendale and then Glebe in Sydney with her family. Her father Patrick Crowle was Irish born and the family were active in the Irish National Assocation. Sometime before 1960 Annie won a substantial prize in the Opera House lottery. This enabled her to participate in the Fourth National Australian Pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1960. She also travelled to Rome and Ireland. The tour group travelled on SS ORION. Since an apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1858, the village of Lourdes in the Pyrenees in southern France had become the site of annual pilgrimage for tens of thousands of Catholic worshippers every year. The first Australian Pilgrimage was led by the famous Irish-Australian Archbishop of Melbourne Daniel Mannix in 1925 and organised by Cooks Tours. The spring water from a grotto at Lourdes was believed by many to possess healing properties, and this may have been a signficant factor in Annie's desire to join the pilgrimage. Certainly in the photograph of the Australian pilgrims for 1960, there are several people in wheelchairs, including Annie.SignificanceThe collection of ephemera relating to Annie Crowle highlights a little known but poignant story of overseas passenger travel - religious pilgrimages.