It was a perfect misty morning to visit such a sad memorial.
7-year-old Nicholas Green was shot by highwaymen (yes, really! Highwaymen!) while on holiday in Italy in 1994. His grief-stricken parents, in an effort to give meaning to this senseless tragedy, donated Nicholas' organs to seven Italian children who needed them. The gesture created a global spike in organ donation, and of course a great legacy for Nicholas, and a new life for these seven children and probably countless others.
In a national show of remorse and gratitude, foundries across Italy produced 140 unique bells that were used in this very special memorial. Some bells have inscriptions in Italian, some in English, some in both, others with different motifs and scenes.
I absolutely must return when the wind is blowing, I can only imagine what that sound must add to this already sober monument.
About the memorial (Link)
Nicholas Green Foundation (Link)
Tags: bodega Bay Nicholas Green Children's Bell Tower Memorial Monument Bell tower Atlas Obscura Roadside Americana Roadside Americana Creative Commons 2021
This cross in Bragan, County Monaghan was erected in 1938 to commemorate an earlier event, the shooting of a priest one Christmas morning during penal times. Ireland was under penal laws from 1635 to 1829, a time of extreme persecution of the catholic religion and catholics in general, especially in the first century of the period. The priest was conducting a catholic mass, illegal under penal law, and as a consequence out on the mountain, far from anywhere, but near the nexus of three parishes. The exact identity of the priest and the year are not known.
The mass itself used a druid stone as an altar, or mass rock as it was known in these times, which suggests the area had a long spiritual history.
Even today, it truly is in the middle of nowhere, deep within a blanket blog, a timeless place, and as the sun sets, you really feel a sense of detachment from the rest of the world.
Tags: penal cross Bragan Monaghan Sunset Creative Commons 2021