Hail Mary and Agnes

If you remember Agnes from earlier blogs, you already know she was my Grandmother (on the Flaherty side) and she lived with the Madden family.

She was a self-appointed Priestess.  Before she joined the Madden family, she was a paid Irish Wailing Woman,, aka a professional mourner hired to attend funerals.

In her retirement, Agnes spent all of her waking hours praying for the souls of the faithful departed.  She could magically promote sinners from Purgatory to Heaven with her devotions.

She always had a rosary entwined  in her fingers.  The funniest memory I have of this woman was when the Madden family watched wrestling on TV.  She would swing her rosary around like a cowboy's lasso and yell:  "Kill him - snap his neck - step on his head - you God damn son-of-a-bitch."  Then, during the commercials she resumed her angelic pose and continue with:  "Hail Mary, full of grace."