Scottish Catholic Observer

An icon of Our Lady of Paisley will travel to every parish in the diocese over the next year in preparation for the Easter 2016 diocesan synod on laity and evangelisation.

Beginning its journey during the month of Devotion to Our Lady, the icon (right) has spent a week each in St Paul’s and St Peter’s churches in Paisley, and moved to St Cadoc’s in Newton Mearns on Thursday. The icon will finish its journey in St Mirin’s Cathedral on Holy Thursday 2016.

The life-sized icon features Mary standing on a carpet of Paisley pattern and holding the baby Jesus in front of Paisley Abbey and St Mirin’s Cathedral. Above Our Lady are the Greek letter abbreviations for Jesus Christ and The Mother of God and this, along with the halo, are what make the painting a holy icon rather than a work of art.

The icon began life five years ago when artist Bernadette Reilly and Denis Murphy, who would later become a deacon in the diocese, discussed the idea for an icon of Our Lady of Paisley that would tour parishes.

Once Fr John Keenan was appointed Bishop of Paisley, some new ideas were incorporated into the work, including a Latin phrase ‘Hac ne vade via nisi dixeris, Ave Maria,’ which was once written on the walls of Paisley Abbey and translates to ‘Go not this way unless you have said Ave Maria.’

The Canon law that guides diocesan synods requires a preparatory period of catechesis, consultation and prayer, and the pilgrimage of the Our Lady of Paisley icon will form part of that for the diocese. The icon will be welcomed with a Mass as it arrives in each parish and will be sent off at the end of the week with a short parish devotion.

Bishop John Keenan said he believes the icon pilgrimage is the most important part of the upcoming diocesan synod.

“Synod is a great word which means ‘travelling together,’” he said. “So this journey is one that the whole diocese has embarked upon…

“Pope Francis says in Evangelium Vitae that it was Mary’s presence that made possible the Pentecost outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church. So we consecrated the synod and the whole diocese of Paisley to Our Lady for the bringing in [of] the certainty that She would make possible a new outpouring of the spirit of evangelisation on the whole diocese, clergy and people.”

“Our devotion to Our Lady is under the patronage of Our Lady of Paisley,” the bishop added. “This was a pre-Reformation devotion that arose from the Paisley Abbey, dedicated to Our Lady from the 14th century, that reached to the whole diocesan area.”

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—This story ran in full in the May 22 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.