Don’t Meddle with The Angelus – Michael Healy Rae TD
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The Angelus (L’Angelus) is an oil painting by French painter Jean-François Millet, completed in 1859. The painting depicts two peasants bowing in a field over a basket of potatoes to say a prayer, the Angelus, that together with the ringing of the bell from the church on the horizon marks the end of a day’s work.
The Angelus has been broadcast on RTÉ television since 1962, but in recent years there have been a number of calls for it to be changed in light of evolving attitudes to religious practice.
Now, a new set of short films, commissioned from Kairos Communications following a competitive tendering process, aim to be ‘conducive to prayer or reflection for people of all faiths and none.’
“It is a small bit of time out of people’s lives to reflect on things that are important and it should be retained in its present format,” – Michael Healy Rae TD.
The films will feature people from all walks of life; from a sand sculptor to a carer, and from a traditional bookbinder’s workshop in Athlone to a topiarist’s garden in Malahide. The six new featurettes will be shown in daily rotation.
RTÉ will also designate one slot per week, on Fridays at 6pm, as ‘The People’s Angelus’, when it will showcase the work of aspiring filmmakers and artists in communities across Ireland.
TD for Kerry Deputy Michael Healy-Rae is adamant that The Angelus should stay as it has been for generations.
“I strongly condemn any change in the way the Angelus is presented, the Angelus has been with us for decades and any watering down of it should not be allowed, it is a small bit of time out of people’s lives to reflect on things that are important and it should be retained in its present format,” he said.
