Trinity College Dublin Librarian, Therese Mulpeter, does
“We all recognise 1969 as the year that man first stepped on the moon but few would recall that it was also the year that Pope Paul VI became the first reigning pope to step onto the African continent in Uganda.
At that time there was a practice in Catholic schools for children preparing to make their First Holy Communion to make an offering to become ‘god-parents’ to children in Africa so that they could be baptised into the Catholic faith.
At Belgrove National School in Clontarf, my teacher Miss Heid, told us to choose a name for our ‘baby’. I was only six years old and I came up with the name Anne.
In my young mind I thought that all these babies would be brought to the school and I would get to bring mine home.
I puzzled over where she would sleep.
The penny [literally] dropped when I received my god-parent card with my name and Anne’s name handwritten on the back……we would never meet.
It was simply a very successful fund raising effort to support mission work in Africa.
Try explaining that to a six year old!
The only tangible connection I had with Anne was the card.
In 1969 the Catholic population of Uganda was approximately 3 million and no one batted an eye in Ireland at holding a collection for the ‘black babies’ or of referring to an unbaptised infant as a pagan. Today the catholic population of Uganda stands at around 13 million.”
The god-parent card issued to Therese and the other pupils bore the title: Crusade for Rescue, Baptism and Catholic Education of Pagan Children.
Sammy the Plaster Figure Black Baby
In his contribution to the subject published in the Irish Independent in November 2006 and titled The Little Black Babies, Rory Egan wrote as follows:
“In many schools around the country a mandatory collection of a shilling a week was made for the 'Little Black Babies' for which one was given a small card showing a crying child. It is incredible to think that many a young schoolchild thought that it was some sort of instalment scheme and that some day they would be the proud possessor of an African child.
The ultimate lasting memory of poor taste and misguided marketing was something that could be found in many schools and convents and was called 'Sammy'. Sammy was a plaster figure of a black baby whose head nodded every time a penny was placed in the slot of the box upon which he knelt.”
Remote and Alien Pagan Babies
In a blogpost dated 26 November 2018 and titled Remote and alien pagan babies, John Grenham posted a notice originally produced by the Pontifical Association of the Holy Childhood “On behalf of the Myriad OUTCAST PAGAN BABIES” and which had been published in the Irish Independent edition of April 1, 1939.
This notice asked for “at least a little crumb from your LENTEN ALMS”.
“For the modest donation of 2/6 (two shillings and six pence) you can help to save one of these hapless dying babies from the cruelest of fates.”
Other Countries
More childhood schooldays recollections about ‘pagan baby’ programmes in the 1950s / early-1960s in other countries can be found online.
There are testimonies from Scotland, while from the United States of America, stories from the Adopt A Pagan Baby drive have been recounted.
The following is from ABCtales on the subject of Black baby
“The St Stephen’s Digestive biscuit test was much more exacting. At school break time in the morning we could buy a Digestive biscuit off Mrs Boyle for one old penny. Some, like myself, were often excluded from this experiment because they had lots of brother and sister and too few pennies. But unlike the Stanford experiment Mrs Boyle didn’t offer two -or more Digestives for delaying, or not eating a biscuit we couldn’t afford - she offered salvation, for an old penny. She gave us the option of eating a Digestive, or buying a black baby.
If we bought a black baby for a penny it was ticked down on a sheet and when you got to a shilling eventually you got to own a black baby and you were given a picture of it. For giving up Digestive biscuits you were sent to heaven. Now that’s what I call delayed gratification.”
Pagan Baby Contests
Here is another recollection on Pagan Babies, this time from Telling Secrets blogspot:
I went to Roman Catholic School, so we also had Pagan Baby Contests.
It went like this: You had to bring in a dime every week (some of the nuns allowed you to bring in pennies or nickels which you could save up and exchange for a dime) which would then fit into a slot on a poster which had your name on it. When you got to $1, you were allowed to 'name' your Pagan Baby and the money would be sent "to the missions" so "Father" could baptize one of the little Pagan Babies with your name.
Sister told us that we were saving the "little savages" Africa or Laos or Cambodia or Viet Nam, baptizing them in the name of Jesus. I know. Hard to believe that we once talked that way - and, meant it.
There were 30-40 kids in my class. We had Pagan Baby Contests every 10 weeks. Not a bad fundraising scheme, eh? I used to imagine that there was a village in Viet Nam or Africa somewhere with lots of girls named "Elizabeth".
Anyway, even the Pagan Baby Chart and the Pagan Baby Certificate you got were all written in Cursive
