The Islands of Our Lady of Solitude by John F. Doran mhm In Spain and in the countries of the former Spanish Empire the Mother of God is venerated between Good Friday and Easter Sunday as ‘Our Lady of Solitude’. Her image is dressed in black. In the 1770’s a small Spanish garrison named a remote and uninhabited group of islands in her honour. Others, sailors from the French port of St Malo, named the islands ‘Les Maloines’. From this came the Spanish name, ‘Las Malvinas’ – known to us today as the ‘Falkland Islands’ (after Lord
Falkland.) The islands (two fairly big, and many other smaller ones) are about half the size of Wales. There is a population of about 2,000, and not many of these are Catholics. (Today the overall population is boosted by military personnel and many contracted workers.) Nonetheless, in the 19th century a diocesan priest called Fr Foran (from the NE of England) ministered to the Catholics, and also to three or four families of shepherds from Harris and Lewis
Former Grytviken whaling station, South Georgia.
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