Holy Water and a Twig

Abstract

This article examines Irish Catholic households from 1850 to 1950, arguing that the material culture of the household was overseen by women—grandmothers, sisters, daughters, and particularly mothers. By creating holy households demarcated by a devotional material culture, Irish Catholic women asserted their religious authority within the home and the family. These women established themselves as managers and overseers of household religion and also as the family’s primary protectors, consumers, and money managers.