Croi briste (Heartbroken)

Between 1925-1961, St. Mary’s Mother Baby Home was run by the Bon Secour nuns in Tuam, Ireland. It was part of a network for unmarried mothers that doubled as orphanages and adoption agencies during the 20th century. Government-sanctioned religious orders overlooked deprivation, misogyny, and infant mortality. The Irish Commission ordered excavations of the site in 2017. Unearthed were the remains of infants, interred in a 20-chamber vault identified as a sewage facility. A total of 796 children were discovered, but there were no burial records. Poignantly, a blue baby shoe was found in the tombs. A poem by Maggie Crehan offers an unfiltered view of the horrors that occurred at Tuam.