Some Irish workmen were cutting down a tree, and lo and behold, the stump supposedly resembles the Virgin Mary, although how they found a hymen in that lump, I don’t know. The real source of amusement, though, is the way it has put the local Catholic church representatives in a dither.

Local parish priest Fr Willie Russell said on radio station Limerick Live 95FM yesterday that people should not worship the tree. “There’s nothing there . . . it’s just a tree . . . you can’t worship a tree.”

I hope the Irish druids are going to be rightly upset at this horribly offensive slur against their faith.

A spokesman for the Limerick diocesan office said the “church’s response to phenomena of this type is one of great scepticism”.

R i g h t. That would be a first.

“While we do not wish in any way to detract from devotion to Our Lady, we would also wish to avoid anything which might lead to superstition,” he said.

Says the fellow with a fine collection of saints’ feast days, magic crackers, sacred relics, and chants and rituals to invoke supernatural powers.