Friday, 20 March 2020

Che Guevara and St. Danny McGrain

St. Danny


When everyone is wearing their hero’s picture on their T-shits and has a poster of them on their walls, who’s face does the hero put on his T-shirt and walls? In the case of Che Guevara it was that of Daniel Fergus McGrain. While many conventional historians cite Guevara’s meeting with Raul and Fidel Castro as the inspiration which led to his becoming a revolutionary, Guevara wrote to friends in later life that the catalyst in his life had been a meeting with Danny McGrain while on a fact-finding trip to Europe. Prior to his meeting with a young McGrain, said Guevara, he had merely been a fellow traveller with the Castro brothers. It was only after McGrain inspired him that he became fully committed to the cause of world-wide revolution and he left Cuba in 1965 to foment revolution abroad. Incredibly, Danny McGrain was only fifteen at the time of their meeting, while Guevara was 37. Perhaps it takes a man of maturity to recognise and admit the wisdom of a much younger man, in fact, a boy.
Guevara in his favourite Celtic top


And what was it McGrain said to Guevara? McGrain told Guevara of his childhood in Drumchapel, an area of Glasgow built in an attempt to solve the problem of the inner-city slums which, in time, only resulted in becoming a slum-estate itself. McGrain, at the time, played for the famous Queen’s Park Strollers. He told Guevara that his ambition, despite being a Protestant, was to play for the great Glasgow Celtic. Guevara had never heard of the club and, when McGrain explained their history to Guevara, Guevara said an energy passed from McGrain which resulted in nothing less than an epiphany for the Cuban Revolutionary. From that day forward Guevara followed every game Celtic played and, just before he was killed on October 9th 1967, he said that he would be able to die a happy man as he had seen Celtic lift the European Cup earlier that year. When Guevara was stripped for the famous picture of him in death which revealed his bullet-wounds he was found to have a picture of Danny McGrain and himself in his wallet, as well as a copy of the Glasgow Celtic badge. He also had an enlarged picture of McGrain on the wall of his room underneath a picture of Billy McNeil raising aloft the European Cup.

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates St. Danny's Day
McGrain went on to an illustrious career with Celtic and, when he retired from the game after the 1987/88 season, the then Archbishop of Glasgow, Thomas Winning - later to become Cardinal Winning - recommended the Pope fast track McGrain for Sainthood. When reminded by his subordinates that the process of Canonisation was lengthy and required documented evidence of at least two miracles, the Archbishop said; ‘He’s responsible for more than two miracles… and I’ve got them all documented!’ At which he produced a compilation video of McGrain’s greatest games for Celtic. After watching the evidence one evening, Pope John-Paul II said, ‘That’s good enough for me!’ and ordered the process to begin.

In a remarkable exception to established tradition and procedure, it was believed that no member of the Church might display a suitable degree of objectivity to act as Devil’s Advocate, and so the Right Reverend Doctor Ian Paisley and Pastor Jack Glass were invited to fulfil the position and duly accepted. On being shown the evidence, Dr Paisley began to weep, while Jack Glass shook his head in astonishment. Neither, they said, could present any argument against the evidence much as they would like to. Daniel Fergus McGrain became Saint Daniel Fergus McGrain on the 20th August 1993.


 Roberto Carlos


McGrain has not only inspired revolutionary leaders. A young Roberto Carlos saw McGrain score his only goal in the 1982/83 season against Dumbarton. Carlos watched McGrain take the ball from keeper Paddy Bonner, stroll incredibly casually out of defence and into midfield, shimmy his way through the opposition, beating player after player, before finding himself in front if the opposition goal and placing a right-footed bending shot into the top left corner of the net. In later years, Carlos said that up until that moment he was unhappy being a defender and wanted to change position but, after seeing the genius that was Danny McGrain, he realised the full possibility and potential of being, in his case, a left-back and all doubt left him.

  
Pope Francis shows off his special robes for St Danny's Day

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