The Angelus (television programme)


The Angelus is an Irish radio and television programme first broadcast in 1950. On radio it is broadcast at 12:00 and 18:00 every day. On television, it is broadcast at 18:00, immediately before the main evening news. Since 2009, the programme on television no longer includes Catholic imagery and the Angelus prayer itself is never broadcast.
The bells were first recorded from St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, although initially broadcast live.
Radio Éireann first broadcast The Angelus on 15 August 1950. Secretary of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs Leon Ó Broin and Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid had discussed the original idea in the late 1940s.
The broadcast of the Angelus by RTÉ has been called into question from time to time. A number of religious faiths outside Catholicism, notably the Church of Ireland and Presbyterian Church in Ireland, have called for its continuation.

Television format

Televised programming began at Telefís Éireann's launch. Images shown were pictures of the Annunciation. More recently, it showed "a number of people of varying gender and ages pause to pray at the sound of the bell".

2009 relaunch

From 21 September 2009, RTÉ Television relaunched The Angelus broadcast before. It features seven different editions, with seven respective people for each one. Featured people include a chemist from Finglas, a mother from Sixmilebridge, grandparents feeding swans in Shannon, a fisherman from Enniscorthy and an office worker from Zambia at her office near the Phoenix Park. The one-minute feature attracts an average audience of 318,000. It was developed by Kairos Communications.