GOD moves in mysterious ways and it seems to have worked in the case of 13 couples who have married as a result of meeting through the Knock Marriage Bureau this year.Figures released by the Catholic dating agency, which has played a role in 883 marriages since its inception in 1968, show 415 couples met last year after the bureau suggested 680 introductions.
Perhaps surprisingly, the figures also show more than half of the 135 women who contacted the bureau last year have a third-level education, are working professionals and, in 20 cases, are from Dublin.
That contrasts with the figures for men, where of the 118 applicants who applied between spring 2009 and July this year, just 33 had been to third level, while 77 had completed second level.
Not that it matters when it comes to affairs of the heart. The bureau received more than 250 enquiries in the past year, with just five from widowers, and almost every county on the island was represented.
Of the men, 58 work in industrial jobs, 42 in agriculture and 15 as professionals, while 18 of the women work in education, 30 in industrial jobs and 74 are professionals.
Nineteen men are from Galway and Mayo while 30 women are from Galway, with 20 from Dublin, 10 from Cork and 15 from Mayo. Applications cost €150 for a year. Two questionnaires must be filled in and two recent photographs must be supplied. The bureau uses the information to match prospective couples, although a suitor must first write a letter to his intended match before they meet.
According to the director of the bureau, Canon Joseph Cooney, more applications from older people would be welcomed.
"Sometimes we would have a few applications from people in their late 40s and we would find it hard to match them."
He admitted the bad weather last winter had affected the bureau’s ability to create suitable matches, but that has not dampened its success rate. Some 462 men have married the first person introduced to them, while 409 women followed suit.
"We do not know of anyone who has separated," Canon Cooney said.
As the old adage goes, what God has brought together let no man put asunder.