Holy Trinity, Batman! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matres_and_Matrones The Matres (Latin "mothers") and Matrones (Latin "matrons") were female deities venerated in North-West Europe from the 1st to the 5th century AD. They are depicted on votive objects and altars that bear images of goddesses, depicted almost entirely in groups of three, that feature inscriptions (about half of which feature Celtic names, and half of which feature Germanic names), that were venerated in regions of Germania, Eastern Gaul, and upper Italy (with a small distribution elsewhere) that were occupied by the Roman army from the first to the fifth century AD. Information about the religious practices surrounding the Matres is limited to the stones on which their depictions and inscriptions are found, of which over 1,100 exist. The Germanic matres have been connected with the later Germanic dÃsir, valkyries, and norns attested largely in 13th century sources. Matres also appear on votive reliefs and inscriptions in other areas occupied by the Roman army, including southeast Gaul, as at Bibracte (illustration); in Spain and Portugal, where some twenty inscriptions are known, among them several ones which include local epithets like a dedication to the Matribus Gallaicis "to the Galician Mothers"; and also in the Romano-Celtic culture of Pannonia, in the form of similar reliefs and inscriptions to Nutrices Augustae, "the august Nurses" found in Roman sites of Ptuj, Lower Styria. ... --- Is it any wonder that the Roman Catholic Church went for a Triune God and the deification of Mary? I think not.
