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In the 17th century, there was periodic repression of Catholic worship and freedom. This intensified after the defeat of the Catholic James II by the Protestant William III in 1690 and the first Penal Laws were passed in 1695. This legislation placed further limitations on Catholic freedom in religious and secular life and repeal did not commence until the passing of the Catholic Relief Acts between 1778 and 1793.
Prohibition on the building of Catholic churches meant that mass was often celebrated in the open air, often in secluded or remote areas, with a large rock or flat-topped boulder serving as an altar. Throughout Newry and Mourne there are many sites where mass was celebrated in penal times.
Between Rostrevor and Hilltown on the slopes of Altataggart Mountain, ‘Hill of the Priest’, there is a stone called Carrig an Affrin’, ‘The Rock of the Mass ’. Writing in the Frontier Sentinel in August 1915, local historian Michael G. Crawford describes the killing of a priest and his congregation at this mass rock in penal times by Colonel Whitechurch and his soldiers. The bodies were later retrieved, and washed in the nearby river prior to burial in old Clonduff graveyard. For many years afterwards, the stream was known as ‘Owenan-na-Corpa’, The River of the Corpses’.
Crawford states that this story is well known in the district, and describes a pilgrimage to the site in summer 1915 when four thousand people attended, led by Dr. O’Neill, Bishop of Dromore, and a representative gathering of clergy from throughout the district and farther afield. A procession was formed, led by a cross-bearer, followed by men of the Sacred Hearth Confraternity, the Children of Mary, school children, Hilltown Choir and choristers from Newry Cathedral Choir. In the 1980s, pilgrimages to the mass rock were revived, and a memorial stone to Father Eoghan O’Hagan and his congregation was erected.
Near Kilkeel, adjacent to the Newry road, there was a Mass Forth called Liss-an-Affrin were mass was said at a rock inside the fort. No remains of either the rock or fort now survive, apart from the tradition being retained in the place name, ‘Massforth’; located nearby is St Colman's Church, which was built in 1870.
In the 20th century, there was a revival of interest in mass rocks. Lisnahoney mass rock between Burren and Mayobridge, had pilgrimages to mass organised to mark special occasions. A seventeenth century pewter chalice known as ‘The Lisnahoney Chalice', survives, and is reputed to have been used in masses during penal times.
Many Newry people still attend summer pilgrimages to Ballyholland Mass Rock. Edward McAteer, a poulterer from North Street, Newry, rediscovered this mass rock in 1909. The site has been landscaped and a cross erected. Mass was celebrated during the Eucharistic Congress of 1932, for the first time since penal times. The Newry-born artist, Sean Hillen, took many photographs of the pilgrimages to mass rocks in the Newry area in the 1980s and used these in his photomontage work. These photographs are now in the National Library of Ireland.
by Noreen Cunningham and Ken Abraham
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