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The Mass Rock in Kilmihil

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WHILE it’s impossible to document when exactly the last mass was held at the Mass Rock in Clonigulane, Kilmihil, ceremonies were regularly held there during Penal Law times. Last Sunday, the first mass in possibly a couple of hundred years was celebrated at what is also known as the ‘Screig.’ The rock borders the townlands of Greygrove and Clonigulane.

 

Fr Peter O’Loughlin ­celebrating mass at the mass rock at Clonigulane, Kilmihil. Photograph by John Kelly.  The event was principally organised by Martin Keane and participants in the Community Employment Scheme.

“From 1708 to 1730 would have been when Penal Laws were really enacted so it was at that time it would have been used mainly. However, we have no way of knowing when the last mass would have been said,” Martin Keane told The Clare Champion.

He said his interest and knowledge of the mass rock’s significance stems from listening to older people talking.

“I just happened to listen to the older folk when they spoke about it. I remember my father talking about a man called Ivors, who was officially a priest hunter. He was trying to capture priests because you got £20 if you captured a priest and £50 if you were lucky enough to get a bishop but the bishops were thin on the ground,” he noted.

Pilgrims arrive for the celebration. Photograph by John KellyAsked what price would be put on Kilmihil parish priest Fr Peter O’Loughlin’s head if those laws were enacted in 2012, Martin Keane wasn’t certain. “I don’t know, I’d say we’d pay you to take him off our hands,” he joked.

It was no joke for priests or bishops, however, in the 1700s. They were wanted men. “There were 45 diocesan priests left in the Diocese of Killaloe but anyone above the level of a priest weren’t allowed to stay. During the reign of Queen Anne, the House of Commons proposed a law that any who came back to Ireland would be branded with a hot iron on their face. The House of Lords turned it down so it didn’t become law,” Martin revealed.

Last Sunday, many of the people who attended the ceremony travelled by foot. “It was tied in with the whole idea of penance. A lot of people made a conscious effort to walk a certain part of the route. People bought into the whole idea that it was a penitential type of event. Some people walked from Kilmihil and beyond, all the way,” Mr Keane added.

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