Sandhill Mass Rock site near Dunfanaghy, County Donegal
Mass Rock on Achill Island, County Mayo

A Mass rock (Irish: Carraig an Aifrinn) was a rock used as an altar in mid-17th century Ireland as a location for Catholic Mass. During the religious persecution of the Catholic Church in Ireland that began under Henry VIII and ended only with Catholic Emancipation in 1829, the Irish people, according to Marcus Tanner, clung to the Mass, "crossed themselves when they passed Protestant ministers on the road, had to be dragged into Protestant churches and put cotton wool in their ears rather than listen to Protestant sermons."[1]

Isolated locations were sought to hold religious ceremonies, as observing the Catholic Mass was a matter of difficulty and danger at the time as a result of both Cromwell's campaign against the Irish, and the Penal Law of 1695. Bishops were banished and priests had to register to preach under the 1704 Registration Act. Priest hunters were employed to arrest unregistered priests and Presbyterian preachers under an Act of 1709.

Examples

The entrance to Cathedral Cave upon the isle of Eigg, with An Sgùrr in the background.

Similar stones, known as Mass stones, are found in Scotland. While working in the 1880s as a hired farmhand for Robert Menzies of Tirinie, near Aberfeldy, Perthshire, South Uist seanchaidh Angus MacLellan learned that a Mass stone had stood in the middle of Mr. Menzies's farmfield since the days when Roman Catholic priests were outlawed in Scotland. A nearby high cross, Menzies added, marked the site of an important college of learning from the days of the Celtic Church. Mr. Menzies explained that, even though the local population had long since switched to Presbyterianism, former Catholic religious sites were still locally viewed with superstitious awe and were never tampered with. Menzies explained that the term for Mass stones, in the Perthshire dialect of the Scottish Gaelic language, was Clachan Ìobairt, meaning "Offering Stones."[2]

On the isle of Eigg, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, which was described in 1698 as almost entirely Roman Catholic,[3] the laity secretly and illegally attended Mass at a Mass stone inside a large high-roofed coastal cave, which is still known as the "cave of worship" (Scottish Gaelic: Uamh a' Chrabhaidh) (or in English Cathedral Cave).

Use and records

In many instances in Ireland, a stone would be taken from a church ruin, and relocated to a rural area, with a simple cross carved on its top. Because the activity was illegal, the services were not scheduled and parishioners would be obliged to spread the word of them informally. By the late 17th century worship generally moved to thatched Mass houses. Some of the Mass rock places may also have been used for patterns.

Partial data on Mass rocks is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of Ireland (for pre-1700 sites),[4][5] and, to a lesser extent, the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (for post-1700 sites).[6]

Later use

In later years, the practice of open-air Masses was limited to rural areas and special occasions such as pattern days and Christmas. However, in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions placed on indoor gatherings to address the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Ireland launched an initiative to celebrate Mass at some Mass Rocks.[7]

Folklore

"February 3, 1828

...There is a lonely path near Uisce Dun and Móinteán na Cisi which is called the Mass Boreen. The name comes from the time when the Catholic Church was persecuted in Ireland, and Mass had to be said in woods and on moors, on wattled places in bogs, and in caves. But as the proverb says, It is better to look forward with one eye than to look backwards with two..."[8]

According to a book of history and folklore associated with Mass rocks by Tony Nugent, "There is a common story associated with quite a few which relates how the priest was shot or killed at the moment of Transubstantiation. There is a common belief that at this point in the Mass the priest cannot stop for any reason. There are various stories of Protestant neighbours hiding or helping priests. There are stories of miracles, the story of the widow's hunger, happening at these sites, stories of cures and indeed a whole fabric of folklore which if lost would be a cultural tragedy".[9]

Nugent also refers to what was reputedly the last killing of a Roman Catholic priest at a Mass rock at Inse an tSagairt, near Bonane, County Kerry, in 1829. According to the story, a local woman who ran a nearby shebeen, conspired with five men to kill a priest and split the £45 bounty among themselves. After capturing the priest during Mass, beheading him at a house near Kenmare, and bringing his severed head to Cork city, the six conspirators learned that Catholic Emancipation had just been signed into law and that no reward would be given. In frustration, the six priest hunters threw the severed head into the River Lee.[10]

Parallels in other faiths

During the same era in mainland Britain, Puritans, Presbyterians, Quakers, Anabaptists, and other non-Conformists held similarly outlawed Conventicles in defiance of the Royal Supremacy and then of the Protectorate of England under Oliver Cromwell, although they were not religious ceremonies.

For the Lutheran minority during the Counter-Reformation in the Austrian Empire, a similar stone in Paternion was dubbed the hundskirche.

See also

References

  1. Marcus Tanner (2004), The Last of the Celts, Yale University Press. Pages 227-228.
  2. Angus MacLellan (1997), The Furrow Behind Me, Birlinn Limited. Pages 25–26, 42–43, 196–198.
  3. John Lorne Campbell, "Canna; The Story of a Hebridean Island," Oxford University Press, 1984, pp. 91-92.
  4. Denis Power (1992). Archaeological Inventory of County Cork, Volume 3: Mid Cork, 1997, Duchas The Heritage Society. ISBN 0-7076-4933-1
  5. "Historic Environment Viewer". National Monuments Service. Retrieved 27 March 2020. [Filter dataset "National Monuments Service" and Type "Mass-rock", "Mass-rock (current location)", and/or "Penal Mass station"]
  6. "Buildings Search: Mass rock". Buildings of Ireland. National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  7. "How 'Mass rocks' are renewing the faith in Ireland". thetablet.co.uk. The Tablet (The International Catholic News Weekly). Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  8. O'Sullivan 1979, p. 44-45.
  9. Nugent, Tony (2013). Were You at the Rock? The History of Mass Rocks in Ireland. Liffey Press. p. 258.
  10. Nugent, Tony (2013). Were You at the Rock? The History of Mass Rocks in Ireland. Liffey Press. pp. 152–154.
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