School: Bellanagare (roll number 2968)

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1. Composition - Mass Customs

   

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   In olden times there were not any large churches as there are nowadays. The churches long ago were small and thatched and were very old. In the time of the penal laws the people were not allowed to hear Mass but they used to hear it out on the hillsides whenever they got a chance. The people then were not as well educated as they are nowadays. A story is told of an old woman of those days which is as follows : -
   She kept count of the number of times she heard Mass. She placed a box in her room and each morning when she came back from Mass she threw a small stone into the box to keep count. At the end of the year when she opened it she found only one stone in it. She was surprised at this and she told the priest the story. He told her that she only heard one Mass devoutly during the whole year.
   About two miles from my village there lived Friars long ago. In the penal times they were drowned. The ruins of this church are still to be seem in the valley. Rushes grow in the place now. These rushes have often been tested for the making of candles but it has failed as they will not light. Every seven years bells are heard pealing at midnight in the place where the ruins stand.

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. genre
      1. narratives (~478)
         1. religious tales (~1,085)
   2. time
      1. historical periods by name (~25)
         1. penal times (~4,335)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Mary Geraghty

   Gender

   Female

   Informant

   Michael Geraghty

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   65

   Address

   Bellanagare, Co. Roscommon