: Wednesday April 12th 2017

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		Sean T. O'Cealaigh

CELEBRATIONS AT BURRISHOOLE

PRESIDENT AND BISHOPS WELCOMED
AS long as they live, the people of West Mayo and the historic parish of Burrishoole Newport, will remember the inspiring ceremonies at the 13th century abbey at Burrishoole near Newport, when on Sunday leaders of the Church and State came to pay tribute to the memory of two holy nuns of the abbey Sister Honoria de Burgo and Sister Honoria Magaen who died for their faith in 1653, when Cromwell's soldiers banished them from their convent, and later soldiers of Queen Elizabeth I destroyed the abbey.
The ceremonies on Sunday showed the freedom we have won. Three hundred years ago the people were under the foot of tyrant, battered and broken. Their priests and nuns slaughtered and banished with a price on their heads; their churches and monasteries were levelled to the ground; they were deprived of the consolation of holy Mass and the sacraments.
On Sunday we saw the President of Ireland, the princes of the Church, priests , nuns, and people coming to the abbey with banners and bands to honour the two nuns who died 200 years ago. Father Manus Sweeney, the priest who was hanged in Newport in 1798, was also remembered on Sunday. It was fitting that the men of the old I.R.A. who fought on the hills to make all this possible, should be the first to greet the President, and later some of their sons in the new army in the green uniform of their country should honour the President, and that the banners of St. Patrick and Padhraic Pearse should be held on high with the proud people of Newport marching behind them to the music of the Westport band. Every house in Newport and on the way to the abbey was decorated with the national and Papal flags, and scrolls and streamers spanned the streets.
President O'Kelly, who was the guest of the Archbishop, drove from the Achbishops palace, Tuam, to Newport, accompanied by his aide-de-camp. Comdt. Heffernan. Civic Guards were on point duty all along the way.
The President, the Archbishop of Tuam, Most Rev. Dr. Walsh, and the Bishop of Achonry, Most Rev. Dr. Fergus, were welcomed at the abbey by Very Rev. T. Killeen, C.C, Newport, and members of the reception committee. Old I.R.A. men from West Mayo Brigade under Comdt . W. O'Malley, Newport, formed a guard of honour for the President, and large numbers of old I.R.A. from Achill, Castlebar, Westport and Louisburgh were present in charge of General Michael Kilroy, Newport.
The crowd filled the abbey and overflowed out into the cemetery surrounding it. Over the altar hung the Papal and national flags. The purple of the princes of the church and the green uniforms of the army officers lent colour to the scene. The singing of Newport choir filled the old ruin with sacred music. The Mass was relayed by loudspeakers to the large crowd surrounding the abbey. The men of Newport who acted as stewards under the direction of Mr. W. O'Malley deserve great praise for their work. Civic Guards from Westport and Newport under Supt. Moore directed the huge volume of traffic.

HISTORIC CHALICE
The chalice used at the Mass was the famous de Burgo chalice presented to the abbey by the great de Burgo family, of which Sister Honoria de Burgo was a descendant. It was saved at the time of the destruction of the abbey and is kept in Newport parish church.
The whole congregation was deeply moved when the Mass bell sounded in the abbey again after 300 years, and the voices of the choir arose in praise of God. The celebrant of the Mass was Very Rev, M. F. Hennelly, P.P., Parke; deacon, Rev M. Laing, St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, sub-deacon Rev. M. McDonnell, C.C., Mallranny; master of ceremonies. Rev. M. Moran , St. Jarlath's College. Other priests assisting were Very Rev. J. Bourke, Adm., Westport; Very Rev . Thomas McVann, Adm., Ballaghaderreen secretary to Dr. Fergus; Rev. R. Honan, C.C, Newport, and Rev. Fr. Prendergast, chaplain Kylemore.
Also present was Rev. John Gallagher Penna diocese of Erie, USA, who is home on holidays with his father, Mr. Hugh Gallagher, Tonragee, Achill. After the Mass the Archbishop recited a decade of the Rosary at the grave of Father Manus Sweeney. The members of the choir were: Mrs Bracken, Mrs. McGovern, Mrs. Connolly, Mrs. Gibbons, Mrs. Flanagan, Misses B. Kilroy, J. Davitt. B. Walsh. Mrs. Cronan. Mrs, Coughlan. Messrs. G . Bracken, T, Davitt, G. Molloy, P. Gibbons, P. Kilroy and M. Walsh. The choir was trained by Rev. P. Prendergast, and Sister Teresa. Convent of Mercy, Newport, was at the organ. After the Mass many people from West Mayo greeted Most Rev. Dr. Walsh and Most Rev. Dr. Fergus .

THE SERMON
In a sermon at the Mass Most Rev. Dr. Fergus said: "Amen, amen. I say to you: unless the grain of wheat falling Into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." (John XII 24 . 25).
These words of Our Lord to His Apostles convey a familiar truth to your minds. The grain of wheat or corn which you sow in the ground itself decays and becomes one with the soil, but in doing so it produces a crop. Where you sow one grain, you reap fifty or perhaps a hundred. What did Our Lord mean by this? He meant that, contrary to the fears of His disciples, His own death was not destined to be a failure or a loss but rather a source of life and blessings for mankind. We know how true this is. By His death He saved us; by His death He gave us life: the Body that died on the cross and was buried in the tomb has become for us, in the Eucharist, the Bread of Life and the pledge of future glory.
Christ meant also that the death of the martyr is not to be reckoned a failure or a loss, but contains within itself a principle of life. A martyr is one who suffers death, or suffering equal to death, for the sake of Christ. Of him Christ has said- "He that shall lose his life for My sake shall find it" (Matt. XVI.. 25). The martyr by his death thus wins for himself life everlasting and his death becomes a source of blessings for others also, inspiring them by the force of example and pleading with God on their behalf for the grace of perseverance. The persecutor may think that he has triumphed when he has killed the body but he cannot defeat God's mysterious providence, which knows how to bring life out of death and triumph out of failure. It was said of those who suffered at Rome in the first ages of Christianity that the blood of martyrs was the seed of Christians which is but another way of expressing the truth contained in Our Lord's words: ''Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
The Church has, therefore, from the very first, honoured its martyrs with a special reverence and affection, knowing that their death is not a loss but a gain, not a defeat but a victory, not a cause for mourning but a cause for rejoicing of all her saints she regards the martyr as bearing the closest likeness to Christ, his death being an image of the death of Our Saviour, and for that reason she has laid it down that every altar stone on which Mass is celebrated must contain the relics of many martyrs. Even from the human standpoint the death of the martyr Is a noble and heroic thing. Every country is proud of her martyrs. One of the special claims which the city of Rome has on the veneration of the faithful is that her soil has been drenched with the blood of so great a multitude who gave their lives for Christ. What of our own country? lt is true that the faith was established and flourished here for centuries in peace. Indeed , it may be said of Ireland that she literally embraced the faith and made it the inspiration of her national life. In fifteen centuries the faith has never met with organised opposition or persecution from within the Irish nation. But if it has not suffered persecution from within, it has borne the brunt of prosecution from without a fierce and bloody persecution, long drawn out and backed by force of arms, as well as the more insidious persecution of penal law. The sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were the testing time of the faith in Ireland centuries whose history is written in blood and we owe it to God and to Our Blessed Lady and to the prayer of St. Patrick and to our martyrs that it has stood the test successfully. We can repeat the words of St. John in the fullness of their literal meaning: "This Is the victory which overcometh the world , our faith (I John, V 4). But let us repeat them with humility and without boast, giving the glory to God and not taking it to ourselves, for there were times in our history when there was no help or no hope for us from anywhere except from heaven.

THREE CENTURIES AGO
Such a time was that of the Cromwellian war and persecution just three centuries ago, when Cromwell and the English parliament determined to subdue this country finally and make her people conform to an alien faith Cromwell and his lieutenants carried out the work of conquest so successfully that, in the words of an Irish historian, Ireland became almost "a blank sheet on which the English commonwealth could write what it wished." It was not that the Irish of that time lacked the will or the courage to defend their faith and fatherland, but they were the victims of evil chance and of divided counsels among their leaders, and the victorious campaign of Cromwell was but another example of what we have so often seen in modem times, the superiority of training and of munitions of war against resistance however heroic and determined
. When that war was over, Ireland lay at Cromwell' s feet, her armies defeated, her strongholds taken, her lands divided among English soldiers and adventurers, her bishops and priests banished or under sentence of banishment, her people driven like cattle across the Shannon, and called upon now to make the final surrender of the one thing left to them, their Catholic faith. For, in January, 1650. Cromwell had declared: "I shall not, where I have the power and the Lord is pleased to bless me, suffer the exercise of the Mass, where I can take notice of It." It is not easy for us to-day, who assist at a solemn Mass in the open air in the presence of a President of Ireland and an Archbishop of Tuam, to realise how desperate was the condition of things in Ireland when a contingent of the Cromwellian army arrived at Burrishoole in February. 1653.
A handful of Irish soldiers remained here to give what protection they might to the community of Dominican friars who lived in this abbey. But the result was a foregone conclusion The prior of that time has left us a description of the capture of the abbey and the massacre of the soldiers. Of the community itself some were wounded, some were taken prisoners, some fled to the mountains, and the prior, with a single companion, escaped in a small boat to Clare Island, afterwards to be banished under pain of death.

THE NUNS FLED
There were living at that time, in a house near the abbey, the two Dominican nuns, whose memory we celebrated today. One was Honoria de Burgo, an aged woman over one hundred years old the daughter of a local chieftain, Richard de Burgo. For the greater part of a century she had served God and her neighbour in this place, and enjoyed a high reputation for sanctity. Her companion was a young nun, also named Honoria Honoria Magaen. On the approach of the enemy the two nuns fled in terror to an island in Furnace lake. One might have expected that even the soldiers of Cromwell would have had humanity enough to respect the age of the older woman, even if they did not respect her habit. But no, those women were Catholic nuns and that was enough The soldiers pursued them to their hiding place and treated them with cruelty and disrespect. The aged Honoria de Burgo was thrown violently into a boat so that three of her ribs were broken, an injury from which she died The younger Honoria, having been brutally treated, found an opportunity to elude her captors and hide in the cleft of a tree, where she was found next day dead.
The Memory of Martyred Nuns
We stand to-day on the spot to which their bodies were carried to honour their memory and to pledge our loyalty to the faith for which they died Their fate was no worse than that of countless others, many of them women in those terrible times, but the point to remember about our two Honorias is that their death was due to hatred for the habit which they wore and the religion which they professed . The words of Our Lord surely apply to them: "He that shall lose his life for My sake shall find it." Their names, among hundreds of others have already been proposed to the Holy See for beatification as virgin martyrs, and It will be a proud day for the parish of Burrishoole if the Church thinks fit to raise them to the honours of the altar.
May we not also apply to them the words of my text: "Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." Ireland looked like a land of death on that February day in 1653. Not only were her national hopes dead, but, with her bishops and priests banished and Cromwell's threat against the Mass hanging like a curse over the land, one might be pardoned for thinking the Catholic faith was doomed to extinction in Ireland.
But it was only Gods springtime alter all the time when the grain of wheat is cast into the ground and dies. The expected did not happen The Irish nation lived to fight and lose another day The Mass still continued to be said in secret. The faith lived on through yet another century and a half of persecution and penal law to bum in modern times with n brighter light than ever before. Here in this parish new and beautiful churches have arisen to replace the ruined abbey of Burrishoole; the priests are here to carry on the work of the banished Dominican friars; and we have the nuns, too, in both districts of the parish, serving God and their neighbour as did Honoria de Burgo And Honoria Magaen.
How much of it is due to our martyrs is God's secret We can only remember that Christ said: "Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die itself remaineth alone. But if it die it bringeth forth much fruit."

A DAY OF THANKSGIVING
Let this then be a day of thanks. giving in the parish of Burrishoole thanksgiving to God for His protecting providence in our hour of greatest need, thanksgiving to His Blessed Mother for the help and consolation she has never failed to give, and thanksgiving to our martyrs for the encouragement of their example and their prayers.
And while we honour the memory of two noble nuns who gave their lives for Christ , may we not take occasion to pay a tribute to all the nuns of Ireland, and indeed to all the women of Ireland from Saint Patrick's time to our own for all they have done and suffered for the Catholic faith. It can be seen from the ancient Lives of St. Patrick that he anticipated the missionary methods of modern times by the employment of women in active missionary work, and he certainly counts as his greatest triumph the multitude of religious vocations among the young men and women of Ireland. He speaks, most touchingly of the fidelity shown by many of his "handmaidens" in face of trials and sufferings. We see the first fruits of this apostolate of Irish women in the extraordinary influence of St. Brigid and her nuns. But that was at a time when the Church in Ireland enjoyed peace. In times of war and persecution the lot of women, and especially of nuns, is a hard one. But when persecution came the women of Ireland did not fail St. Patrick. They nursed, the lamp of faith in convent cells and by Irish firesides, through dark and evil days sometimes suffering the fate of Honoria de Burgo and Honoria Magaen, In modem times, in the great dispersion of the Irish race, they have carried that lamp of faith aloft to all corners of the earth, and have kept it burning wherever they found a home. At home and abroad, whether as nuns in cloister or school, as nurses in hospitals, as mothers of families, as children of Mary or as legionaries of Mary, the women of Ireland are still the faithful guardians of the trust committed to them by our national apostle.

THE PROCESSION
At 3 p.m. the procession to the unveiling of the statue of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, erected on the new bridge at Burrishoole in honour of the two nuns, formed up in drenching rain in Main St., Newport. At its head was carried a banner, painted by Mr. D. Kilroy, Newport, showing on one side Saints' island and Lough Furnace and on the other Sister Honora Magaen dead in a hollow tree. Next came the old IRA carrying the famous Tieranaur of St. Patrick and Padhraic Pearse. After them came Westport brass band playing martial airs, and then followed members of Newport Sacred Heart Sodality and Children of Mary and children of the local schools. The procession marched to Burrishoole bridge to await the unveiling of the statute, by the President. When the President and clergy arrived, honours were rendered by a guard of honour of the FCA, under Lieut. Peadar Kilroy and No. 4 army band played, the Presidential salute, The Archbishop blessed the statue and then the President unveiled the monument.

THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH
President O'Kelly, speaking in Irish and English, said: I am happy to be with you people of Mayo and of the Archdiocese of Tuam to join with you to-day in commemorating the death in 1653 of two faithful daughters of Holy Mother Church two ladies of County Mayo who sacrificed their lives so that our faith might be preserved in the generations to come.
These two ladies-Honoria de Burgo and Honoria Magaen were members of the Third Order of St. Dominic They lived lives of sanctity in a house close to this Priory of Burrishoole. When the Cromwellian army, after the massacres they committed at Wexford and Drogheda and other places in Ireland, arrived here in Mayo in February, 1653, these two ladies probably with other companions fled to Lough Furnace where, however, Cromwell's minions soon found them. They stripped them almost naked threw them into a boat, badly injuring Honoria de Burgo, who was then an old and feeble woman of over 100 years of age and severely maltreated, her companion Honoria Magaen. As a result of the rough treatment she received from the soldiers, Honoria de Burgo almost died at once Honor Magaen escaped Into the woods and hid herself that night in a hollow oak tree. She was discovered there dead the next day. She had been frozen to death.
Unfortunately, we have few details of the lives of these two heroic and faithful Catholic ladies. It is on record, however, that Honoria de Burgo was clothed with the Dominican habit by Father O Duane Provincial of the Dominican Order in Ireland in the year 1583 She was of noble birth, being a daughter of Richard de Burgo a family at that time well known in Co. Mayo. Tradition has it that her father, who was known as Richard an Iarainn married secondly Grainne Ni Mhallle. Grainuaille, whose name and whose exploits are traditionally well preserved in this countryside.
An incident which a close ecclesiastical friend of mine related to me not long ago In relation to the two Dominican ladles whose martyrdom we are commemorating today will . I think, Interest you. Some years before the outbreak of the second world war this priest was travelling in Sicily. He visited the town of Tarmina, and stayed in a hotel there which, during his visit, he discovered had formerly been a Dominican convent. On his first evening there, after dinner he decided to take his cup of coffee and enjoy his smoke in a beautiful loggia which was part of the building. Sitting in the logia he soon noticed that its walls all around him were decorated with frescoes, admirably painted. He examined these frescoes, and among them he noticed that two of the persons represented, in the frescoes of Dominican nuns which covered all the wails were our two martyrs of today Honoria de Burgo and Honoria Magaen. Both ladies were pictured there on the walls as Dominican martyrs for the faith in Ireland. It was evident too that the frescoes had been painted not long after the deaths of these two ladies here close by Burrishoole Abbey.
My friend asked the permission of the proprietor of the hotel to have these frescoes of our two tertaries photographed. Getting the permission, he next day secured a photographer and had photographs taken and copies of these he sent to the headquarters of the Dominican Nuns in Ireland at Cabra.

SEQUEL
A sequel to this story is that during the last great world war a bomb, or maybe more than one bomb fell on this hotel, formerly a Dominican convent, and blew the building out of existence. Happily the photographs of the Dominican tertiaries, whom the Dominican Order had already thus in their own way canonised as martyrs for the Faith. still remained.
We should be grateful to all those of our ancestors who despite "dungeon, fire and sword " remained faithful to the christian faith and the true Church that St. Patrick planted here In our midst, and we should be supremely grateful to the heroic men and women who despite every known form of terrorism, of pains and penalties inflicted upon them, sacrificed everything, even life itself, so that freedom to worship God in our own Catholic way might be preserved for the people of Ireland.
For more than three centuries during the penal times every effort was made by the men directing British rule in Ireland to cajole, to bribe or to force the Irish nation into accepting the rulers of England as rulers of the Church in Ireland, and to accept their Protestant faith, but the Irish, thanks be to God, despite these efforts in the main remained faithful to the See of Peter. That is why we are here to-day, to pay tribute to two of those who died for Ireland who died so that our Catholic Faith might be preserved in our land. We say with the poet:
"The dead who died for Ireland,
let not their memory die."
We say also, all honour to you men and women of Mayo, of Newport, of Burrishoole, who are today doing an act that I hope and pray all Ireland will take note of. We are setting a headline to all Ireland, North, South , East and West. We are reminding all Ireland that there are very few places in this land of ours where the blood of martyrs for the faith has not been spilled. We are reminding them, by our act here today that what the people of Mayo are doing here at Burrishoole could be done probably in almost every parish in the land If we were doing our full duty to the martyred dead.
When I was invited to come to Join you here in this commemoration today I sought among my books to refresh my mind about our Irish martyrs for the faith. I came across one well known book which I had not referred to for a long time. This book is entitled "Our Martyrs" "a record of those who suffered for the Catholic Faith, under the Penal Laws of Ireland. Written and compiled by the late Rev. Denis Murphy. S.J.. LL.D., M.R.I.A." There I found again noted the names of hundreds of men and women, archbishops bishops priests and nuns who in the centuries of the penal times suffered martyrdom for the faith. Reading once more this book reminded me that about forty years ago I knew that there existed a committee which had been set up to promote the cause of the Beatification, or it might be Canonisation of those many Irish martyrs for the faith. I began then to wonder if this committee were still in existence, and if so what had been the results of its endeavours.
I remember that the time I refer to the committee I have, in mind had high hopes of seeing the causes of many of these martyrs of ours the causes at least of the most potable and distinguished of the martyrs amongst them brought to fruition within the space of a few years. I wonder why it is that the success that was anticipated forty or more years ago has not been a attained, I am well aware that the cause of Blessed Oliver Plunkett has not been neglected. All honour and credit to those in Ireland, clerical and lay who have been responsible for seeing that Archbishop Oliver Plunkett, Primate of Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, has been recognised. I hope the day is not far distant when the cause of Oliver Plunkett will be carried to final and glorious triumph.

THE MARTYR'S CROWN
But what is happening to causes like that of Archbishop Dermot O Hurley, Bishop Patrick Healy, and Bishop Conor Devaney? Has any progress been made in having their claims to the martyrs' crown recognised,? If so. I would like to hear of it. What about the causes of Archbishop McGauran and O'Quigley, or of Bishops Redmond O'Gallagher, Dungan, Terence Albert O'Brien or McMahon, all of whom, served their faith and also their country in those far off days of terror? Persecution has blotted out their graves. Can it be true that their memories are also buried?
It is, I think, correct that claims are made that many members of the Dominican Order died for the faith during the penal times. Sometimes we hear mention of Blessed Martin: but what of those other forty or 50 Dominicans? Are their names to remain in oblivion? What about the Dominicans who perished in the massacre at Cashel in 1647?
Other religious Orders long established in Ireland and who helped to spread and preserve the faith in our land, gave to their honour be it said many martyrs to the Church during those years of persecution Apart from the martyrdom of many heroic Franciscan bishops, it is said that over seventy members of the Franciscan Order suffered death for the faith in the Penal days. How many of the names of those seventy are now remembered? Could anyone here name four of that seventy or more? How many of us could name the names of the many Augustinians or the number of Jesuits who suffered martyrdom, for the faith during those same awful years of terror?
I congratulate again you people of Burrishoole and of this area for honouring your own heroic daughters. By this act you are teaching us all a lesson. Elsewhere in many places in Ireland, with a few notable exceptions the valiant ones of our faith seem to be scarcely remembered and never honoured. I hope that the example you have given here today will inspire others to do what you have done for those two heroic Dominican Sisters. It was men and women such as those two who through the days of the Tudors, for over a century before the apostolate of Blessed Oliver Plunket - kept the flame of faith alive. Surely these other martyrs call for some recognition at least in the place of their birth or of their heroic victory.
I am sorry to have to admit that my own native Dublin is no better than anywhere else in Ireland in this matter of paying homage to our heroic martyrs for the faith. It is only too true that few citizens of Dublin today ever visit the grave of Dermot O'Hurley. Thousands pass regularly his place of execution. I wonder if one in a hundred of them could point out the spot. No memorial marks it not even a street name commemorates him.
I have heard a rumour very recently I hope it is correct that the Dublin Corporation intends to honour the memory of Bishop Conor O'Devany by giving his name to a building scheme now in progress beside the spot where he suffered martyrdom. That is an example to be imitated.

THE ARCHBISHOP'S ADDRESS
Addressing the crowd, his Grace Most Rev. Dr. Walsh said:
"For all of you, this has been a long and busy day, so I must not try your patience longer. But it is only right that someone should say a word of congratulation and thanks We are all very proud and happy over this memorable celebration Let us look at things in order the High Mass celebrated with all the splendour of the Church's liturgy and backed with a splendid choir, the impressive and beautiful sermon of the Bishop of Achonry, then the honour done to this parish, when the President of Ireland unveiled the memorial to the two martyred nuns and gave us such an inspiring address; finally the magnificent pageant in which all taking: part caught the spirit of the period and gave such an impressive display. As I said, we are all proud of this magnificent celebration, and for me, a native of the parish, the success of the day is a source of great joy and pride. I thank Fr. Killeen and the members of the committee. I thank all who helped In any way to make this such a memorable day. Indeed the whole parish has joined in this good work; you have set a headline; you have given a glorious example to all Ireland. You can be very proud of your achievement. I thank and congratulate all of you with all my heart. Finally, in the name of the parish and on my own behalf I desire to express our hearty thanks to our distinguished visitors. No one will take it ill of me if I mention in particular his Excellency the President of Ireland and his Lordship the Bishop of Achonry

THE SPIRIT OF FAITH
"Just one word more. I am deeply touched by the spirit of faith, the deep piety which is so evident here to-day. That fervent faith has been handed down to you by men such as Dermot O'Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, and women such as Honoria de Burgo who dared and suffered and died that you might strengthen your souls in faith and courage and walk in God's Commandments always Men die, but the Church must live, and will live to the end of time 'Behold. I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world.' (Matt. XXVIII. 20). The Church lives in the hearts of her loyal children in every age , and it must be your endeavour to hand on to your children the torch of faith bright, and undimmed. Your loyalty, your strong faith are all the more Important at present when a determined attack is being made on everything that is most sacred You know already that the names of these two nuns are included in the list of Irish martyrs whose names have gone to Rome for canonisation. You know also that the process of canonisation is very slow it often takes hundreds of years.
Kindly offer your prayers that in due course these two nuns will be raised to the altars of the Church May God in His mercy grant that all of us will one day meet again to be united in happiness along with our Irish martyrs around the throne of God for all eternity.
Concluding, his Grace said: "I ask you, particularly on this solemn day, to cultivate a special devotion to the Irish saints, giving the names of the Irish saints to your children, and keeping up the language and traditions of your forefathers."
The members of Newport Young Farmers' Club than unfolded the story of the attack by English Red Coats on a priest and people saying Mass on the mountainside.
Mr M. J. Egan, solr., Castlebar, described the scene as the action look place. It showed a priest who stole into Newport district to minister to the persecuted Catholics. He was in beggar's rags to conceal his identity, but as soon as the word went around the people flocked to him He heard confessions and then started Mass at the Mass Rock The priest preached a sermon, and at the most solemn part of the Mass twenty Red Coats on horses, with drawn sabres, charged the unfortunate people The men offered a weak resistance in order to let the women and children escape, but were hacked to pieces. The priest was caught and beheaded, and the Red Coat captain kept the head as a prize.
The band played the National Anthem and Newport choir sang "Faith of Our Fathers "
The whole celebration was a credit to the people of Newport and especially Rev. Fr. Killeen and the officers of the Young Farmers' Club. Messrs Tom McDonagh, W Sammon and Flanagan, and the others who helped.
Present, at the ceremonies were Professor Patrick Moran, Mallranny, and Mr. J. F. Quinn. "Western People" Castlebar representative, who devoted much time and labour in bringing to light the past history of Burrishoole and other places in Mayo.
The late Pat O'Donnell, of Newport, also did his share in writing local history.
Stewards who did good work were W. O'Malley, C. McGee. M. Kelly. P. McNeela, S. Moore, T. O'Malley. J. Gannon. P. Kilcoyne, S. Nixon, P. J Gibbons, P. Chambers, M. O'Malley and J. O'Donnell
The monument is a fine statue of Our Lady mounted on a limestone base four feet high with a slab bearing the following inscription in Irish: "Do Chum Gloire De agus Onora Na Eireann.
"I mhuan chuimhne Onora De Burca O P. agus Onora Magaen. OP., ar lmir Cromuil Bas Grainne Ortha Le Fuath Don Chreideamh San Ait Seo, AD, 1653.
REGINA MARTYRDOM
ORA PRO NOBIS
"Pobal Buirgheis-umaill a thog an scrin seo 14 Meitheamh, 1953."
The base and statue are stretching out over the river, with a garden in front and a wall around it. The base and the surround were built by Mr. W. O'Malley Main St., Newport, and the inscription and slab were the work of Coffey Bros., Westport. The committee in charge of the celebrations and the erection of the memorial is.President, Very Rev. T. Killeen P.P.: Vice-Presidents, Rev. R. Horan, C.C.; Messrs . Michl. Kelly, P Walsh. N.T.; G. Flynn, NT., and James Kelly.
Chairman, Mr M. Kilroy; Vice-Chairman, Mr. A. Devine; Secretary, Mr. E Fitzgerald: Asst Sec, Miss Frances Walsh.
Committee Messrs J. Connolly. P. Gibbons. M. Kelly, D. Kelly, J. McNulty, W. Sammon, Joe McManamon, J. J O'Malley, G. Bracken, S. Moore, . Corbett. R. Loftus, S. Nixon, J. Fadian, M. Walsh, Joe Greene, John O'Malley, T. Geraghty, P. McNeela, J. Halloran, P. Toomey, Ml. Chambers, L. McGovern, T. McDonagh, C .McGee,P. Kilroy, D Kilroy, and T. Kelly, BE.
Leaders of the Young Farmers' Club who planned the Mass Rock scene and started the movement to honour the martyrs: Very Rev. T. Killeen, P.P., Newport; Messrs T McDonagh, W. Sammon, D. Kelly, and P. Flanagan.
Among the Old IRA. present were:
Castlebar: Capt. Broddie Malone. L J. Sheridan J. Swift . T. P. Flanagan . Co S : P. Cannon, J. Cooney, B. Chambers, P. Horkan, and P Tuohy.
Newport-Gen. Ml. Kilroy Messrs Wm O'Malley, J. Quinn, Dom. Kilroy, J. O'Donnell, M. McDonnell, Dom. Mulchrone, Brockagh, and Jack Kelly, do.
Tiernaur Messrs L. McGovern, M. Browne, P. McLoughlin, and J. Clarke.
Westport Transport Officer J. D. Gibbons, Messrs M. Reilly, P. J. Kelly senr.; Ned Sammon, and P. Gibbons and P. Feehan, Kilmeena.
Shramore: Captain Tom Cleary, Messrs P. Murray, J. Chambers, Frank Noone and W. Chambers.
Achill- Messrs Sean Lynchehaun, John McNulty, Bryan Corrigan and P. J. Gallagher.
Mr. P. McDonnell, Galway, and Senator James Kilroy, Belmullet.
Principal actors in the Mass Rock scene produced by Newport Y.F.C. were: Priests . J. McNulty, Doontrusk; Chas. Mulchrone, Brockagh, who received the rosary in Irish; Mass server Ml. Kelly Newport; Captain of Red Coats, W Moran, Deradda.
In the congregation were: Women: B. Chambers, B. Callaghan, B. Murray, B. Kilroy, K. Doyle, N.T; M. Moran. N.T.; K. McNulty, M McNulty, P. Quinn, Theresa Murray, M. Needham. MenJ. Needham, Deradda; D. Gibbons, J. McGee and P. Flanagan. Newport; P. Murray , Rosglave, and P. J. O'Malley, Burrishoole.
Red Coats on horses: Philbin and M. Hughes, Deradda; P. Mulchrone, P. McGowan, M. O'Boyle Buckagh; J McFadden, T. Geraghty, Lecarrow; Peter Ryder, M. McGovern, P. O'Donnell. Rossinrubble; P. McManamon, Newport and George O'Malley, Burrishoole.
Amongst those present were members of the Dail and Senate and Mayo Co. Council.
Western People 1889-current, Saturday, June 20, 1953; Page: 5