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The Jubilee of a Church might be a time for collecting
any information that survives about where priests lived.
Fr. Michael Cunningham, one time curate in Kilteevogue,
used to quote Fr. John Sweeney as saying that he knew priests
who stayed in Glassagh for the clerical Conference, at the
home of the O'Donnells. Only one member of that family now
survives in Glassagh. Fr. Sweeney was ordained in 1868.
There was a tradition of the priest in Kilteevogue lodging
for safety at Witter's in Kiltyferrigal.
Fr. Ramsey lived in a house that still stands on the lands
of the Herron's, before moving to the present parochial
house which was known in those days as 'Garden Hill House'.
He farmed the 'Seasgan' for a time, and it was said he baptised
infants there.
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Did You
Know?
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| After the
Act for registering the Catholic clergy was passed in
1704, only three priests were left to service the entire
Finn Valley. Priests of this time had to celebrate Mass
in some quiet spot, with their faces veiled and in a
closed room. The window of the room was left open so
that those inside could hear the voice of the priest,
without knowing who he was, or without seeing him, so
that they could not tell the authorities if captured. |
Fr. Gibbons lived for a time in Altnapaste and for a time
in Cloghan Wood before coming to the Parochial House. He
seems to have been the one who finally made the house parish
property.
Many curates lived in Brockagh, or near it, but not all
of them. There was a Fr. Peter McDevitt, later parish priest
of Glencolmcille, who lived in Tonduff.
At an earlier date, transient clerics from south of the
Gap lodged on that side of the river.
Nowadays we take for granted fixed centres of worship and
clerical residences. It may be worth recalling that religion
survived for a long period with a fragile enough establishment
in the way of buildings.
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Did You
Know?
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| During
the 1800s, all the churches of the Finn Valley were
rectangular in design, with the Altar in the middle.
Their thatched roofs were supported by bogfir timber
and black oak couples were used with splints of wood
for nails. The purlins and rafters were trimmed to shape
with pitsaw, struts and laths, placed between the scallops
to hold down the thatch. The walls were made of rocks
and stones, with little or no dressing, and these were
about 8 feet high. The floors were earthen, and far
from level, which was the reason why people brought
sods of turf or bundles of straw on which to sit or
kneel, particularly in wet weather. |
Footnote: The photographs
on this page are of the final resting place of the priests
of Glenfin. The last priest to be buried in this beautiful
setting was Fr. Seamus McGeehan, born in Lower Galwolie,
and until his death, a regular visitor to the parish he
loved so well.
May they Rest in Peace
