Mass Rocks and other Penal Mass Stations of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries are not to be confused with the sites of Patterns, where, both before and after Penal times, the people openly congregated to celebrate the feast of a saint at a Holy Well or other memorial of the patron saint of the district. Sites of Patterns are generally in open, not hidden positions, while Penal Mass Sites are invariably in concealed places. Hollows in high ground with a good view of the surrounding country were often made use of to ensure that the worshippers would not be easily taken unawares.

In the public mind at present Penal Mass Sites are not always distinguished from sites of patterns; but inspection of a site, to see whether it is open or concealed, will frequently enable one to decide on its true character.

Mass House form another ambiguous class. In the beginning, they were Penal Mass Stations purely and simply; but gradually as the penal laws lost force they became an impoverished people's substitute and anticipation of chapel and church, and were used openly.

Form the nature of the case, at one time a great number of Penal Mass Sites existed all over Ireland, but now they are fast being forgotten. The intense part played by Penal Mass Stations in the life of the country in former times is still clearly seen by their topographical impact - they have entered into the names of streets, fields, and even townlands; both in the English and Irish tongues. We commonly meet with designations such as chapel-land, chapel-street, chapel-bank, Mass-bush, clais an Aifrinn or Mass-hollow. Some of these terms at first seem peculiar, but the reason for them is usually not hard to find, even where there has been corruption.

Religious

Miscellanea