The Mass Rock in the Glen
In a lonely mountain valley in the county of Tyrone
Lies one of Ireland’s Mass Rocks deserted and unknown
The few who write historic tales or wield the poet’s pen
Can say with pride I knelt beside the Mass Rock in the glen.
I’m proud that I am mountain bred this is my native place
These mountain glens have ever been the stronghold of our race
‘Twas here our fathers earned the right to bear the name of men
When they kept the faith for Ireland by the Mass Rock in the glen.
These mountain glens have ever been the stronghold of our race
‘Twas here our fathers earned the right to bear the name of men
When they kept the faith for Ireland by the Mass Rock in the glen.
No more on Corradinna Hill the sentinel stands guard
The dreaded foes the hated yeos have guns with every word
And you who are should call in peace and bless these fearless men
When they kept the faith for Patrick’s sake by the Mass Rock in the glen.
The dreaded foes the hated yeos have guns with every word
And you who are should call in peace and bless these fearless men
When they kept the faith for Patrick’s sake by the Mass Rock in the glen.
God bless the glens of Ireland every rock and mountain pass
‘Twas these same glens that under God preserved for us the Mass
And if the time should ever come when Ireland calls for men
She will not find them wanting by the Mass Rock in the glen.
On this First Saturday in October, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, we were privileged to assist at a Mass in honor of Our Lady, offered by our assistant pastor, at an old Marian Grotto on what were once seminary grounds.
After Mass, a parishioner shared with us that the Mass had reminded her of the old Irish song, The Mass Rock in the Glen, about the persecution of Catholics in Ireland during the time of Cromwell.
Our youngest didn’t show any signs of persecution, as he crawled around the old seminary grounds.
However, we couldn’t help but wish that this state park had remained a seminary.
Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us!
I'm not {100%} Irish, but I cry every time I hear 'The Mass Rock in the Glen'. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, for which countless multitudes have died, will survive persecution until the end of the world.
That grotto is a beautiful natural setting. The Mass looks very traditional. Was it the Extraordinary Form (aka Traditional Latin Mass), or Novus Ordo, by the way?
Thank you for sharing. It was the Extraordinary Form. We are blessed to have FSSP priests in our archdiocese.
Ah, I knew it. It takes one to know one.
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
6 days a week, I serve at Mass in the Extraordinary Form for a monastic order (the Contemplatives of St. Joseph).
One of their charisms is the renewal of the liturgy in all its forms (1962 Missal; Mass of Paul VI in Latin; Byzantine rite). I like to think of this as being inspired by the genuine Liturgical Movement advocated by Dom Prosper Guéranger and others, rather than by certain post-conciliar developments of infelicitous memory.