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How many Mass 'Rocks' are there?  



(And what is their mineralogy -- igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary, conglomerate..  :confused1: )


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God Save Ireland

Which brings us to the Rock Mass. In the 1600s the Freemason Protestant Oliver Cromwell, after committing regiside in his own country invaded Ireland, in the main to destroy the Catholic faith. They (Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ) knew that the Catholic faith is totally protected only by the Catholic Tridentine Mass. He knew that English Catholics were easily lured into Protestantism by removing the Traditional Mass and replacing it with a 'New Order of Mass' called The Book of Common Prayer. So, Cromwell put a death sentence on all priests caught saying the Pius V Mass, and even those attending, but allowed all to attend his NO. Thus began secret Masses at Mass Rocks, rocks hidden away in thev countryside or the sides of mountains. These were sited so that lookouts could watch for cromewll's soldiers and avoid being cauget and executed. Catholics for many years risked death to get their Mass.

http://catholicismpure.wordpress.com/2014/07/12/picture-of-the-mass-rock-of-penal-law-ireland/



As posted on 'the calm before the storm' thread.

Mass rocks are of huge Catholic historical importance in Ireland.

Which brings us to the Rock Mass. In the 1600s the Freemason Protestant Oliver Cromwell, after committing regiside in his own country invaded Ireland, in the main to destroy the Catholic faith. They (Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ) knew that the Catholic faith is totally protected only by the Catholic Tridentine Mass. He knew that English Catholics were easily lured into Protestantism by removing the Traditional Mass and replacing it with a 'New Order of Mass' called The Book of Common Prayer. So, Cromwell put a death sentence on all priests caught saying the Pius V Mass, and even those attending, but allowed all to attend his NO. Thus began secret Masses at Mass Rocks, rocks hidden away in thev countryside or the sides of mountains. These were sited so that lookouts could watch for cromewll's soldiers and avoid being cauget and executed. Catholics for many years risked death to get their Mass.

http://catholicismpure.wordpress.com/2014/07/12/picture-of-the-mass-rock-of-penal-law-ireland/



As posted on 'the calm before the storm' thread.

Mass rocks are of huge Catholic historical importance in Ireland.

Thank you, St Brighidwell

if this  was NO's attempt at comedy, he should do himself a favour and not give up the day job, if any.  

Our Mass Rocks are sacred monuments to the Faith of Ireland.

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Ireland, 1649. The Catholic faith is banned by English invaders, churches are desecrated, then closed. A bounty of ten pounds — twice that of a wolf — is placed on each priest's head. Those captured are hung until nearly dead, their stomachs cut open with cleaving knives, disemboweled while still alive and then beheaded. Finally, their bodies are chopped into four pieces. Anyone found harboring a priest is hanged immediately.

Nevertheless, it is Sunday and you owe an obligation to God that is higher than any to the English government. Arising at midnight, your wife readies the children for the long, chilly walk outdoors. In darkness the family silently marches out the back gate, down the grassy trail toward the mountain and then disappears into the thick green trees.

Before a massive rock, Irish men, women and children kneel on the heather of the hillside. Sentries stand watch on the surrounding mountain peaks for the approach of British troops. A curtain is pulled around an altar built of loose stones but noises come from within as a man and a boy prepare the implements for Mass: book, tablecloth, wine, water, bread. No one can see those behind the sanctuary curtain — and thus could never be forced to identify who offered them the Blessed Sacrament. In the black stillness, a baby's cries are muffled by a soft maternal hand. Then, it is quiet.

"Introibo ad altare Dei," intones the older voice. "Ad deum qui laetificat juventutem meam," replies a younger one.

After the consecration, a line forms quietly behind a protruding rock near the sanctuary curtain. Each takes a turn kneeling on the cold stone, as a voice says, "Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam. Amen." A hand reaches out from behind the veil and places a Communion Host on every tongue.

After the reading of the Last Gospel, most scatter in different directions to escape detection. A few stay behind to have their confessions heard. Afterwards, only a boy and a man remain, hiding any evidence of what occurred. With the man's blessing, the youngster heads off into the woods. Finally, the man, his priest's kit stowed safely under his arm, slips into the forest, disappearing like a thief in the night.

Scattered throughout Ireland, often found hidden deep within lush, green forests in remote mountains, what appear to be ancient open air amphitheaters carved into the mountainside can still be found, and intrepid travelers occasionally stumble across them. At the center of each is a large pile of loose stones resembling a makeshift altar. Frequently, a small box-like structure, looking not unlike a confessional booth, is nearby.

These are no ordinary rustic relics. Rather, they are "Mass Rocks," vestiges of the persecution of Catholics by English Protestants from 1536 to 1829. Here, when the Faith was outlawed and priests hunted down like criminals, Mass was celebrated secretly for the faithful. For several periods in Irish history, it was at these Mass Rocks where the light of the Faith continued to flicker, even unto the darkest of nights.

For Catholics, this is Holy Ground.

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=6414

Thanks B from A, looked everywhere for this image, a picture that hangs in my hall and in lots of other traditionalists in Ireland. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words.

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I appreciate all the information!  I know and have known hundreds of Irish people for several decades but I have never heard the term, "Mass rocks."  

Is that my fault?  

I have not been TO Ireland, but at 30,000 feet it looks very green.  

Get it?

Therefore, while the vestments the priest wears for the Mass of St. Patrick on March 17th are ironically not green but white, nonetheless, the rest of the year, whenever I see green vestments (the most common color year round) I immediately think of St. Patrick saying Mass in green Ireland, with green vestments, and green shamrocks (there's that word "rocks" again!) all around the church just outside the doors.  

How ironic is that???  Who gets the last laugh with that vestment tradition faux pas?  

Furthermore, while the OP and subsequent posts persisted in telling me absolutely nothing about "Mass rocks" as if EVERYBODY OUGHT TO KNOW THIS OR ELSE YOU'RE A STUPID IDIOT or something, and it wasn't until stbrighidswell broke down and provided the first hint of substance to answer my objective questions, and even though the conspicuous bent of Irish ire henceforth erupted in some curious attempt to denounce me for asking an honest question or two, thanks to my association with the Irish (even though I've never been there) I am willing to forgive the blatant insults heaped upon my head for being frank and up-front.  

To the Irish, everything in Ireland and everything in the history of Ireland is sacred.  Okay, I get that.  

We don't have anything like that in Los Angeles, except the ridiculous reverence that dolts pay in homage to THE INDUSTRY, and if you don't know what "the Industry" is around here, you had best just not give up the day job.  

Get it?  

"They treat horses better than they do people."  Only when you can comprehend the utterance those words with the unction of dogmatic faith would you have any idea of what Catholics are up against in sunny southern cal.  

I have to adjust my thinking.  "Mass rocks" is a new term for me.  

Whenever the word "rocks" is attached to any other word in L.A. it refers to one of two things:  WORLDLINESS or ROCK'N'ROLL music.  But they're both in the same ball park.  

Get it?  

In case you haven't noticed, or perhaps because you don't have to daily endure the penance of living in L.A., we have a thing called "Rock Mass," whereby there is a DRUM SET and a LEAD GUITAR and a BASS GUITAR and they ROCK OUT during mass, and the priest at the altar wiggles his bootie while he prances around like some kind of DRUID that St. Patrick knew how to deal with just fine, thank you very much.  

Get it?

So please, guard your bony ghoulish pointy fingers and beware of whom you point them at, lest you offend someone of a higher order than a virtual person on the Internet.

An honest question ought to garner an honest answer, and it's really sad that we have to go through the gauntlet of a razor wire invective jungle before we get any solid material.  

Nonetheless, I do appreciate the honest answer.  

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