The Penal Chapel and the Mass-rock, which predates it, are Tomhaggard's most famous monuments, forming links with a period when Irish culture and faith were subjected to a persecution of a more fiercely direct nature. The Chapel is the only one in the country that has survived for well over two centuries. Recognising its historical importance, the National Heritage Council has now committed its support to preserving it into the future, in conjunction with the parish.

It occupies an historic site where there was a castle built by the Anglo-Norman Rossiter family, whose principal castle was at Bargy. The Rossiters and Devereuxs were the Catholic proprietors of the district until their estates were confiscated under the Cromwellian regime in the 1650s. Portion of the old castle wall remains.

The Mass-house was originally a scalán - a thatched covering for the priest and altar in the days of open-air Masses. Mass continued to be celebrated here until 1812 when the new chapel (a typical early nineteenth-century barn church) was built. We know that open-air Masses continued in this area down to the close of the eighteenth century. There is the well-known story of Jacob Poole, the Quaker linguist, who built a chapel at Kilmachree because of his sympathy for his Catholic neighbours whom he found praying in the mud and rain at the crossroads of Killiane in 1795.

In 1731, the report on the State of Popery in the diocese of Ferns lists "a covering for ye altar" at Killiane, Mayglass/Killinick, Ishartmon and Ballybrennan, all in the South Wexford area. Over the door of the Tomhaggard Mass-house is a fragment of what appears to be a segment of a window arch from the medieval church, which overlooks it from the ancient graveyard opposite.
In its original appearance, the Mass-house would have looked more like a very open shed, with a thatched roof. The present door and front wall may have been added after the chapel was built in 1812; this idea is supported by the fact that one of the door frames has a lightly carved R.D. on it, presumably o the Richard Devereux who was in residence at exactly that time. At that stage, the scalán was no longer required and the new shed became a useful potato house.

A couple of hundred yards away is the Mass-rock at which Fr. Nicholas Mayler was killed by Cromwellian troops while celebrating Mass on Christmas morning of 1653, at a spot known as the Knock of Furze. The Mass-rock itself is literally a fragment of a similar window arch as the one over the door of the Mass-house. In both cases, there may have been a deliberate attempt to maintain a direct continuity from the medieval church - a gesture in keeping with the deep-seated traditionalism of the area.

Fr Mayler, who was martyred at the Mass-rock, is reputedly buried with his kinsfolk within the ruin of the medieval church in Tomhaggard cemetery. He was descended from the Norman Maylers of Duncormick, who were dispossessed of their castle and estates in the Cromwellian confiscations. The family afterwards settled on property in Ballyhealy, the lease of which they were enabled to keep through the kindness of the Protestant Rector of Kilmore, the Rev Roger Vigors.

Tradition relates that a Mrs Lambert, who was amongst the faithful congregation huddled around the Mass-rock on that bleak Christmas morning, recovered the chalice Fr Mayler was using when he was killed. She returned it to the Mayler family in whose possession it remained for 236 years. It was afterward converted into a ciborium by Fr Mayler's kinsman, Archdeacon Philip Mayler, Parish Priest of Kilmore from 1850 to 1884, who returned it to the little chapel of Tomhaggard. This historic chalice is dated 1652. It is now used at Christmas morning Masses in Tomhaggard and at the closing Mass of St Anne's novena held annually from 18th to 26th July. [Click on the image for an enlarged image]

In 1951 a pageant re-enacting the murder of Fr Mayler was held during Patron Week and made a huge impact, as local men and women, in period costumes and uniforms, staged an authentic portrayal of the fateful event. It was reproduced in 1952.

The pageant was revived in 1999 by Fr Danny McDonald to mark the 350th anniversary of the coming of Cromwell to Ireland. The location of the Mass-rock in a ditch had been cleared of scrub and a commemorative stone erected. Parts of the Mass, as would have been celebrated at the time, in Latin - hymns and readings - were included.

A new chapter was added to the rich ecclesiastical history of Tomhaggard on Christmas morning 1999 when Mass was celebrated at the Mass-rock for the first time since Fr Mayler paid with his life for doing so all those years ago. This was the local community's special contribution for the Jubilee Year of the new millennium. It was a memorable sight to see over one hundred people make their way across the fields in the darkness, with the odd flicker of torches to show the way to this holy place for the last Christmas of 1999 and the first Mass there since 1653.

"At 8.00am young and old stood in silence to bring to mind what that Christmas must have been like for those who huddled with Fr Mayler at the Mass-rock. The scene today is still as it would have been then. We began our Mass remembering all the people of our parish - past and present. As our prayers continued, dawn broke and we concluded our celebrations with the singing of "Silent Night".

Mass has taken place at the Mass Rock each Christmas morning since, with increasing numbers attending and witnessing to the depth of faith that still exists in the community.

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