Mass celebration

Ballybrit rock resurrected after year's hidden behind winning post

- BY DEREK FOLEY

PRAYING for a winner got a lot easier at Ballybrit, after the The Galway Races Festival committee have resurrected the course's famous Mass Rock.

It's been dusted off, given a polish, and now those wanting to fire novenas to the heavens have a focal point.

A very focal point, it is six yards or so to the left of the winning post.

Mass rocks were an integral part of Irish life during the Penal Laws between the 16th and 18th centuries.

The banning of practising Catholicism forced priests, at risk of imprisonment, torture and death, to celebrate Mass in secluded outdoor locations.

Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass in front of an estimated 300,000 from this rock at Ballybrit in September 1979; it was from there he said "Young people of Ireland, I love you."