To find out the reason for this, we must go back about 300 years in history. There was a split in the Church in 1521, causing the Reformation, as the Church was abusing its power by selling indulgences, to which a German monk Martin Luther had objected. By then, the English Kings and Queens had taken control of Ireland. The English King Henry V111, refused a divorce by the Pope, made himself Supreme Head of the Church in England and Ireland, giving himself the title Defender of the Faith !! (What a defender !!).He persecuted the Catholics, confiscated alot of their best lands and gave them to his followers. An English gentleman who received an estate in Cork, robbed from the McCarthy chieftain, was walking through his easily-acquired demesne one evening when he came upon an old man seated under a tree breaking his heart crying. He approached the old man and asked him the cause of his grief, "These lands", said the old man, "and that castle were mine. This tree, under which I sit, was planted by my hands. I came here to water it with my tears before sailing tonight for Spain". Later came Cromwell who massacred hundreds of Catholics. Then we come to the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 between the Protestant King William and the Catholic King James (who had come from France to gather as many Catholics behind him and take the country back from England). King William, a much better and braver leader, won the battle. Before it was over, King James galloped off, to save his own skin. On arriving somewhere around Dublin he exclaimed to a Lady he met. "My cowardly Irish have run away !!". "Faith then, your Majesty", she quickly replied, "you have won the race !!" A brave leader called Patrick Sarsfield brought the Catholic army back as far as Limerick but, after what was known as the Siege of Limerick, the Catholic army was eventually defeated. Following that, the Treaty of Limerick was signed and the Catholics were given the choice of joining the English army or of emigrating to join the army of France. About 1,000 joined the English army, but about 14,000 emigrated to join the French army. When most of the Irish Catholic soldiers had gone to France, the persecution of Catholics became worse, as now they had no protection. Then you had the Penal Laws. The Catholic children were not allowed go to school. Wandering Catholic schoolmasters moved around the country secretly teaching the children in caves down by the sea, or behind hedges near the mountain-sides. That was the time of "the hedge-schoolmasters", and the schools were known as "hedge schools". The schoolmaster was fed and kept by the local people. If he was caught, he was killed, and the people who were hiding him were evicted. If any one of a Catholic family became a Protestant, he could take over the family land. Catholic Priests were not allowed to say Mass, and the Catholic people were forbidden to attend Mass. So, many Priests moved through the country dressed as beggarmen or as wandering musicians, and held Masses in houses in which they were hidden. Other Priests lived in caves on the hillsides and said Mass for the people on what were known as Mass Rocks in out of the way places. While the Mass was going on, a few young boys used be up on rocks, watching out for the Red-Coats (or English soldiers) who were searching for the Priests. Five Priests were killed by the Red-Coats in Beara. Four of them had their heads cut off and were tied up on trees by the legs. The other Priest was saying Mass for the people about a mile and a half up on the hillside over Glenbeg Lake, about a mile from Ardgroom Village, when the Red-Coats were seen approaching. The Priest told the people to run for it, but that he would stay and try and finish Mass. The Red-Coats caught the Priest, cut his head off, and buried his body in a bog about 200 yards from the Mass-Rock. No Catholic Baptismal records were allowed to be kept during the Penal Laws. so the most of the Catholic Church records in Ireland are only to be found from about 1830 on ---- mainly after Daniel O'Connell succeeded in getting Catholic emancipation passed in 1829. The Penal Laws were easing off a little prior to that. These laws were made by those in power, and carried out by their representatives. But power corrupts. Unfortunately when some of our own "representatives" got power later on, they also abused it. However both the ordinary Protestants and Catholics now get on great with one another. And long may it be. ----- Riobard. -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter. We are a community of 5.5 million users fighting spam. SPAMfighter has removed 1822 of my spam emails to date. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len The Professional version does not have this message