Fr Devine says Mass on The Reek

By Sarah Slevin

Fr Oliver Devine kept the parishes of Ballymore, Boher and Drumraney in his prayers as he said Mass on top of Croagh Patrick in County Mayo.

Last week, local parish priest Fr Oliver Devine trekked up Croagh Patrick in a time of one hour 40 minutes.

“It was tougher than I remembered – it’s a long time since I last did it. It must be 25 years since I last did it,” Fr Devine said.

At the top of the 764-metre peak, Fr Oliver said Mass at 2pm for a group of up to 40 people outside St Patrick’s Chapel.

“There was a few from Newbridge up there and I asked them to help me set up, and we set up a small altar on the outside of the little chapel,” Fr Devine said.

The climb was just before the recent hot weather, but Fr Devine said they had a dry day for it.

“The weather was good, it was clear up the top, but you couldn’t see down the whole way, there was a bit of cloud… it wasn’t wet though, so it was fine on the top,” Fr Devine said.

The PP said that there was a great atmosphere going up and down the mountain.

“People were in good form, I was talking to a lot of people all the way up and down, so it was a nice experience,” Fr Devine said.

Fr Devine said that from Wednesday to Sunday for the month of July, there is Mass every day in the afternoon for people to climb up to attend.