Some Aspects of the History of the Parish
The name Urney comes from the Irish Urnaidhe, meaning prayer or a place of prayer. The parish is an ancient one, comprising until quite recently the modern parishes of Melmount, Sion Mills and Castlederg as well as the Urney part of the present parish of Urney and Castlefin.
One of the earliest foundations in the parish was a convent of nuns, its most illustrious member being St Samhthann (St Safan)
Of Ulster origins, the saint came to the monastery of St Cognat at Urney, where she acted as bursar. Later she became abbess in the monastery of Clonbroney in Co. Longford. She is listed among the saints in the Stowe Missal and in the Martryrology of Oengus and is the subject of a medieval Latin Life: the Vita Sanctae Samthannae Virginis.The date of her death is given as 739 AD.
In medieval times the parish was served by a Rector (Parish Priest) and a Vicarius (Curate) and the parish had some association with the Island of Islay in Scotland. There are references to some of its priests in the Armagh Registers and the Papal Annates.
For Penal times, there is a local tradition of a Fr. Ward who was killed in the area by priest hunters. He was buried by locals in a bog on the hill at Drumdoit, and the location of his grave is still known to people in the area. A Fr James Gallagher is also believed to have celebrated his final Mass in the area at a Mass Rock at St Brigid’s Well: his subsequent fate is not known.
Towards the end of the Penal era, the bishop of Derry, Dr. Philip McDevitt, took up residence for a time in Clady, where he had a seminary of twelve students at the house called “The Grove”. The bishop died in Clady in 1797, but is buried at Fahan. One of those educated in the seminary was Fr Charles McCaffrey, who was for a period Parish Priest of Urney and who took part in the Omagh Discussions of 1828.
In more recent times, Fr James Connolly, a native of Ballinascreen, was stationed in the parish for some 54 years, being Curate in Castlederg from 1848 to 1868, Administrator of Urney from 1868 to 1878 and then Parish Priest of Urney from 1878 until his death in 1903. It was he who had the present St Columba’s Church built. He is buried in the old cemetery at Doneyloop.
Fr Connolly’s successor as Parish Priest, Fr John McElhatton, transferred his residence from Doneyloop to Melmount. In 1938, the parish was split: Melmount and Sion Mills were given parochial status and the parish of Urney was confined to the area of Urney and Castlederg, with the Parish Priest’s residence at Castlederg. That remained the situation until 1976 when the parish boundaries were again redrawn. Urney was united to Castlefin for create a new parish of Urney and Castlefin, while Castlederg was joined to Ardstraw. The first Parish Priest of the new parish was Fr William Rafferty.
November 1999, Bishop Seamus Hegarty presents a Diocesan Scroll of Honour to Ms Annie Potts who had been Sacristan in the Doneyloop Church for over 40years. Also in the photograph is Fr William Rafferty, former Parish Priest. Annie was the first recipient of this new diocesan honour.
The Castlefin side of the parish was formerly part of the parish of Donaghmore. The original Domhnach Mór or Great Church is said in Tirechán’s Breviarium to have been founded by St Patrick. Even if this is not accepted as certain, its inclusion in Tirechán’s work (7th Cent.) is testimony to the antiquity of the church and parish. The Church of Ireland Donoughmore Church may well be on the site of the original foundation.
Again, the parish and some of its clerics feature in the Armagh Registers and the Papal Annates during the Middle Ages. In 1422, for example, a Fr Thomas O’Carolan was the Rector or Parish Priest, and in 1440 Pope Eugene IV seems to have arranged for the installation of a Fr Clement O’Friel.
In the early 19th Cent., the Parish Priest, Fr Neal O’Kane, obtained a plot of land in Castlefin and, in 1822, built a new thatched church at a cost of Ł250. The church was dedicated to St Mary. This was replaced in 1878 and the new church was modified in 1901.
St Mary’s
The Old Church
1878 - 1978
Partly due to the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council and partly because this church was considered too small, in the 1970s it was decided to replace it with a new church on a different site. The result was the present St Mary’s Church, Castlefin.
