Achill Priests (1941)

An t ‘atair Ó Máille was the parish priest that was in Achill before Father Michael. An tAtair Ó Maille had a curate named Fr Malachy Monaghan and it was Fr Malachy that baptised me . An tAtair Ó Máille was from Baile an Tobair or Pártrí (two townlands about 8 or 9 miles south of Castlebar). He was shifted out of Achill before Father Mick came. I think it was because he was old, I don’t know where he was shifted to. Fr Malacly Monaghan was in Achill a good while after An tAtair Ó Máille when he left Fr Henry came and he was Fr Mick’s curate. The next parish priest that came after Fr Mick was Fr Pat O’Conner, Fr Colleran was the parish priest and then Fr Campbell, the present parish priest. That’s five parish priests in my time and An tAtair Ó Máille, but I don’t remember him. I couldn’t be sure about the curates because they usedn’t stay long
Fr Mick is buried in Kildownet with all his people and mine and sure twon’t be long till mesel’be with them now as long as it’ll be. He died in 1867(2th Sept,1867) and he was 20 years a parish priest before he came to Achill. There was only one cutate in Achill that time and now there’s no less than three and a parish priest. It was hard for two priests to attend to a big parish like Achill , there was only two chapels in the parish at that times, the one in Kildownet and the one in River.(a village east of Keel in Achill Island) now there is six chapels in the parish and four priests, and they have to have mass in some of the schools too in the villages that are too far from a chapel.