The Irish name for a Mass Rock is Carraig an Aifrinn. Other names associated with sites where Mass was celebrated in Penal times include Clais an Aifrinn meaning ‘Mass Ravine’, Páirc an tSéipéil or ‘Chapel field’, Faill an Aifrinn or ‘Mass cliff’, Leaca na hAltora indicating a flat stone or rock altar, Cábán an Aifrinn or ‘Mass Cabin’, Cnocan na hAltorach meaning ‘small hill of the altar’ and Gleann an Aifrinn indicating a ‘Mass Glen’.

The Penal Laws were passed between 1695 and 1756. There are many different opinions but no general consensus concerning the severity of persecution resulting from Penal legislation or the myths which have become associated with the Penal era.

​

So pervasive was the Mass Rock in the image of past persecution that Pope John Paul II spoke of it during his 1979 visit to Ireland. Mass continues to be said at a number of Mass Rock sites today.