St Cormac's Chapel

According to the plaque, now set in the wall in front of the building, St. Cormac's church was erected in 1846, under the leadership of parish priest Fr. James McNamara, in the midst of the Great Famine. The original church was a small thatched building in bad repair, sited where no. 1 & 2 of Knockroe estate now stand. Unlike the original church in the old Graveyard, the new church was dedicated to St. Cormac, the missionary visitor to St Daria in the 7th century. The stained glass windows installed in 2000 by Fr. Francis Judge (best viewed with the morning rays of sun streaming through) beautifully personify both saints.

St Cormac's chapel is one of the oldest functioning churches of Killala diocese and was recently renovated by the parish, where the choir gallery was reinstalled and the entire building weatherproofed with a modern heating system. Outside, to the rear it the new parish graveyard and to the front are the graves of three priests of the parish. One of whom, Fr. John B Ruddy was a missionary priest who returned to his native parish in the late 1920's. He developed a reputation for his ability to cure ailments and prophesise the future, beside cursing those he disagreed with. In recent times, earth from his grave was used as a blessed or curative talisman.

The carved wooden pews were made by Cawleys - the local carpenters, and paid for by donations from the parishioners in the 1930's, whose names are now set into the windows of the entrance porch of the chapel. Included there are the names of the last landlord of Moygownagh and his wife; Guy and Kathleen Orme. While Guy Orme was protestant, his wife was a daughter of Lord Killanin of Galway and a Catholic and their three children were raised in their mother's faith. The Orme's thus had a boxed pew at the front of the chapel and attended mass each Sunday. Kathleen Orme donated an organ to the chapel, which was sadly sold off a number of years ago.

Now the church serves the parishioners of Moygownagh under their parish priest, Fr. Kelly - who was born only a few miles away in Ballaghamuck.