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faith · Friday 7 August 2026 · 11:00am 
Cuan Mhuire Ballybay Novena
At Cuan Mhuire · Corfad, Ballybay, Co. Monaghan
At Cuan Mhuire · Corfad, Ballybay, Co. Monaghan
Cuan Mhuire in Corfad, just outside Ballybay, holds its annual novena every August, running this year from Friday, 7 August to Saturday, 15 August 2026. It is one of the biggest recurring gatherings in south Monaghan, drawing several hundred people a day to a centre better known for its addiction and recovery work than for public events, and it is open to anyone regardless of any connection to the centre itself.
Each day of the novena follows the same pattern: Holy Hour at 11am, the Rosary at 7:15pm and Mass at 7:30pm, with an average of 350 to 400 people attending across the day according to the centre. Cuan Mhuire was founded in 1966 by Sr Consilio Fitzgerald as a residential treatment service for people affected by alcohol, drug and gambling addiction, starting in Athy, County Kildare, and has since grown to include centres in Galway, Limerick, Cork and Newry. The Ballybay site opened in 2007 as a Transition House, giving men who have completed a residential programme elsewhere extra time and support, often around housing, before moving on. The novena itself predates any of that structure in most visitors’ minds. It is simply known locally as a place of quiet Marian devotion, drawing people of every age and background, some connected to the recovery community and many who are not, for prayer rather than for any specific request tied to the centre’s work. 2026 falls within the organisation’s 60th anniversary year, marked more widely across its centres with events reflecting on six decades of the work Sr Consilio began.
Corfad is a few minutes outside Ballybay on minor roads, and a car is the practical way to get there for any of the nine days. Ballybay itself sits on the N2 corridor between Monaghan town and Castleblayney, roughly equidistant from both.
Ballybay is a small market town on the shore of Ballybay Lake, with the Dromore River running through it and a long agricultural show tradition in the area. There is more to see in Ballybay and across Co. Monaghan.
Heading to Cuan Mhuire in Ballybay? Monaghan has plenty more to see. Read the Ballybay area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.