Blessing of the Outdoor Grotto to Our Lady, Carrickmore

What to Expect

St Colmcille’s Church in Carrickmore will bless a newly prepared outdoor grotto to Our Lady at the end of its regular 6:30pm Vigil Mass on Saturday 15 August 2026. The date is the Feast of the Assumption, the holy day marking Mary’s bodily assumption into heaven, which gives the new grotto a fitting first blessing on one of the most significant Marian dates in the Catholic calendar. Parishioners have spent recent months preparing the grotto as a dedicated outdoor space for prayer at the church, and Termonmaguirc Parish has thanked those who built and planted it, describing it as a shrine that will serve as a special place of prayer for years to come. Outdoor Marian grottos are a common feature of Irish Catholic parishes, with many first built during the 1954 Marian Year and maintained ever since as small shrines separate from the main church building, and Carrickmore’s new grotto adds to that same long tradition.

The Assumption is also marked with its own morning Mass in St Colmcille’s at 9am that same Saturday, and a separate 10am Assumption Mass in St Mary’s Church, Loughmacrory, the parish’s second church a few miles away. The parish’s third church, St Oliver Plunkett’s in Creggan, keeps to its usual Sunday-only Mass schedule. Termonmaguirc Parish is served by Fr Peter McAnenly as parish priest, with Fr Moore and Fr Slater assisting across all three churches, and the grotto blessing itself is expected to be a short ceremony added to the end of the regular Saturday evening Mass rather than a separate standalone service.

Good to Know

• Date: Saturday 15 August 2026 (Feast of the Assumption)
• Blessing takes place at the end of the 6:30pm Vigil Mass
• Venue: St Colmcille’s Church, Carrickmore
• Free to attend, open to all
• Additional Assumption Day Masses: St Colmcille’s at 9am and St Mary’s, Loughmacrory at 10am

Getting There

St Colmcille’s Church is in Carrickmore village in mid Tyrone, on the main road through the village, with parking available near the church grounds.