In the 1920s Canon McCorry was parish priest at Annaclone and Fr. Devlin his curate. One unusually still night a sudden gust shook the buildings round the chapel and the two men heard a commotion outside. With the Black and Tans active, the Canon feared hostile forces and wanted them to stay indoors.
Fr. Devlin felt compelled to look. He went to the sacristy door and saw a priest inside, fully vested and preparing to say Mass. The stranger politely asked if anyone could serve the Mass. He explained that in life he had been paid to say a Mass for a soul in Purgatory but had never done it, and had returned to fulfil the obligation.
Fr. Devlin served the Mass in silence. At the end another blast of wind filled the chapel and the stranger rose from the ground like a dove and vanished. People who knew Fr. Devlin said he never fully recovered from it and died young.
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