1843: The following extract is taken from The Complete Catholic Directory, Almanac and Registry for the Year of the Lord 1843. There is in the small town of Collooney, a new Catholic church in the course of erection, which, when finished, will be one of the most beautiful and ornamental churches in the entire province. The style of architecture is purely gothic; the plan consists of nave, aisles, transepts, chancel and tower. The roof of the nave will be supported by two rows of columns of hewn stone, which will separate the nave from the aisles. There is a well defined chancel for the great altar, and two smaller chapels, one at each side, fronting the aisles, in which small altars will be erected. The entire length, from the great altar, or eastern window, to the western extremity of the nave is 110 feet, the breadth of nave and aisles is fifty feet, the transepts, seventy three by twenty four feet. The tower, which will be 150 feet high, is placed in the western extremity of the north aisle. The church will be dedicated to God, under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and will be one of the most perfect specimens of the pure gothic, or pointed style or architecture in Ireland. An undertaking of such magnitude in so poor a district, does credit alike to the zeal of the pastor of the parish, Very Rev. Dean Durcan, and to the piety and generosity of his worthy parishioners, who have so nobly seconded his laudable efforts in promoting the glory of God, by building a temple worthy of his majesty.