Hi Frances, thanks for the information, I bow to your knowledge. Mine is gained solely through an article I read "Our Lady Star of the Sea and St Maughold, Ramsey" written by the the Very Rev.Dean R Gillow, parish priest of Ramsey, 1864 - 1900. His use of phrases 'Word was secretly passed', 'Run the gauntlet', 'Priests disguised in various ways' and 'gathered together in secrecy' permit me to forgive myself for using the word 'smuggled'. I was not trying to say that the IOM banned Catholocism, merely that my gg.grandfather had housed the priests brought in to give mass. Perhaps my use of language misled. Diane