You feeling-hearted Christians I hope you will draw near,
Till I sing for you a verse or two which will cause your hearts to tear;
Concerning our dear clergyman, whose loss we do deplore,
By heretics was murdered not far from Dromore.

When they got him on the road, and far away from home,
Those cruel-hearted villains our priest they did surround;
Alas they took him treacherous, gave him no time to pray,
And with a billhook sharp and keen they took his life away.

And when they did him murder, to crown that awful sin,
It was to a limestone quarry they threw his body in.
For fear of being arrested those villains made away,
But the Lord will hold them guilty in the great accounting day.

It was early next morning, two men were passing by;
The blood being sprinkled on the road they happened for to spy.
They traced it to the quarry where they did him behold;
And the body of His Reverence was lying stiff and cold.

And to the chapel he was brought, High Mass for him was said;
Upon his breast was laid the cross and the chalice at his head.
The altar it was draped in black, his loss for to deplore --
May the Lord have mercy on his soul, we'll never see him more.

To see his grand procession your heart would give a sigh;
To hear his tender parents for him did loudly cry.
The widows and the orphans with dismal hearts did say:
May the Lord have mercy on the soul of Father Hanratty.