Religion and Irish Society 1850-1875

Religious affiliation in Ireland

The Church of Ireland (Anglican) and Irish Presbyterianism

Sectarian tension

Problems within the Catholic Church

Mass attendance rates

Popular religion

The impact on the famine

The Devotional Revolution

The role of Paul Cullen

A changing priesthood

‘In the nearly thirty years that he faithfully served Rome in Ireland, Cardinal Paul Cullen not only reformed the Irish Church, but perhaps what was even more important, in the process of reforming that Church he spearheaded the consolidation of a devotional revolution. The great mass of the Irish people became practicing Catholics, which they have uniquely and essentially remained both at home and abroad down to the present day.’ Larkin, Emmet, (1972), ‘The devotional revolution in Ireland 1850-1875’, American Historical Review, 77, p625.

In 1834 the Commissioners of Public Instruction calculated that 80.9 percent of the population of Ireland were Catholics, while 10.7 percent were members of the Anglican Church of Ireland, and some 8.1 percent were Presbyterians.

In 1861 Catholics made up 77.7 percent of total population. Anglicans accounted for 12 percent and Presbyterians 9 percent.

In 1861 Catholics comprised a minority of the population in four of the counties of Ulster (Antrim, Armagh, Down and Londonderry).

Catholics were also a minority in Belfast and Carrickfergus.

In two other Ulster counties (Fermanagh and Tyrone) they made up a little more than half the population.

Catholics made up 86% of the population in Leinster, and more than 90% in Munster and Connacht

96% of Presbyterians lived in Ulster.

Irish Anglicans were quite dispersed. 56% of Anglicans lived in Ulster, 25% lived Leinster, 12% in Munster and only 6% percent in Connacht.

The Church of Ireland in the early 19th century

Bishops and archbishops appointed by the government

Lower clergy – often did not reside in their parishes

Many clerics were pluralists

Churches were often in poor condition

Baptists: grew from around 500 members in 1800 to an estimated 2000 by 1818 and to 4237 by 1861.

The number enrolled in Methodist societies rose from 3000 in the late 1760s to 19000 by 1800 and to 36,903 by 1830.

The Second Reformation is the name given to the early and mid

19th century campaign to promote the mass conversion of

the Ireland’s Catholic population to Protestantism.

The Catholic Church in early 19th century Ireland

Some priests: neglected basic pastoral dutiesdid not preach regularly failed to provide for the religious instruction of the young Did not ensure their parishoners fulfilled their religious duties

First Report of the Commissioners of Public Instruction, Ireland (1835)

Mass attendance figures:

40-60% in Dublin, Cork, Belfast and Limerick

80-100% in other Irish towns

30-60% in rural English speaking areas

20-40% in the rural Irish speaking areas

Revised mass attendance figures:

50-75% in Dublin, Cork, Belfast and Limerick

100% in other Irish towns

37-75% in rural English speaking areas

25-50% in the rural Irish speaking areas

Going to Mass, 1870

Popular forms of religion in Ireland

The celebration of festivals that marked turning points in the agricultural year -St Brigid’s day (1 Feb), May Eve and St John’s Eve (23 June)

Lucky and unlucky actions

Charms

Wakes

Patterns

‘…he had herbs in his hand, and he gave instructions to Michael Cleary to boil them and make the sign of the cross and go round the house

making pishrogues.’

Bourke, Angela, The Burning of Bridget Cleary, pp82-83.

Michael Cleary

Scene at an Irish wake, 1873

Pattern: ‘a local festival celebrated at a holy well or other significant venue on the feast day of the saint to whom

the site was dedicated. By the 18th century patterns were a major venue for popular sociability…Participants

typically combined prayers and ritual observations at the well or other site

with dancing and other forms of celebration.’

Oxford Companion to Irish History, p458

The devotional revolution is a term coined in 1972 by the American historian Emmet

Larkin to describe what he saw as a sudden and dramatic transformation of popular

religious practice in Ireland in the period from 1850 to 1875.

Cardinal Paul Cullen (1803-78)

Cardinal Paul Cullen (1803-78)

Committed to ultramontanism

Insisted on the authority of bishops over priests

The pope’s chief whip in Ireland

Brought the Catholic Church in Ireland into line with Roman discipline

The Synod of Thurles

Tightened ecclesiastical discipline

Introduced greater uniformity into religious observances

Decided that the sacraments would be transferred from the home to the church

Adopted measures to counteract Protestant missionary activities

Opposed government education schemes