Religious practice in Ireland before the Great Famine.

briany

I came across an interesting article by a man by the name of Michael P. Carroll called "Rethinking Popular Catholicism in pre-Famine Ireland". Here's the summary of that article,

During the nineteenth century, Ireland experienced a "devotional revolution" that ensured that Catholic Ireland would become the most "Romanized" of all Catholic populations. What most commentators have glossed over is the nature of popular Catholicism in Ireland before the Famine. If pre-Famine popular Catholicism is discussed at all, it is still being interpreted using a "pagan survivals" model that has long been displaced in studying popular Catholicism in other areas of Europe. Following the lead of such Italian scholars as Gabriele De Rosa, my concern here is to demonstrate that the pagan survivals hypothesis is less wrong then misdirecting, in that it leads us to focus on what was peripheral rather than central to the experience of popular Catholicism. Irish popular Catholicism was in fact characterized by a set of emphases that were internally consistent but quite different from the emphases characteristic of official Catholicism. These included a strong emphasis upon orderliness and repetition, masculine supernatural beings, and penitential activity, and a lack of emphasis on figurative representation.

So, my question is what did the religious practice of an Irish commoner look like in the previous centuries. I had often heard that Irish Catholicism was quite idiosyncratic compared to the Roman Rite, which was a source of consternation for Rome at various times in history. Would Irish Catholicism have been much more Romanised if the Penal Laws weren't in play? Did the ordinary Irish have much knowledge of religious scripture? Were 'pagan survivals' (syncretism) really only a peripheral thing, as alleged, or do you think they were more central? Would it be true to say that the Irish were only really a fully mass-going society for about 130 years from the time of the famine up until the end of the 70s or so?

pinkypinky

This book has several relevant chapters and they're not too long.

https://www.cambridge.org/highereducation/books/cambridge-social-history-of-modern-ireland/69A9E4021C3E3C24751B9C5E92AE6FE2

Pre-Famine literacy was low - national school act from 1831, but kids were only taught through English. There were bibles produced in Irish from 17th century but I wouldn't think they were commonplace, given the Penal laws. Remember too that Mass was in Latin so a lot of it would have been incomprehensible to your average person.

I've always taken Catholicism in Ireland as regards reading the bible to be limited - the priest told you what you needed to know.

Manach

Outside my area of historical expertise, but I reckon the following might be taken into account.

> In areas with trading links to the continent, there would be a higher rate of Catholic standard adherence as Priests would more easily evade the then penal laws and be educated in the various Irish Colleges.

> There always had been a measure of local customisation in beliefs, taking examples from the continent, as traditions have a way of surviving.

> When examining English language extent records, the cultural assumption at the time was to blame Catholicism for any percieved social backwardism: this was taken as evidence for the need for British rile.

> Discussing the Bible is rather ahistoric, as the key tenets of the faith would revolve around the sacrements, which again woudl run afoul of a Victorian Whiggish interpretation of history.

Mick Tator

The passage quoted in the OP above is verbose and obtuse, typical of a PhD student trying too hard. The topicis not complex, it could easily be phrased in a more digestible and manageable form. The subsequent question is far wider, covering many other aspects.

In short, as part of its power play, the Irish RC Church was content to recognise deep-held vernacular beliefs (the pagan survivals) and integrate them into its practices. Religious superstitions lasted well into the 20th century. ‘Patterns’, 'Stations' and holy wells are typical examples. Croagh Patrick, Lough Derg and other pilgrimages are the remnants of a religious tax gathering method, based on the concept of 'indulgences', a quasi-pagan belief.

Practice of Catholicism in Pre-Famine Ireland was the same as post-Famine; the priests said mass in Latin when and where they could, baptised, married and buried their parishioners. It was not very different to that in mainland Europe, but where the differences occurred they were for very clear reasons. Ireland’s general population (Catholic) was for several centuries oppressed politically, socially and economically. No serious attempt was made by the Established Church to bring its creed to the masses in Ireland. Many of its clergy held multiple benefices, were non-resident , yet were supported financially by tithes calculated on the crops Catholics had to grow to survive. Landlords, invariably Estabilshed Church, paid a disproportionate amount as tithes were not levied on grassland. Also, the ratio of Estab Church clerics to the population in Ireland was shockingly disproportionate when compared to England.

From the Reformation era those Catholics who could read were discouraged by the RCC from studying the bible, supposedly they would not be educated enough to understand it; in reality, they might form a view that could be contrary to and question RCC dogma. In Europe, religion generally did not play an obtrusive role in civil life because both were quite homogenous. France was Catholic, Germany was Protestant. Occasionally there were hiccups like the Edicts of Nantes and Fontainebleau, but Napoleon’s Organic Articles of 1802 levelled the playing field.

In the case of Ireland, no peaceful effort was made by the central administration (London) to integrate the population under one monarch and later into a supposedly ‘united’ kingdom. Compared to Britain, Ireland had law statutes that deliberately were more oppressive. That led to an acceptance of and dependence on the educated RC clergy for leadership and guidance. The respect for education is deep in Irish society, e.g. its treatment under Brehon law. By the 19th century the growing interest in nationalism spurred and reinforced the role of the Irish RC clergy (educated) in non-religious affairs. By the early 1800’s the RCC was in the process of building its own school network. By mid-century that was a formidable machine and reinforced the role & beliefs of the RCC in Catholic Irish society. Much of those were ahistoric, designed to promote its own position, notably propaganda on persecution under the Penal Laws. (The priest to parishioner ratio in the early 1700's Ireland was higher than today.) By 1960 the RCC was a central pillar in Irish life and its writ was extensive and feared. However, not all of its achievements and work can be negatively criticised. It took more than a century before its hubris was demolished, and while 'under attack' since 1960 (hence Vatican2) it took until this century to loose its iron grip.