Location
2C - Histories
Start Date
29-6-2017 4:01 PM
End Date
29-6-2017 5:29 PM
Description
From as early as the 5th century, Ireland has been inexorably associated with the practice and propagation of the Christian faith. Indeed, such was their scholarly prowess and missionary zeal at that time, Irish monastics were pivotal in the re-evangelisation of Europe, and re-introduction of Latin as an ecclesiastical language. However, such devout provenance was to change following the appropriation of Ireland by English Crown from the 12th century, wherein the freedom to practice one’s religion was incrementally restricted. Worse was to follow, when in pursuant of Martin Luther’s Reformation thesis, the punitive enforcement of The Irish Penal Laws in 1694 ushered in the darkest of periods for Catholics in Ireland, wherein access to land, property, education and the practicing of the Catholic faith was prohibited (Bottigheimer, 1998). Moreover, merely being a member of a religious order, or being found to have harboured a religious “on the run”, was punishable by death. But while The Reformation was deemed a success in Europe, it ultimately failed in Ireland, where a combination of dogged resistance, covert religious practice, identification with the heroic hagiographies of saints and religious figures, and political interventions, resulted in the achievement of Catholic Emancipation in 1829.
Included in
“Stepping Outside the Convent”: Leisure Participation and the Social Lives of Irish Nuns
2C - Histories
From as early as the 5th century, Ireland has been inexorably associated with the practice and propagation of the Christian faith. Indeed, such was their scholarly prowess and missionary zeal at that time, Irish monastics were pivotal in the re-evangelisation of Europe, and re-introduction of Latin as an ecclesiastical language. However, such devout provenance was to change following the appropriation of Ireland by English Crown from the 12th century, wherein the freedom to practice one’s religion was incrementally restricted. Worse was to follow, when in pursuant of Martin Luther’s Reformation thesis, the punitive enforcement of The Irish Penal Laws in 1694 ushered in the darkest of periods for Catholics in Ireland, wherein access to land, property, education and the practicing of the Catholic faith was prohibited (Bottigheimer, 1998). Moreover, merely being a member of a religious order, or being found to have harboured a religious “on the run”, was punishable by death. But while The Reformation was deemed a success in Europe, it ultimately failed in Ireland, where a combination of dogged resistance, covert religious practice, identification with the heroic hagiographies of saints and religious figures, and political interventions, resulted in the achievement of Catholic Emancipation in 1829.