What does it mean to be Irish? Are the predicates Catholic and Irish so inextricably linked that it is impossible to have one and not the other? Does the process of secularisation in modern times mean that Catholicism is no longer a touchstone of what it means to be Irish? Indeed was such a paradigm ever true? These are among the fundamental issues addressed in this work, which examines whether distinct identity formation can be traced over time. The book delineates the course of historical developments which complicated the process of identity formation in the Irish context, when by turns Irish Catholics saw themselves as battling against English hegemony or the Protestant Reformation. Without doubt the Reformation era cast a long shadow over how Irish Catholics would see themselves. But the process of identity formation was of much longer duration. The twenty-two chapters of this work trace the elements which have shaped how the Catholic Irish identified themselves, and explore the political, religious and cultural dimensions of the complex picture which is Irish Catholic identity. The individual essays together represent a systematic attempt, unique in the literature, to explore the fluidity of the components that make up Catholic identity in the Irish context. -- .

What does it mean to be Irish? Are the predicates Catholic and Irish so inextricably linked that it is impossible to have one and not the other? Does the process of secularisation in modern times mean that Catholicism is no longer a touchstone of what it means to be Irish? Indeed was such a paradigm ever true? These are among the fundamental issues addressed in this work, which examines whether distinct identity formation can be traced over time. The book delineates the course of historical developments which complicated the process of identity formation in the Irish context, when by turns Irish Catholics saw themselves as battling against English hegemony or the Protestant Reformation. Without doubt the Reformation era cast a long shadow over how Irish Catholics would see themselves. But the process of identity formation was of much longer duration. Newly available in paperback, this work traces the elements which have shaped how the Catholic Irish identified themselves, and explores the political, religious and cultural dimensions of the complex picture which is Irish Catholic identity. The essays represent a systematic attempt to explore the fluidity of the components that make up Catholic identity in Ireland. -- .

Beginning with Catholic attitudes to the Act of Union, this work traces various elements in the interrelationship between the Catholic Church and the state in Ireland in the 19th century. Catholicism's role in the Protestant state for most of the century was tempered and conditioned by its relationship with the various Protestant churches in the country. In the development of its infrastructure, facilitating as it did along with other factors the 'devotional revolution', the church was in many ways dependent upon Protestant financial help. The ironies and complexities of this situation is a consistent theme in these essays. Although the religion of the vast majority of the Irish people Catholicism, in its institutional aspect, felt itself to be undervalued and underappreciated by the Protestant state.Its dealings with the state where tempered by its relative poverty and it dependence on the state for various benefactions not least the generous provision for Catholic clerical education. For the first time in the historiography, some attention is paid to the relations between the Catholic Churches in Ireland and England in an era when the future cardinal Nicholas Wiseman attempted to pose as an unofficial adviser to government on Irish and Vatican affairs, in circumstances which caused resentment among Irish Catholic churchmen.