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Religious DivisionsSummary of chapter. These chapters deal with the various religious bodies in Ireland. Study of these is important for Ireland was to split on sectarian lines. This chapter deals with the more general aspects of religion in Ireland.
(iii) The Distribution of the Churches
(iv) Charities and Charitable Bequests ***************************************************************************************************** In
the earlier part of the book matters concerning All
the religious groups in A long series of wars spanning thirty years,
and therefore called the Thirty Years War was fought in Germany in the first
half of the seventeenth century to see if the principles of the Reformation
could be either spread or extirpated. Its bitter spirit spread to The
great principle adopted at the Peace of Westphalia was that each ruler was to
be free to determine the official religion within his territories: the principle
cuius regio ejus religio. The result
of this was that each ruler excluded subjects holding dissident views on
religion from all public offices in his realms, and usually provided that all
endowments for religious or charitable purposes could only be made in favour of
the state religion. Actual persecution for holding dissenting opinions
virtually ceased, though
in 1685 Louis XIV was to revoke the Edict of Toleration of Nantes
(1598) of Henry IV and expel Protestants from From
the sixteenth centuries onwards the gentlemen and upper classes in Protestants
in In
the No
adequate study has ever been done of the spread of Protestantism in the island
and among the various social classes. In the seventeenth and early eighteenth
centuries possession of good land and control of the towns undoubtedly helped
Protestantism. But the spread of the cultivation of the potato and the enormous
expansion of the lower classes in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
century caused a relative growth of Catholicism. Finally the spread of
industrialisation and the growth of the manufacturing towns again favoured the
numerical expansion of Protestantism. Yet other factors led to a virtual
extinction of Protestantism in various parts of rural (iii) The
Distribution of the Churches Since about the year 1800 Protestants have accounted for about one
quarter of the population of The
first accurate information with regard to religious statistics came from the
1861 census that included a question on religious affiliation. This showed that
Catholics numbered about 4,300,000, members of the Established Church 693,000,
and Presbyterians 523,000. Protestants therefore amounted to 28% of the
population. Protestants
were not distributed equally either in a geographic or a social sense in Protestants
tended to be concentrated at the upper end of the social scale. Nearly all of
the nobility and gentlemen, the commercial classes in the towns, the successful
manufacturers, and the professional classes were Protestants. If any Irishman
achieved outstanding success in any field in the nineteenth century it is
fairly safe to conclude that he was a Protestant. Except in numbers, (iv)
Charities and
Charitable Bequests Numerous
charities were founded in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Because of
widespread frauds there was a great unwillingness to provide for the sick and
poor out of public funds. It was considered that self-help should be encouraged
in every way and private charity should provide for the helpless. Hospitals and
dispensaries were provided for the sick poor, and
orphanages for orphans. Collections were taken up for their support, and
charity sermons were preached to encourage generosity. Musicians and amateur
actors gave public performances in aid of particular charities, and ladies
could organise charity balls. Charitable Loan Societies were formed to assist
struggling tradesmen. Protestants
controlled much of the wealth of the country, and also took the lead in
establishing charities. From a slow start in the eighteenth century it became a
social obligation for every lady and gentleman to associate herself
or himself with some charity. It followed that Protestant committees controlled
most of the charities. These committees varied in their sentiments as much the
generality of the Protestant population. Orphans
were numerous and were supposed to be a charge on each parish. But an orphanage
was established in the eighteenth century for the children of soldiers and
these were instructed in the Protestant faith. Other orphanages, like that of
the Charitable Institution ( Charities
in general came under the Lord Chancellor's supervision, but bequests for
charitable purposes came under a special Board called the Board of Charitable
Bequests. This Board was established by the Irish Parliament in 1800 at the
instance of the Lord Chancellor, which Act replaced an earlier Act of Elizabeth
I. Under the earlier Act, in cases of dispute, the Court of Chancery had to
appoint four independent commissioners to decide the point, and it was
frequently difficult to find four qualified persons willing to act. As with all Boards at the time only
Protestants could be appointed to it. It was modelled on a Board of Enquiry
into the endowed schools, and itself became a model for later Boards for
educational purposes. Unlike in Peel in 1845 reorganised the Board and appointed Catholic bishops to it. But such was the suspiciousness of the nationalist faction that they seized on an opinion of O’Connell's that certain clauses could possibly at a future date be used against them and furiously opposed the Act. At this distance in time it may be conceded that there were few actual problems with regard to proselytism or attempts to divert Catholic bequests to Protestant charities, and most of the difficulty was caused by a factious spirit among some leading Catholic clergy. Despite the opposition the Board was established and did very useful work. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright Desmond J. Keenan, B.S.Sc.; Ph.D. ;.London, U.K.
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