Priests, Politics & Society in Post-Famine Ireland - Hardcover

O'Shea, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 090547371X ISBN 13: 9780905473710

Publisher: Irish Amer Book Co, 1983

Synopsis

It is only in recent years that detailed examination of the power and influence of the Catholic clergy in Ireland has been forthcoming. This book is a scholarly examination of the reality of that power and influence for the second half of the nineteenth century. James O'Shea clarifies the difficult, wide-ranging and crucial role of the clergy in the political and social movements of post-famine Ireland. O'Shea uses as his focus the priests of Tipperary, on whom substantial documentation exists, but draws on material from all parts of Ireland, and has produced an important and highly readable and intriguing study on Irish social history, and a major account of the role of the Catholic Church in Ireland during the second half of the nineteenth century. Commencing with a study on clerical lifestyle, O'Shea examines the training of the seminarian, his social origins and educational regimes; the priest on mission, his living conditions; the social and spiritual problems and finally the startling ecclesiastical reforms of the early 1850s. Four main issues dominate the book's political content: electioneering; Irish republicanism from 1798 to the turbulent relationship between the I.R.B. and the G.A.A. in the 1880s; the existence or non-existence of an Irish party at Westminster from 1850 to 1876; the Parnellite movement from 1877 to 1891. In all these areas O'Shea highlights the considerable role and influence of the priest. Finally the book deals with three major social issues of the nineteenth century: the unjustly neglected question of the poverty stricken labourer, the land question from 1850 to 1876 and the Land War from 1877 to 1891. The book includes useful statistical tables, maps and illustrations together with an invaluable and informative 'Directory' of secular priests in Tipperary for the period.

Edition details

• Publisher: Irish Amer Book Co
• Publication date: 1983
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 090547371X
• ISBN 13: 9780905473710
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368