Popular Religion in Gaelic Ireland 1 4 4 5 - 1 6 4 5 (2 volumes) P art 1 Salvador Ryan THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF PHD DEPARTMENT OF MODERN HISTORY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND MAYNOOTH HEAD OF DEPARTMENT: Professor Vincent Comerford SUPERVISOR OF RESEARCH: Dr. Raymond Gillespie November 2002 NUI MAYNOOTH Oliscöi ! m hf rffljion Ml ftu»d Table of Contents Parti ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v INTRODUCTION ix 1. Towards a definition of Gaelic theology:the God question 1 2. Mary: Mediatrix and Kinswoman 116 3. The Saints: a hierarchy of intercessors , 211 4. The Sacraments: gateways to God 293 Part II INTRODUCTORY NOTE ii 5. Continental Change: catechising the Gaelic Irish 1 6. Defending and defining doctrine: the Louvain literature 95 7.‘Bringing it all back home’: tracing the impact of Trent in early seventeenth -century Ireland 200 CONCLUSION 273 BIBLIOGRAPHY 276 i Acknowledgements Some people compare the coming to fruition of a Ph.D. thesis to a very long pregnancy. If that is the case, then this particular work has been brought to birth by the assistance of an extraordinary number of midwives! I owe a huge debt of gratitude to a large number of institutions and individuals without whose support I could not have undertaken this work. Firstly, I wish to express my thanks to the staff of the various libraries that I have had occasion to visit over the past four years, including John Paul II Library and Russell Library, Maynooth, the National Library of Ireland, the Royal Irish Academy, the Berkeley and Lecky libraries, Trinity College Dublin, and the Representative Church Body Library, Braemor Park. I am also deeply grateful to the staff of the Jesuit Archives, Leeson Street, Dublin, Milltown Institute and the Propaganda Fide Archives, Rome. My thanks also to the staff of the Irish College, Rome for the warm hospitality which they showed me during my stay in October 2000. I wish to express my deep appreciation to the huge number of individuals, with whom I have chatted for various lengths of time about my topic, over the past four years. Without their support, ideas, criticisms and suggestions, this work would not have seen the light of day. Firstly, to Fr Peter O’ Dwyer, who showed great enthusiasm when I visited him, and discussed my initial ideas for this thesis. Sadly, Fr Peter died tragically some months later and did not have the opportunity to read the final draft. Also to an t-Ath. Diarmuid O Laoghaire, whom I also visited in the early stages of this project and who, regrettably, passed away before its completion. In the early stages of my research, the following individuals provided me with useful ideas and direction: Mgr Padraig O Fiannachta, Fr Martin McNamara, Fr Fergus O’ Donoghue, Fr Liam Ryan, Fr Thomas Norris, Tadhg O Dushlaine and Br Colman O Clabaigh - thank you all for taking the time. Over the course of my research, I have had the good fortune of getting to know some marvellous scholars who have shared my interest in things medieval and early modem, and with whom I have had the privilege, on various occasions, of teasing out the ‘big questions’ relating to same: my deepest gratitude, then, to Clodagh Tait, Bernadette Cunningham, Alan Fletcher, an t-Ath. Micheál Mac Craith, Andrew Breeze, Brian Mac Cuarta, Colman O Clabaigh and Madeleine Gray. Without their input, this work would have been very poor indeed. Thanks too to my good friend, Bridget McCormack who has shared my interest in religion in early modem Ireland for some time now and who continues to be a fantastic support. I wish to especially thank the staff of the Department of Modem History, NUI, Maynooth, for their ongoing encouragement and in particular to those members of the department who have had a direct influence on my work - Raymond Gillespie, Colm Lennon, Fr Thomas O’ Connor and Colman Etchingham. Thanks also to David Lederer and Dympna McLoughlin for good lunchtime discussions! Special thanks are due to Prof. Vincent Comerford who has always been a source of great encouragement for me throughout my years studying history at Maynooth. A very special word of gratitude is owed to two people in particular. They are Katharine Simms and Raymond Gillespie. Katharine has been kind enough to share her wealth of knowledge regarding bardic poetry and bardic poets with me for the past couple of years. She has been hugely encouraging,, kindly agreeing to read draft chapters, and has always been generous with her time and her advice. Her expertise in matters pertaining to the Gaelic world has never failed to impress me. My deep thanks to Raymond Gillespie, who had the unenviable task of supervising my work for the past four years. A combination of his un-dampening enthusiasm, remarkable erudition and unwavering patience has simply made the undertaking of this work possible. Heart-felt thanks to the small band of proof-readers who, in the final weeks of my work, checked the text for errors: Kathleen Manning, Aisling English, Fr Niall Howard and Diane Corkery (who reminded me that I didn’t have to use the word ‘then’ in every sentence!). I deeply appreciate the assistance of my good friend Katarina Segavic from Skopje, Macedonia, who, during the summer of 2002 solved a rather intractable computer problem which had baffled me for weeks! Thanks also to Fr Thomas Finan and Fr Gearoid Dullea for taking the time to assist with some of the Latin translations. During the course of my research, I was awarded a Government of Ireland Post­ graduate scholarship by the Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. This afforded me greater opportunities for travel and research than would have normally been possible, and I wish to record my appreciation here of the assistance of the Research Council in this regard. My final and deepest thanks are due to my parents without whose support none of this could have come to pass. I will never be able to repay what they have given me. Sadly, my father did not live to see the finished work. I owe to him especially my love of stories, which first gave me a taste for history as a subject. List of Abbreviations Conventions used in Irish Historical Studies have been generally followed. Additional abbreviations are listed here. ADD Lambert McKenna (ed.), Aithdioghluim Dana. 2 vols. (Dublin, 1939-40) AC A. Martin Freeman, (ed.), Annala Connacht: the annals o f Connacht (A.D. 1224- 1544) (Dublin, 1970) AFM John O' Donovan (ed. and trans.), Annala rioghachta Eireann: Annals o f the Kingdom o f Ireland by the Four Masters, from the earliest period to the year 1616. 7 vols. (Dublin, 1851) AFOD Lambert McKenna (ed.), Ddnta do chum Aonghus Fionn O Ddlaigh (Dublin and London, 1919) ALC William Hennessy (ed.), The Annals o f Loch Ce: a chronicle of Irish affairs from A.D. 1014 - A.D 1590 (London, 1871) AU B. Mac Carthy (ed. and trans.), Annala Uladh-Annals o f Ulster, otherwise Annala Sena it; A chronicle o f Irish affairs, A.D.431- 1131; 1155-1541. 4 vols., (Dublin, 1887-1901) BCC A. O’ Kelleher and G. Schoepperle (eds. and trans.), Beiha Colaim Cille: Life o f Columcille compiled by Manus O'Donnell in 1532 (Illinois, 1918) BM Lambert McKenna (ed.) The Book o f Magauran (Dublin, 1947) BOH Lambert McKenna (ed.) The Book of O ’Hara (2nd ed., Dublin, 1980) CPL J. A. Twemlow (ed.), Calendar o f entries in the Papal registers / Papal letters relating to Great Britain and Ireland xii A.D. 1458-71 (London, 1933). DBM Cuthbert Mliäg Craith (eag.), Dein na mbräthar mionür (B.Ä.C., 1980) DD Lambert McKenna (eag.), Dioghluim ddna (B.Ä.C., 1938) DDe Lambert McKenna (eag.), Dem De (B.Ä.C., n.d.) DMMD N. J. A. W illiams (eag.) Ddnta Mhuiris Mhic Dheiibhi Dhuibh Mhic Gearailt (B.Ä.C., 1979) DMU David Greene (eag.), Duaneiire Mheig Uidhir (B.Ä.C., 1972) GBMCM N. J. A. Williams (ed.) The poems ofGiolla Brighde Mac Con Midhe (Dublin, 1980) IM The Irish Monthly: a magazine of general literature (Dublin, 1874-1954) N.M.A.J North Munster Antiquarian Journal n.l.t. not later than PA Antoin Gearnon, Parrthas an Anma (eag. Anselm Ó Fachina) (B.A.C., 1953) PB Lambert McKenna (eag.), Philip Bocht Ó hUiginn (B.A.C., 1931) PCT N. J. A. Williams (eag.), Pairlement Chloinne Tomáis (B.Á.C., 1981) PH Atkinson, Robert (ed.), The passions and homilies from the Leahhar Breac: text, translation and glossary (Dublin, 1887) PL J. P. Migne (ed.), Patrologiae cursus completus a J. P. Migne editus et parisiis anno domini 1844 excursus: series Ialina. Supplementum. (Paris, 1974) RIA Royal Irish Academy SBC Cainneach Ö Maonaigh (eag.), Smaointe beatha Chriosl: f innsini Ghaeilge a chuir Tomas Gruamdha O Bruachdin (fl.c.1450) ar an Meditationes Vitae Christi (B.Ä.C., 1944) SSA Aodh Mac Aingil, Scdthdn Shacramuinte na hAithridhe (eag. Cainneach Ö Maonaigh), (B.A.C., 1952) TBGB Geoffrey Keating, Tri bior-ghaoithe an bhdis: the three shafts o f death (eag. Osborn Bergin) (B.Ä.C., 1931) TC Bonavenlura O hEoghusa, An Teagasg Criosdaidhe (eag. Fearghal Mac Raghnaill) (B.A.C., 1976) TCD Trinity College Dublin Introduction Increased interest in the area of ‘popular religion’ among historians is a relatively recent phenomenon. John Bossy traces its origins to the school of ‘religious sociology’ which was inaugurated in France in 1931 by the canon law historian, Gabriel le Bras. 1 It is certainly true that historians of the Francophone world have proved themselves to be forerunners in this field of research, publishing widely, from a relatively early stage, on the experiences of the laity in late medieval and early modem France.2 The term itself, however, is fraught with difficulty and any historian who might naively consider attempting to definitively unravel its meaning, faces a minefield of objections.