https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ Theses Digitisation: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/research/enlighten/theses/digitisation/ This is a digitised version of the original print thesis. Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Edmund Rice (1762-1844) and the Genesis of a Religious Congregation. Dai re K. Keogh A dissertation submitted to the University of Glasgow in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Theology (Research). Department of Theology and Religious Studies. Supervisor: Professor Ian P. Hazlett. August 2007 ProQuest Number: 10394124 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10394124 Published by ProQuest LLO (2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLO. ProQuest LLO. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.Q. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Edmund Rice 1762-1844 Table of Contents Acknowledgements iii Abstract v Abbreviations vii Figures: Birthplace of Presentation Brothers viii Spread of the Congregation 1802-30 ix introduction x Chapter 1: The Church in the Catacombs?’ 1 Chapter 2: The Rices of Callan.’ 26 Chapter 3: The Waterford Merchant’. 43 Chapter 4: ‘The Process of Discernment’. 66 Chapter 5: The Gentlemen of the Presentation’. 90 Chapter 6: ‘Defenders of the Faith’. 112 Conclusion. 144 Bibliography. 149 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the assistance, encouragement and direction given to me by many individuals, and the facilities and expertise made available to me in the course of my study of ‘Edmund Rice (1762-1844) and the Genesis of a Religious Congregation’. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to my supervisor Professor Ian P. Flazlett. His enthusiasm for the subject, his familiarity with the theological and historical context and his perceptive comments provided me with invaluable guidance and support. I was fortunate, too, that through his support I received financial assistance from the Miller Fund which allowed me to make a research visit to the archives of the Christian Brothers in Rome. It is essential, too, that I acknowledge the staff of the various libraries and archival repositories where I have worked: the University of Glasgow, the Mitchell Library Glasgow, the National Library of Ireland, the library of the Royal Irish Academy, the Dublin Diocesan Archive, the Pontifical Irish College, Rome, and the Cregan Library, St Patrick’s College, Dublin. Above all, I owe a debt of gratitude to the archivists of the Christian Brothers; Karen Johnston in Dublin and Br Neville Thornton in Rome. Especial thanks must go to Br Greg Wall for his constant support and assistance. I owe a special debt to friends and colleagues who have read and commented on earlier drafts. These include: Br Donal Blake, Dr Eugene Broderick, Paul Caffrey, Professor John Coolahan, Professor Tom Dunne, Br Edmund Garvey, Dr James Kelly, Br Martin Kenneally, Dr Marian Lyons, Professor Denis 111 McLaughlin, Dr Mary Shine Thompson, Professor Nigel Yates and to Dr Matthew Stout for his cartography. My greatest debt, of course, is to Katie Keogh for all her support and assistance. IV Abstract This thesis examines the genesis of the Irish Christian Brothers. It seeks to place them in their historical context and to understand them as they understood themselves. The Brothers emerged at a dynamic period in the history of the Irish Church. The last quarter of the eighteenth-century had brought a relaxation in the penal laws which allowed the Catholic church to emerge from the ‘catacombs’, thus facilitating its transition from a mission to a church. This thesis charts the role of the Brothers in that context; not simply as agents of change, but as individuals effected by the spirit of the age. It aims, also, to illustrate the complexity of the penal era. Long understood as a century of unrelenting and uniform persecution, the Catholic experience in the period (1691-1829) is now represented as one of ‘endurance and emergence’ in which Catholics adapted creatively to the challenges and opportunities of the age. It will demonstrate the character of eighteenth- century Irish Catholicism and the difficulties which reform minded prelates faced in their attempts to introduce the practices and devotions associated with the Council of Trent. It demonstrates, too, the extent to which Rice’s two congregations were animated by the piety and theology of early-modern Catholicism. This spirituality was embodied in the Rules and Constitutions of the congregations and the Brothers strove to transform Irish society in that spirit. The Brothers’ ultimate aim was not simply the provision of education, but a special kind of Catholic education. They attempted to evangelise the un­ churched urban poor and to introduce them to the new devotions of the age. In so doing they contributed greatly to the confident and assertive character of nineteenth-century Irish Catholicism. VI Abbreviations. Arch. Hib. Archivum Hibernicum. CBER Christian Brothers Education Record. CBGA Christian Brothers General Archive, Rome. CDA Cashel Diocesan Archive. Collect. Hib. Collectanea Hibernica. DDA Dublin Diocesan Archive. IHS Irish Historical Studies. ICAR Pontifical Irish College Archive, Rome. 1ER Irish Ecclesiastical Record. ITQ Irish Theoloqical Quarterly. Positio Cause of Canonisation ... of Edmund lanatius Rice ... Positio super virtutibus (Rome, 1988). VI! Birthplace of the Brothers of the Society of the Presentation 1802-21 Land ovei 3Cflm OD 80 km Vlll Waterford (1816) Carrick-on-Suir Cork St Andrew's Par., Limerick Thurles Ennistymon Ennis North Ricmond St, (1805) (1811) Dublin (1812) (1816) (1816) (1824) (1827) Dublin (1829) |J h ------------1 Diingarvan Mill St, Dublin Charlotte Quay Clare St (1807) (1818) (1816) (1821) Mill St, Dublin James’s St, (1818) Dublin (1820) Growrtt|l th$ Society, pX the PrelikatiSn 1802-10 Î I Limerick Carrick-on-Siiif- Cappoquin X Diingarvan* Y Cork I Land over 300m OD 50 miles 80 km IX Introduction The life of Edmund Rice (1762-1844) spanned a crucial era, from the dawn of Catholic Emancipation to the eve of the Great Famine (1845-50). These were vital years in the formation of Irish Catholic consciousness, marking the emergence from the Penal era and the establishment of the modern Church. In all these matters, Rice and the two religious congregations which he founded made a significant contribution, fostering confidence and helping create a literate modern society. No religious congregation in Ireland has attracted more attention than the Christian Brothers. Yet for all that has been written, we lack a satisfactory account of their origins and founding character. And even though Rice has been the subject of at least seven biographies, the details of his life and motivation remain vague.^ As a consequence, lay commentators have focussed upon the state-building role of the Brothers, and their commitment to ‘Faith and Fatherland’, while paying scant attention to their religious inspiration and ecclesiastical priorities.^ Amongst the Christian Brothers, too, there has been a tendency to examine the foundation of their order with little reference to the historic context or the social environment from which it emerged. The result has been studies which are technically accurate, but are imbalanced and tend towards hagiography rather than history. ^ D. Blake, A Man for our times: a short life of Edmund Rice (Dublin. 1994); J. D. Fitzpatrick, Edmund Rice (Dublin, 1945); D. Keogh, Edmund Rice. 1762-1844 (Dublin, 1996); [M. McCarthy,], A Christian Brother, Edmund Ignatius Rice and the Christian Brothers (Dublin. 1926); D. McLaughlin, The Price of Freedom; the education charism of Edmund Rice (Brisbane, 2007); M.C. Normoyle, A Tree is Planted: the life of Edmund Rice (Dublin, 1976); N. Ô Gadhra, Ëamann loanâid Ris 1762-1844 (Dublin, 1977); O’Toole, A. L., A Spiritual Profile of Edmund Rice. 2 vols (Bristol, 1984). ^ B.M. Coldrey, Faith and Fatherland: The Christian Brothers and the development of Irish Nationalism. 1838-1921 (Dublin, 1988). It must, however, be acknowledged that Edmund Rice is a difficult subject for a biographer. The absence of a diary, memoirs, or a contemporary biographer, makes him an elusive subject and our images of the man’s personality are restricted to mere glimpses. His contemporaries, for instance, appear to have been unaware of the most basic details about his early life including his short marriage and the identity of his wife. His archive, too, is extremely limited and is essentially of a business nature with little by way of personal