Eucharistic belief and practice in Ireland, 1660-1740 by EVIE MONAGHAN THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF PHD DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND MAYNOOTH HEAD OF DEPARTMENT: Professor Marian Lyons Supervisor of Research: Professor Raymond Gillespie February 2014 For Dad Table of contents Page Acknowledgements ii Abbreviations and conventions iii List of figures iv Introduction` 1 Chapter 1: The theory of the Eucharist in the Church of Ireland, 1660-1740 17 Chapter 2: Eucharistic practice in the Church of Ireland, 1660-1740 54 Chapter 3: The theory of the Eucharist in the Presbyterian tradition, 1660-1740 105 Chapter 4: Eucharistic practices among Presbyterians, 1660-1740 136 Chapter 5: The theory of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, 1660-1740 175 Chapter 6: Eucharistic practice in the Catholic Church, 1660-1740 214 Chapter 7: „Confessions in conflict‟- Eucharistic controversy in Ireland, 1660-1740 253 Conclusion 298 Bibliography 303 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Raymond Gillespie, for all of his help and encouragement during my research. I would also like to thank Prof. Vincent Comerford for providing a warm welcome to the department when I first arrived in Maynooth. My thanks also to the staff of the department and Prof. Marian Lyons. This thesis was funded by both a John and Pat Hume scholarship and a postgraduate award from the Irish Research Council, for which I am most grateful. Thanks to my MLitt class, Jenny, Marykate, Conor, Ren, Patrick, and our honorary member, Mel. A special word of gratitude to Rebecca for her ever-encouraging words and a place to stay at a crucial time. Thanks to Liam O‟Rourke for all the interesting conversations about Restoration Ireland. Thanks to Katie O‟Driscoll for her proof-reading skills. Special thanks to Suzanne and Jean, my best and oldest friends, for their continued support and interest in my studies and reminding me that there was life outside of history. The greatest thanks go to my parents, Patricia and John, for their continued love and support. Thanks to my brothers Myles and Manus and their wives, Sarah and Stephanie, for their encouragement. Thanks to my sister Amy, for rolling her eyes every time I said I needed to study. Thanks also to the rest of my family who always showed an interest in my studies, especially my grandmother, Walburga Monaghan. ii Abbreviations Articles of religion (1615) Articles of Religion Agreed upon by the archbishops and bishops and the rest of the clergy of Ireland, in the convocation holden at Dublin in the year of our Lord God 1615 (Dublin, 1615) BCP The Book of Common Prayer, and administration of the Sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of Ireland (Dublin,1680) BL British Library Cal. S.P. Ire. Calendar of State papers relating to Ireland (24 vols, London, 1860-1911) Canons and decrees The canons and decrees of the sacred and oecumenical Council of Trent, (London,1848) ed. by J. Waterworth CCCA Cork City and County Archives IER Irish ecclesiastical record DIB Dictionary of Irish Biography (ed. by James McGuire and James Quinn, Cambridge, 2009) E.H.R. English Historical Review H.M.C. Historical Manuscripts Commission JRSAI Journal of Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland NLI National Library of Ireland NLS National Library of Scotland ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography PHSI Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland PRONI Public Record Office of Northern Ireland RCBL Representative Church Body Library TCD Trinity College Dublin Conventions Dates have been left old style except that year has been taken to begin on 1 January. Spellings of quotations have been modernized. Biblical quotations have been taken from the Authorized (King James) Version. iii List of figures Figure 2:1 Bread and wine figures for the parish of St. John the Evangelist, Dublin Figure 2:2. Bread and wine figures for the parish of St. Michael's, Dublin Figure 2:3. Bread and wine figures for the parish of Carlow Figure 2:4. Communicants list for Delgany, Co. Wicklow (1692) Figure 2:5. Surviving church plate for the Church of Ireland and the Catholic church Figure 2:6. Title-page of Lancelot Addison, An introduction to the sacrament (London, 1682) Figure 2:7. Title page of The devout communicant exemplified in his behaviour before, at, and after the sacrament of the Lord's Supper (London, 1683) Figure 2:8. Title page of A book for beginners: or, an help to young communicants (London, 12th ed., 1692) Figure 2:9. Title page of Charles Wheatly, A rational illustration of the Book of Common Prayer, and administration of the sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies of the Church (London, 1720) Figure 4:1 Communion token for St. Johnston, Co. Donegal, 1728 Figure 4:2 Communion token for Larne, Co. Antrim, 1700 Figure 4:3 Communion cups of Prince's Street Presbyterian church, Cork Figure 4:4 Communion cup donated by John Shaw to Carnmoney Meeting House in 1714 Figure 4:5 Communion plate of Carnmoney Meeting House, 1714 Figure 5:1 Woodcut showing the Crucifixion contained in the Philip Maguire‟s edition of Bonaventura O‟Hussey‟s An Teagasg Críosdaidhe (Rome, 1707) Figure 5:2 Woodcut showing the Coronation of the Virgin in Philip Maguire's edition of Bonaventura O‟Hussey‟s An Teagasg Críosdaidhe (Rome, 1707) iv Figure 5:3 Woodcut from Antoin Gearnon's Parrthas an anma (1645), Figure 5:4 Woodcut of the laity receiving absolution from Antoin Gearnon's Parrthas an anma (1645) Figure 5:5 Woodcut of laity kneeling in front of an image of the Resurrection from Antoin Gearnon‟s Parrthas an anma (1645) Figure 5:6 Woodcut of the reception of the Eucharist from Antoin Gearnon‟s Parrthas an anma (1645) Figure 6:1 The 'James Egan' chalice, 1633 Figure 6:2 The 'Plunkett- McDermott' chalice, 1712 Figure 6:3 Chalice veil made by a Dominican sister of Galway in 1683 Figure 6:4 Angels with a monstrance in Antoin Gearnon's Parrthas an anma (1645) Figure 6:5 Kilkenny banner (c.1644) Figure 6:6 James Fitzsymon monstrance, 1664 Figure 7:1 Sacramental certificate of Richard Smyth of Ballynatray, Co. Cork, 1741 v Introduction I, A.B., do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that I do believe that in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever, and that the invocation or adoration of the virgin Mary or any other saint, and the sacrifice of the mass, as they are now used in the church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous. In 1691, after the defeat of Jacobite forces by William III, the foregoing declaration against transubstantiation was included as part of the Act for abrogating the Oath of Supremacy in Ireland and appointing other oaths for all those who wished to enter public office. 1 Just over a decade later, the Eucharist was again included in further penal legislation of 1704, when a sacramental test was appended to An act to prevent the further growth of popery.2 Now, instead of simply denying the central Eucharistic tenet of Roman Catholicism, officials had to publicly receive the sacrament in the Church of Ireland as a symbol of their political loyalty. This manifestation of the sacred in the secular world was the instigation for this thesis, and provides the fulcrum around which an analysis of Eucharistic practice and belief is arranged. The conflating of political and religious identity that was advocated by the sacramental test was not unique in early modern society, where the majority of people subscribed to a transcendental world view.3 By making the Eucharist a symbol of political loyalty, the authorities revealed that this symbol was important, in different ways, to different people. The people who were targeted by the legislation were Catholics and Presbyterians, whose Eucharistic practices diverged from those of the established church. In the face of this programme of reform and pressure from the official church, Catholics and Presbyterians sought to protect their 1 3 William and Mary c.2 2 2 Anne c.6. 3 Raymond Gillespie, Devoted people: belief and religion in early modern Ireland (Manchester,1997). 1 own Eucharistic practices. Catholics, influenced by the renewal of the Counter Reformation, defended the Mass as the central component of their belief system. Presbyterians, relatively recent settlers in Ireland, sought to protect what was a unique Eucharistic tradition, born of the particular circumstances of Presbyterian settlement. This thesis will examine the practices and beliefs of these three confessions in a comparative study, with the symbol of the Eucharist as its organising principle. The function of symbols within communities is considered an important question among historians and social scientists. The search for the hidden power that symbols appeared to exercise in both primitive and contemporary societies has long been a preoccupation of the social scientist, but increasingly has attracted the interest of cultural historians seeking to understand how symbols shaped communal identity and reinforced societal structures. As one of the most powerful symbols existing in western Europe, the Eucharist has been given considerable attention. This attention is well deserved, given the complex nature of Eucharistic theologies, the powerful emotions the Eucharist has evoked among communities, and its persistence as both a symbol of unity and division within the Christian experience. Eucharistic symbolism has been identified as an area of cultural history which, by virtue of its continuity, is an avenue of enquiry likely to yield rich rewards in the understanding of how societies operated and how they composed themselves into distinct groups with specific symbols to express their identity.