Protestant, Catholic & Dissenter: The Clergy and 1798

by Liam Swords

Focuses on the role played by clergymen of different denominations in the 1798 Irish Rebellion. Daire Keogh opens the book with a review of the Catholic Church and radical politics during the period, and Raamoinn Ó Muir describes the tragic career of the Armagh priest, James Coigly, who was executed at Maidstone. Nicholas Furlong gives a biographical account of the celebrated Fr Murphy of Boolavogue. W. D. Bailie chooses William Steel Dickson, a Presbyterian minister who was a leader of the United Irishmen in Co Down and who ended his life in exclusion and poverty for his commitment to the cause. His fellow Presbyterian ministers, involved in what has been described as a ""Presbyterian Rebellion"", are sketched by William McMillan, as the Catholic priests in the Wexford Rebellion are detailed by Kevin Whelan. The involvement of the Protestant (Anglican) clergy in Wexford is discussed by Patrick Comerford, while Sheila Molloy deals with priests in the Connacht rebellion. Liam Swords concentrates on Irish priests and students in revolutionary Paris, while Louis Cullen sets the overall context, historical and ecclesiastical.

244 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1997

About the author

Father Liam Swords

Reviews

[Mathieu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The articles in this volume are of mixed quality. Liam Swords on the priests and students in revolutionary France is useful in so far as it is an update and errata of his 1989 book "The Green Cockade". I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in Daire Keogh's article on the Catholic hierarchy and radicalism while Kevin Whelan's short prosopography of the priests in the 1798 Rebellion is very short indeed but useful as a start. &c., &c. In the end, it's a useful volume for those interested in the subject but it is not definitive and lacks a truly conceptualized approach to this subject which has been neglected and holds a great potential.