A peculiar thing happened at the Irish Reformation Parliament, held in a number of sessions between 1536-1537. As the name indicates, the Parliament was called to enact the Reformation of Henry VIII in Ireland, a venture that had just been completed in England. Bringing Henry’s Reformation to Ireland involved a series of enactments, most notably the Act of Supremacy, according to which the king, and not the pope, was now to be head of the Church in Ireland. Another piece of work, well-remembered and still capable of evincing sadness, was the Act for the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
The peculiar thing that happened at the Reformation Parliament is that these drastic Acts, of Supremacy and Dissolution, so far-reaching in their consequences, gave rise to little or no opposition in this Irish Parliament. The Reformation in Ireland was voted through with barely a whimper. In fairness to the delegates, the Tudor juggernaut had been set in motion in its Irish theatre and woebegone any Gael or Norman who would dare try stop it.
What helped finally to eradicate the pre-Reformation abuses in the Irish Church, was the Council of Trent and the Counter-Reformation”
Silken Thomas, young scion of the greatest Norman house, the Geraldines of Kildare, had only recently been hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, together with his five uncles, for just such a challenge. That must have focused the minds of the parliamentary delegates! But the Catholics of Ireland came good in the end. They had voted for the Reformation but showed no enthusiasm for implementing it on the ground. Ireland did not prove fertile ground for Henry’s Reformation. What did succeed, and what helped finally to eradicate the pre-Reformation abuses in the Irish Church, was the Council of Trent and the Counter-Reformation.
Henry VIII (1509-47)
The ‘Henrician Reformation’, as it is called, is something of a misnomer. More of a schism, as Henry changed jurisdiction in the Church, but not doctrine. He adhered to the so-called Six Articles, a decidedly Catholic programme including transubstantiation. So, Henry VIII assisted at Mass until the end of his days. The King, in fact, was the main obstacle to the progress of the Reformation in England and by extension, in Ireland.
Edward VI (1547-53)
It was during the reign of Edward VI, Henry’s son, that the liturgical and theological dimensions of the Protestant Reformation began to make themselves felt. As Edward was a minor he ruled, consecutively, through the Earls of Somerset and Northumberland. Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer was introduced. George Browne, Reformation Archbishop of Dublin, “busied himself with removing the stone altars from churches in his diocese …” (Margaret MacCurtain, UCD). Bishop of Ossory, John Bale, did likewise but lamented: “helpers I find none among my prebendaries and clergy, but adversaries a great number.” The suppression of the Mass was a step too far!
The reign of Queen Mary (1553-58), daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon, saw an attempt to restore the Catholic faith.
Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
The reign of Elizabeth, daughter of Henry and Anne Boleyn, brought the Reformation in these islands to its dénouement. History calls it the ‘Elizabethan Church Settlement 1559’.
The Elizabethan Church Settlement was an effort to be a via media between the two groups and to come up with a form of liturgy and theology that could find acceptance among all subjects of the Queen”
It created the Church of England (Anglican Church) and by extension, the Church of Ireland. The Settlement included an Act of Uniformity according to which all were required by law to adhere publicly to the Anglican Church and to attend its services. At this time in England, and for long afterwards, there was great tension between on the one hand, those who wanted to retain the Catholic faith, and on the other, those who wished England to move to the doctrines of John Calvin (1509-64), the radical Reformer of Geneva.In English and Irish history, these latter are called Puritans. The Elizabethan Church Settlement was an effort to be a via media between the two groups and to come up with a form of liturgy and theology that could find acceptance among all subjects of the Queen. In Ireland this was not to be and there followed much suffering and distress.
Tudor colonisation
The Reformation was the religious side of the general political and military repression of Ireland in the 16th century. Tudor colonisation was a true am an ghátair (time of great distress) for the Irish, Gaelic and Norman alike. From school we remember the Plantation of Leix and Offaly (1550s), Suppression of the Desmond Rebellion in Munster (1570s), Plantation of Munster (1580s), Nine Years’ War involving O’Neill and O’Donnell in Ulster (1594-1601), Battle of Kinsale (1601), Flight of the Earls (1607), Plantation of Ulster (1610).
Myths
Many of our myths as a people, as an emerging Irish nation, go back to the Tudor period. I do not use the word ‘myth’ in the sense of fable, invention, or fiction. I use it in the way of the historians and anthropologists. Myth means a true story, a precious possession, a kind of sacred tradition. Myth grows when people are confronted with something radically new, something dangerous, something they do not understand. In ordinary times when no particular effort or courage or endurance is called for, people do not create myth. It occurs when they are frightened, in danger, when outcomes are uncertain, when the future is a fearsome prospect.
Robert Kee, English historian who served Ireland well, described our homeland as ‘the most distressful country’”
That was the situation in Tudor Ireland. And the distress continued long, long after the Tudors. Cromwell, the Boyne, Penal Laws, Great Famine. Interminable! Robert Kee, English historian who served Ireland well, described our homeland as “the most distressful country.” It is fitting for us to remember that lest we get too big in ourselves!