Download The Reformation in Ireland

3.4 Religion, spirituality and reforms
The Reformation in Ireland
To understand the reformation in Ireland it is necessary to understand the causes of
the English or Henrican Reformation.
Henry VII wanted to establish peace between England and Spain. In order to do this
he arranged a marriage between Katherine of Aragon and his heir Prince Arthur. The
betrothal was announced and the marriage was planned. However Prince Arthur died
before the marriage could take place. Henry VII still wanted the peace between
England and Spain to be in force. So he arranged a marriage between Prince Henry,
his son, and Katherine. For the marriage to take place a petition had to be sent to the
Pope Asking permission for this to take place. The reason for this was because a
betrothal was considered as almost as a marriage and there was a ban on marrying
one’s brother’s wife. The Pope gave his consent and the marriage took place. Henry
VII peace plan with Spain was working and he had a new heir, Prince Henry, later to
become Henry VIII.
At the time the reformation was happening in Europe . Henry VII wrote against the
teachings of Luther and for this the Pope gave Henry the title of Fidei Defensor.
However Henry VIII had a problem in that his wife Katherine of Aragon had not
given him an heir. He had only one surviving child by her, a daughter called Mary. He
was determined to establish a strong monarchy and for this decided he needed a male
heir. He decided to divorce Katherine and find a new wife who would bear him a son.
In order to divorce Katherine he needed the permission of the Pope. He petitioned the
Pope for a divorce but the Pope refused to give his permission. The reasons were two
fold. Firstly the Pope believed that since his predecessor had grant dispensation fro
Henry to marry Katherine in the first place, he could not declare that dispensation null
and void. (The dispensation was needed because it was against church law to marry hr
wife of one’s brother; this was known as the Law of Consanguinity). Secondly the
Vatican States were being laid siege to by Charles V the Holy Roman Emperor and he
was Katherine’s nephew.
The need for a strong male heir dominated most of Henry’s thinking and in order to
be able to divorce Katherine he declared himself Head of the Church in England. He
was declared head of the Church of England by an Act of Parliament in 1543.
It is important to remember that Henry while breaking away from Rome the England
was still Catholic as was Henry. He had taken away the power of the Pope but the
articles of belief.
Henry went on to have three children by other wives and these had an effect on the
religious life in England and Ireland.
His only male heir was Edward VI who because of his age had a Regent (someone
who rules in the place of a monarch because of his youth). This was Lord Seymour
the Duke of Somerset. During this time there were many changes to religious life.
All images in churches were removed; stained glass, shrines, statues were broken or
destroyed; bells were removed; vestments were banned; church silver was removed
from churches and the clergy no longer had to be celibate. Cranmer introduced a Book
of Common Prayer in English which contained all the services and prayers to be used
in churches.
Edward died in 1553 and was succeeded (after an attempt to have Lady Jane Grey
declared queen) by his half sister Mary, daughter of Katherine of Aragon. Mary’s first
act was to have the marriage of her mother and Henry declared legal and binding. In
this way she could claim the throne of England. Mary set about undoing the reforms
of Edward. In order to have a strong monarchy and establish a Catholic country for
the future she was advised to marry a Catholic and thus produce heirs. This would
also have the effect of not allowing her half sister Elizabeth to come to the throne. On
the advice of the Holy Roman Emperor she married his son Phillip II pf Spain but this
marriage produced no heirs. When Mary died in 1558 she had no Catholic heir to
succeed her and was succeeded by Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn.
Elizabeth had a major concern during the first part of her reign, religion. Elizabeth
like her father broke with the Roman Catholic Church which had been discussing the
return of England to the Church under Queen Mary.
In 1559 Parliament consider the Reformation Bill and the creation of a new church.
The Bill said that Communion was consubstantial not transubstantial and said priest
(now called ministers) should not wear the surplice or vestments. It allowed ministers
to marry, banned statues from churches, and confirmed Elizabeth as Supreme Head of
the Church of England. After much discussion and opposition from the Catholic lords
it was agreed to allow for a transubstantial belief in the Communion. However
parliament refused to grant Elizabeth the title of Supreme Head. refused to grant
Elizabeth the title of Supreme Head of the Church. The Act of Supremacy passed in
1559 confirmed Elizabeth as Supreme Governor of the Church of England and
validated ten Acts of Parliament that Mary had repealed in her efforts to return
England to the Roman Catholic Church. The Act of Uniformity forced people to
attend church on Sundays where the Book of Common Prayer was used. This was in
English as were readings from the Bible. Ministers should wear surplices and wafers
could be used in Communion Services.
What then were the effects of the Reformation in Ireland?
The Reformation in England and Ireland were not really based on doctrinal change
such as happened in Germany with Martin Luther. Rather it was Henry VII
substituting his power for that of Papal authority while at the same time keeping
Catholic teaching.
The effects of the Reformation were tempered by the fact that the power of England in
Ireland did not stretch much beyond the Pale and secondly Edward VI attempt to
introduce a more Protestant church was halted by the restoration of Catholicism under
Mary. It was Elizabeth’s Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity which settled
the question of the Church in Ireland. The state religion was to become the Church of
Ireland (Anglican). This Church of Ireland remained the Established Church until
1870. The Established Church meant that all people had to subscribe to it
New beliefs had did not become widespread. The parishes were not attractive to
educated ministers and church buildings were often in disrepair. There was also the
question of the Irish language. Few of the ministers were able to communicate with
their flock as many of the people did not understand English. Alienation between the
Established church and the Irish people grew with the confiscation of church lands,
which were given or sold to the local land owners who then had the right to tithes.
The Irish people then began to turn towards foreign trained priests and the Catholic
Church became almost an underground church. The problem of training ministers for
the Church of Ireland was also a problem which the Government tried to resolve with
the founding of Trinity College in 1592. However the ministers worked mainly within
the English speaking community and the Church of Ireland did little to bring the new
beliefs to the Irish speaking people.
The Church of Ireland was probably more Protestant than the Church of England for
the following reason; most of the population were loyal to the Roman Catholic
Church and in response the Church of Ireland became more anti Roman Catholic and
thus developed a more Protestant stance.
Cromwell settled a large number of Scottish dissenters on confiscated land. These
Presbyterians and the Church of Ireland helped make the Established Church more
Protestant. At this time those who were not Anglican were excluded form positions of
power and authority. There was a brief Jacobite rebellion after which the Penal Laws
were passed against all dissenters. This furthered protected the interests of the
Established Church.
There are a number of reasons why the reformation was not a success in Ireland.
Among the more important reason were
A) Catholicism was probably much more alive in Ireland than was believed by
the English authorities.
B) Ireland lacked the number of clergy to preach the reform. Most of the
Anglican clergy were not Irish speakers and the Irish speaking clergy
remained ( often secretly) loyal to the pope and the catholic church.
C) The reformation was seen to be very closely allied with the English
Government.
In 1610 when the first Presbyterian Planters arrived from Scotland Ireland was
exceedingly loyal to Catholicism