The chief irony of this subject is the fact that probably no church in the British Isles started out from a more unpromising position in the first half of the eighteenth century than the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, yet no church was in a stronger position, both in terms of its popular allegiance and its social and political influence, by the middle of the twentieth century. The aim of this chapter is to offer a series of five historical snapshots in the development of an Irish Catholic nationalism, combined with some observations on the long-term structural changes in the shape of the Catholic Church, which enabled it to become so deeply embedded in the social, political and cultural fabric of the nation. The result of these processes was the emergence of a powerful fusion of religion and identity unequalled in any other part of the British Isles with the possible exception of Protestantism in Ulster, which in turn drew strength from its implacable opposition to Catholic nationalism.

‘PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY’ AND CATHOLIC PENALTIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

The success of William of Orange's Irish campaigns paved the way for further land transfer from Catholics to Protestants and for four decades of penal legislation against Irish Catholics. After the turbulence and uncertainty of the half century from the Rebellion of 1641 to the conclusion of the Williamite campaigns in 1691 it seemed that out of a powerful mixture of revenge and self-defence, Irish Protestants, with the support of the British State, were determined to control the country through landed power, legal coercion and the Protestant Established Church.