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Vatican Involvement in the Irish Civil War: Monsignor Salvatore Luzio's Apostolic Delegation, March–May 1923

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2010

M. P. McCABE
M. P. McCABE
Affiliation:
Hertford College, Oxford, OX1 3BW; e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article examines the delegation of Monsignor Salvatore Luzio to the Irish Free State between March and May 1923, and the reactions of the Irish Catholic bishops, who had proclaimed their support for the government of the Free State, and of militant republicans, who opposed it. The bishops viewed the mission with trepidation, fearing the damage that it could do to their authority, while the republicans deemed it and Luzio potential assets. Newly-released Vatican papers also allow for the inclusion of Luzio's perspective on the mission and his strongly worded criticism of the Irish hierarchy.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 89 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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References

1 The best study of the civil war to date is Michael Hopkinson, Green against green: the Irish civil war, Dublin 1988.

2 Freeman's Journal, 15 Mar. 1923.

3 John Privilege, Michael Logue and the Catholic Church in Ireland, 1879–1925 Manchester 2009, 171.

4 Dermot Keogh, The Vatican, the bishops and Irish politics, 1919–39, Cambridge 1986, 108–21. See also his Ireland and the Vatican: the politics and diplomacy of Church–State relations, 1922–1960, Cork 1995.

5 Patrick Murray, Oracles of God: the Roman Catholic Church and Irish politics, 1922–37, Dublin 2000, 184–93.

6 Ronan Fanning and others (eds), Documents on Irish foreign policy, ii, Dublin 1998.

7 Keogh's work discusses Hagan in great detail. See especially The Vatican, the bishops and Irish politics, chs i–iv.

8 John Hagan to Edward Byrne, 7 Feb. 1922, John Hagan papers, IRC.

9 Hagan to ‘My Dear Lord’, 8 Mar. 1923, Michael Logue papers, AAA.

10 Ibid.

11 Joseph MacRory to Hagan, 3 Jan. 1922, Hagan papers.

12 Thomas O'Doherty to Hagan, 6 Mar. 1923 [misdated 1922], ibid. (emphasis original).

13 Michael Logue to Byrne, 22 Nov. 1922, Edward Byrne papers, DAA.

14 Patrick O'Donnell to Hagan, 25 Nov. 1922, Hagan papers.

15 Hagan to Byrne, 13 Nov. 1922, ibid.

16 Logue to Byrne, 22 Nov. 1922, Byrne papers.

17 W. Miller to Hagan, 21 Mar. 1923, Hagan papers.

18 P. J. Roughneen to Hagan, 25 Apr. 1923, ibid.

19 ‘Stando così le cose è facile immaginare con quale freddezza e diffidenza fui accolto dai Vescovi. Anche gli amici più intimi cercavano di sfuggirmi’: ‘Relazione’, Archives of the Congregazione degli Affari Ecclesiastici Straordinari, Vatican City, Inghilterra, Posizione 167, fascicolo 14.

20 Pietro Gasparri to Logue, 9 Mar. 1923, Freeman's Journal, 23 Apr. 1923.

21 Catholic Bulletin, ‘Far and Near’, 1923, 347.

22 Freeman's Journal, 15 Mar. 1923 (emphasis original).

23 Ibid.

24 Keogh, The Vatican, the bishops and Irish politics, 113.

25 Colm Kiernan, Daniel Mannix and Ireland, Morwell, VIC 1984, 185–95.

26 Interview with Pádraig de Brún, Ernie O'Malley papers, UCDA, P17b/116.

27 James MacCaffrey to Hagan, 21 July 1923, Hagan papers.

28 ‘Relazione’.

29 ‘Risposi che di ciò non avevo nessun incarico, ma che non credevo che la S. Sede ratificasse la decisione dei Vescovi sulla legittimità del governo dello Stato Libero perchè avrebbe così risoluto una questione politica in cui non vuole intrometrtersi’: ibid.

30 Keogh, The Vatican, the bishops and Irish politics, 113.

31 ‘Relazione’.

32 Keogh, The Vatican, the bishops and Irish politics, 113.

33 Thomas Gilmartin to Hagan, 11 Apr. 1923, Hagan papers.

34 O'Donnell to Hagan, 16 Apr. 1923, ibid.

35 John Harty to Hagan, 21 Mar. 1923, ibid.

36 Keogh, The Vatican, the bishops and Irish politics, 115.

37 Mother Stanislaus to Hagan, 4 Apr. 1923, Hagan papers.

38 S. M. O'Daly to Hagan, 26 Apr. 1923, ibid.

39 Cait O'Kelly to Hagan, 9 May 1923, ibid.

40 O'Kelly to Hagan, 13 Apr. 1923, ibid.

41 É. De Valera to Luzio, 30 Apr. 1923, AES, Inghilterra, posizione 167, fascicolo 14.

42 De Valera to Hagan, 19 May 1923, Hagan papers.

43 Columban na Banban [Patrick Browne], ‘False pastors’, 46–7, Michael Curran papers.

44 Interview with Pádraig de Brún, O'Malley papers, P17b/116.

45 Giovanni Battista Rinuccini (1592–1653), papal nuncio to the Irish Confederation, 1645–9. Initially, Rinuccini proclaimed that his mission was to support Charles i against the Parliamentarians and to secure religious freedom for Catholics. He denounced the First Ormond Peace of March 1646 and excommunicated all Confederates who supported it. As newly-elected president of the Confederate Supreme Council, he called for an attack on Dublin. He denounced the treaty with Inchiquin in 1648, but found that most Confederate generals supported it. Upon his return to Rome, he found Innocent x highly critical of his conduct in Ireland.

46 MacDara, ‘The bishop of Galway on national affairs’, Mary MacSwiney papers, UCDA, P48a/228.

47 Columban na Banban, ‘Reply to the pastoral issued by the Irish hierarchy in October 1922’, C. S. Andrews papers, ibid. P91/99.

48 Con Murphy to Gilmartin, 2 Nov. 1922, E. de Valera papers, ibid. P150/1654.

49 ‘Relazione’.

50 Mary MacSwiney to Dudley Fletcher, 28 Feb. 1929, MacSwiney papers, P48a/190.

51 De Valera to Hagan, 19 May 1923, Hagan papers.

52 P. T. Keohane to Hagan, 27 Apr. 1923, ibid.

53 Art O'Muireadaig to Hagan, 26 Sept. 1923, ibid.

54 ‘superbo e fanatico … è molto più religioso il Governo repubblicana che professa l'antica e genuine fede cattolica del popolo Irlandese … Cosa che sembra incredibile nella cattolica Irlanda! E dire che questo è il governo sostenuto dalla gerarchia ecclesiastica.’: ‘Relazione’.

55 Hagan to Daniel Mannix, 5 Nov. 1923, Hagan papers.

56 ‘Relazione’.

57 Seamus to Denny [?], 24 Mar. 1923, Hagan papers.

58 De Valera's statement, 23 June 1923, ibid.

59 ‘che si deve a me in massima parte se questa pace viene conchiusa’: ‘Relazione’.

60 Keogh, The Vatican, the bishops and Irish politics, 117–18.

61 Hagan to Gilmartin, 26.4.1923, Thomas Gilmartin papers, Tuam Archdiocesan Archives.

62 Michael Sheehan to Hagan, 15 Dec. 1923, Hagan papers.

63 Curran to Hagan, 24 June 1923, ibid.

64 Roughneen to Hagan, 25 Apr. 1923, ibid.

65 Hagan to Mannix, 5 Nov. 1923, ibid.

66 ‘poco prudente … Ma il male maggiore però fu quello di aver voluto mischiare i Sacramenti con fatto politico disputabilissimo per la cui decisione non avevano nè autorità nè dati certi’: ‘Relazione’.

67 ‘la pietà profonda del popolo Irlandese, se non fosse stato per questa profonda pietà io credo che si avrebbero avuto in Irlanda defezioni migliaia dalla Chiesa Cattolica’: ibid.

68 ‘Ed è anche necessario che venisse assolutamente proibito ai Vescovi di prendere parte in politica, giacchè ciò ha portato sempre delle conseguenze disastrose per l'autorità ecclesiastica e per la religione’: ibid.

69 Ibid.

70 Ibid.

71 Hagan to Mannix, 5 Nov. 1923, Hagan papers.

72 Odo Russell to Austen Chamberlain, 18 Apr. 1927, forwarded to Kevin O'Higgins, Ernest Blythe papers, UCDA, P24/184.