Rome and Irish Catholicism in the Atlantic World, 1622-1908

This book builds upon research on the role of Catholicism in creating and strengthening a global Irish identity, complementing existing scholarship by adding a 'Roman perspective'. It assesses the direct agency of the Holy See, its role in the Irish collective imagination, and the extent and limitations of Irish influence over the Holy See's policies and decisions. Revealing the centrality of the Holy See in the development of a series of missionary connections across the Atlantic world and Rome, the chapters in this collection consider the formation, causes and consequences of these networks both in Ireland and abroad. The book offers a long durée perspective, covering both the early modern and modern periods, to show how Irish Catholicism expanded across continental Europe and over the Atlantic across three centuries. It also offers new insights into the history of Irish migration, exploring the position of the Irish Catholic clergy in Atlantic communities of Irish migrants.

Matteo Binasco is Adjunct Professor at the Foreigners University of Siena, Italy. He received his PhD in History at the National University of Ireland, Galway. His areas of interest are the Irish migrations in the Atlantic area and to Rome during the early modern period. He is the author of Roman Sources for the History of American Catholicism, 1763-1939 (2018), as well as other books, articles and essays on the development of clerical networks between Rome and the North Atlantic area.

1: Introduction: Rome and Irish Catholicism in the Atlantic World. A Roman Perspective; Matteo Binasco.- Part I. Irish Catholicism and the Atlantic World.- 2: The Irish in the Iberian Atlantic and Rome: Globalized Individuals and the Rise of Transatlantic Networks of Information; Igor Pérez Tostado.- 3: Rome as Part of the Irish North Atlantic Experience, 1770-1830; Luca Codignola.- 4: Language, Ethnicity, and Region: Rome and the Struggle for Dominance of the Canadian Catholic Church,1785-1930; Terrence Murphy.- 5: Irish Question or Irish Connection? Irish Catholics in North America through the "Roman" Lens; Matteo Sanfilippo.- Part II. The Irish Clergy in Rome.- 6: The "Urbs" and "Hibernia". Missionary Connections between the Irish Community of Rome and Ireland in the Seventeenth Century; Matteo Binasco.- 7: The Irish Franciscan Continental Colleges and the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception; Mícheál Mac Craith.- 8: Irish Protestants in the Theatre of the World: TheApostolic Hospice for the Converting, Rome, 1677-1745; Clare Lois Carroll.- 9: For the Pope and Rome: Irish Catholic Soldiers of the Papal Battalion of St. Patrick in Italy in 1860; Florry O'Driscoll.- Part III. Rome and the Irish mission at Home.- 10: The Other Irish Mission, Spanish Patronage and Catholic Hierarchy in the Seventeenth Century; Cristina Bravo Lozano.- 11: Rome and the Irish Catholic Community in the Eighteenth Century, 1691-1789; Liam Chambers.- 12: Conclusion; Matteo Binasco.