IRELAND, CHURCH OF

independent Anglican church within both Ireland and Northern Ireland. It traces its episcopal succession from the pre-Reformation church in Ireland. Christianity was probably known in Ireland before the missionary activities of Patrick, the patron saint of the country, in the late 5th century. As the early church developed it was monastic, without parochial or diocesan divisions or central government. What authority there was rested with the abbots, and the bishops were limited to their purely spiritual functions. At a very early date the monasteries became centres of learning with a reputation that extended far outside Ireland. The early Irish Church was independent of Rome and proudly clung to its own usages in preference to those adopted by the rest of Christendom. It maintained until 704 its method of calculating the date of Easter, despite pressures to adopt the Roman calendar. The Norse invasions in the late 8th century, however, caused a decay in culture and learning in Ireland. The weakness of an uncoordinated ecclesiastical organization became evident, and the Roman Church, through the see of Canterbury in England, began influencing the Irish. Obedience to Rome was finally accepted by the Irish Church in the 12th century. The native liturgies were abandoned, and the liturgy of the English Church was adopted. Throughout the medieval period Englishmen were appointed to the more important positions in the Irish Church. The Reformation period began with the passage in 1537 of the Irish Supremacy Act, which asserted the English king's supremacy in the Irish as well as the English Church. It was, however, a superficial Reformation. The dissolution of the monasteries was only partial, and, because of the scant knowledge of English, liturgical changes were few. No attempt was made to win the mass of the Irish people to Reformation principles, nor were the differences of religious outlook of succeeding English sovereigns made known to the Irish as they were to the English. The majority of the Irish remained faithful to the Roman Catholic Church. The (Anglican) Church of Ireland, however, was the established church. By the late 18th century Roman Catholics and Presbyterians both received more tolerant treatment, but the privileged position of the Church of Ireland minority continued to irritate many people. The Act of Union of 1800 united the parliaments of England and Ireland, and the church became part of the United Church of England and Ireland. Discontent with the established church and its privileged position increased, because the church drew its tithes largely from Roman Catholic tenant farmers. In the 1830s agitation against this practice became known as the tithe war. The census of 1861 showed that less than one-eighth of the population belonged to the established church, and four-fifths were Roman Catholic. This fact led to the passing of the Irish Church Act of Disestablishment in 1869, which became law on Jan. 1, 1871. The Church of Ireland was thus brought to rely on its own resources. It reorganized its ecclesiastical system during a convention of bishops, clergy, and laity held in 1870. Under the constitution then agreed on, the supreme governing body of the church is the General Synod, consisting of the bishops and clerical and lay representatives of the several dioceses, whose local affairs are managed by diocesan synods. Diocesan bishops are elected by an electoral college representative of all dioceses of the province in which the vacancy occurred. The seats of the archbishops of the two provinces are in Armagh and Dublin. Cultural life The cultural milieu of Ireland has been shaped by the dynamic interplay between the ancient Celtic-derived traditions of the people and those imposed from outside, notably from Britain. This has produced a culture of rich, distinctive character in which the use of languagebe it Irish or Englishhas always been the central element. Not surprisingly, Irish culture is best known through its literature, drama, and songs; above all, the Irish are renowned as masters of the art of conversation. Use of the Irish language declined steadily during the 19th century and was nearly wiped out by the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s, which particularly affected the Irish-speaking population. But despite its decline the Irish language never ceased to exert a strong influence on Irish consciousness. From the mid-19th century, in the years following the famine, there was a resurgence in traditional native Irish language and culture. This Gaelic revival led, in turn, to the Irish literary renaissance of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in which native expression was explored and renewed by a generation of writers and academics. It also produced a resurgence in traditional musical and dance forms. The cultural revivalism became an inspiration to the Irish nationalist struggle of the early decades of the 20th century. The arts Literature A flowering of Irish literary works occurred with the standardization of Irish in the mid-20th century. After World War II a new wave of poets, novelists, and dramatists produced a significant literature in modern Irish, among them Mirtn Cadhain, Mirtn Direin, and Mire Mhac an tSaoi. Since the 1970s a younger generation of writers has made important contributions in Irish, notably Mchel Siadhail, Gabriel Rosenstock, Michael Hartnett, Nuala N Dhomhnaill, ine N Ghlinn, and Cathal Searcaigh. Many modes of thought and expression characteristic of Irish-language formulations were gradually absorbed into the English spoken in Ireland. The remarkable contribution that Anglo-Irish literature and drama have made to the Western world may in part be ascribed to this linguistic cross-fertilization. It is also noteworthy that so small a country should produce so much creative literary genius. The great Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift, dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, drew upon his experience of life in Ireland for his writing, becoming in the process identified with his adopted country. Swift expressed the anger and frustration of the Anglo-Irish, effectively foretelling the resentment that was to lead to the creation of an independent Irish Parliament in 1782. The orator and political theorist Edmund Burke, the novelist George Augustus Moore, the poet and winner of the 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature William Butler Yeats, the author and playwright Samuel Beckett (winner of the Nobel Prize in 1969), the dramatist Sean O'Casey, and the modern prose masters James Joyce, Frank O'Connor, Sean O'Faolain, Flann O'Brien, and Liam O'Flaherty were all infused with Anglo-Irish traditions. Irish writers in English maintained international standing throughout the 20th century. In the 1960s the poets Michael Longley, Eavan Boland, Brendan Kennelly, and Paul Durcan were widely published. The Ulster poet Seamus Heaney won the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature. In fiction John McGahern, Edna O'Brien, Roddy Doyle, Dermot Healy, Colm Tobin, and William Trevor gained consistent international recognition and respect.