Table Of ContentCatholic Nationalism
in the Irish Revival
AStudyofCanonSheehan,1852–1913
Ruth Fleischmann
CATHOLIC NATIONALISM IN THE IRISH REVIVAL
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Catholic Nationalism in
the Irish Revival
A Study ofCanon Sheehan, 1852-1913
Ruth Fleischmann
LecturerintheEnglish Department
University ofBielefeld
Germany
FirstpublishedinGreatBritain1997by
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Fleischmann,Ruth, 1942-
CatholicnationalismintheIrishrevival:astudy ofCanon
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I. Sheehan,PatrickAugustine, 1852-1913-Politicalandsocial
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Contents
Foreword: The Relevance of Canon Sheehan ix
1 Introduction 1
The Two Nations in Irish Literature 1
The Irish Catholic Church Moving to Ascendancy 10
The Life of a Country Parish Priest 20
2 Canon Sheehan's Campaign for a Catholic Culture 31
The Crisis in Catholic Education Ignored 31
Secondary Education 31
The University Question 34
Clerical Education 38
A Catholic Literature for Catholic Self-Respect 41
The 'Sugaring of the Pill' 41
Sermons in Disguise 42
3 The Religious Life in Rural Ireland 49
My New· Curate: Wise Leadership 49
Plot 49
Viewpoint 59
Narrative Technique 82
Luke Delmege: The Bitterness of Failure 92
The Blindness ofDr. Gray: Unwise Leadership 103
4 The Land, Labour and Social Unrest 112
The Queen's Fillet: Fatal Injustice in France 112
Lisheen: Injustice Overcome in Rural Ireland 115
Miriam Lucas: No Socialism in Irish Cities 122
5 The National Question 130
The Irish Nation in the Past 130
Glenanaar: Who Belongs to the Nation? 134
The Graves at Kilmorna: Ireland - A Lost Cause 140
vii
viii Contents
6 Canon Sheehan in Perspective lSI
Canon Sheehan within the Nationalist Movement 151
Brinsley McNamara: A Blind Critic 161
Joyce's Study of the Submissive Religious Mind 163
Notes 170
Bibliography 179
Index, 185
Foreword
THE RELEVANCE OF CANON SHEEHAN
Canon Sheehan, parish priest of Doneraile, a small town near Mallow
in County Cork, was born in 1852 and began writing novels in 1895
for political reasons. He was a writer of the Irish literary revival, but
he wrote to combat the ideas of those who have made the movement
world famous, to counteract the influence of Ireland's Anglo-Irish,
Protestant writers.
His works quickly became popular; they were translated into eight
languages; before his death in 1913over 100000 copies had been sold.'
They were read in farmhouses, in middle class urban homes, in con
vents and seminaries, in schools until the 1960s, and by Irish emi
grants in England, the United States and Australia.
He was the only Catholic clergyman of the time to venture into the
literary battlefield usingfictionasapropagandistic weapon for thechurch.
The period 1895-1914 was a decisive one for the history of the coun
try and one during which the Catholic church was laying the founda
tions of its future position in the Irish Free State and Republic. In
Canon Sheehan we have an astute observer of Irish life and a protago
nist of one of the most influential institutions of the nation.
Furthermore, as Catholicism was one of the sources feeding Irish
nationalism, his thinking had much in common with that of middle
class nationalists. He belonged to the Irish-Ireland faction of the cul
tural movement. He was one of those who believed that if Ireland was
to recover from the colonial period, it needed seclusion from England
- not only economic protection from the powerful neighbour, not only
the insulating barrier of the Irish language, but cultural seclusion in
general as a bulwark against the swamping influence of the dominant
culture after centuries of enforced openness towards England.
Canon Sheehan embarked on his literary campaign because he feared
that the Catholic church might not achieve sufficient influence in the
New Ireland which was appearing on the horizon. He believed his church
should predominate in its cultural life, but he was afraid it might not
be allowed to do so, were the new state to be a secular one. He de
sired a reversion, with roles exchanged, to the position of the Church
of Ireland ascendancy during the colonial era.
ix
