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. 

“This collection suggests an ambitious research agenda for historians of Irish clerical networks. In highlighting the importance of Roman archives, it points up current deficiencies in Irish historiography and professional training. … The establishment of an Irish clerical prosopography (an impossibly ambitious goal?), would facilitate this grand enterprise.” (T. O’Connor, British Catholic History, Vol. 34 (4), 2019)

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.