Second Reformation

Second Reformation, the name given to the early and mid‐19th‐century campaign to promote the mass conversion of the Catholic population to Protestantism. Such efforts were inspired mainly by the growth of evangelicalism, reinforced in some cases by awareness, in the aftermath of the insurrection of 1798 and the era of O'Connell's dominance, of the political dangers posed by an unregenerate Catholic majority. The first major effort was by Irish Methodists, who in 1799 dispatched three Irish‐speaking missionaries to work among the Catholic population. By 1816 there were 21 missionaries, operating from fourteen stations. Other missionary bodies included the Hibernian Bible Society (1806), the Sunday School Society (1809), the Religious Tract and Book Society (1810), and the Irish Society for Promoting the Education of the Native Irish through the Medium of their Own Language (1818), all Anglican controlled, the interdenominational Irish Evangelical Society (1814), and separate Baptist and Presbyterian organizations.

The missionary societies offered free elementary education, at a time when demand for literacy was rising rapidly, combined with preaching and the distribution of bibles and other devotional material in Irish. This allowed them to make impressive‐looking short‐term gains, especially in the west, where the Catholic church's resources were most limited and its pastoral machinery sometimes in poor condition. In Dingle and Ventry, Co. Kerry, colonies were established to protect converts, by 1845 claimed to number around 800, from intimidation and social pressure. In 1834 an Irish clergyman, Edward Nangle (1800–83), established a similar colony on Achill Island. In 1849 the Society for Irish Church Missions, founded by the English clergyman Alexander Dallas (1791–1869), taking advantage of what Dallas saw as the God‐given opportunity of the Famine, launched a more ambitious campaign to promote Protestantism throughout Connacht. By 1860, however, both the colonies and the wider missionary effort had dwindled to insignificance as the Catholic church, taking advantage of more settled economic conditions, regained lost ground through pastoral reorganization and the systematic use of missions in affected areas. The Second Reformation nevertheless contributed significantly to religious conflict. In particular, allegations that Famine relief had been promised or withheld to obtain conversions (‘souperism’) left lasting bitterness, while the use of schools for proselytizing purposes confirmed the Catholic church in its demand for denominational education at every level.

Bibliography

Bowen, D. , The Protestant Crusade in Ireland 1800–70 (1978)