IRELAND, CHURCH OF. The beginnings of Christianity in Ireland are difficult to trace, but there is no doubt that the first Christian missionary whose labours were crowned with any considerable success was Patrick (fl. c. 450, who has always been reckoned the patron saint of the country. For six centuries the Church of which he was the founder occupied a remarkable position in Western Christendom. Ireland, in virtue at once of its geographical situation and of the spirit of its people, was less affected than other countries by the movements of European thought ; and thus its development, social and religious, was largely independent of foreign influences, whether Roman or English. Ip full communion with the Latin Church, the Irish long preserved many peculiarities, such as their monastic system and the date at which Easter was kept, which distinguished them in discipline, though not conspicuously in doctrine, from the Christians of countries more immediately under papal control (see IRELAND: Early History). The incessant incursions of the Danes, who were the scourge of the land for a period of nearly three hundred years, prevented the Church from redeeming the promise of her infancy; and at the date of the English conquest of Ireland (1172) she had lost much of her ancient zeal and of her independence. By this time she had come more into line with the rest of Europe, and the Synod of Cashel put the seal to a new policy by its acknowledgment of the papal jurisdiction and by its decrees assimilating the Church, in ritual and usages, to that of England. There was no thought of a breach of continuity, but the distinctive features of Celtic Christianity gradually dis appeared from this time onwards.
The Church of Ireland, as at present constituted, is the outcome of the extension to Ireland of the principles of the English Refor mation. English influence was strong only in the region round Dublin (known as the Pale) ; and beyond this district the Irish were not disposed to view with favour any ecclesiastical reforms which had their origin in England. Thus from the days of Henry VIII. the Reformation movement in Ireland was hindered by national prejudice, and it never succeeded in gaining the allegiance of the Irish people as a whole. The policy which directed its progress was blundering and stupid, and reflects little credit on the English statesmen who were responsible for it. No attempt was made to commend the principles of the Reformation to the native Irish by conciliating national sentiment; and the policy which forbade the translation of the Prayer Book into the Irish language, and suggested that where English was not understood Latin might be used as an alternative, was doomed to failure from the beginning. And, in fact, the reformed church of Ire land is to this day the church of a small section only of the popu lation.
The Reformation period begins with the passing of the Irish Supremacy Act 1537. In Ireland the mass of the people were less deeply affected by the religious controversies of the times than in Great Britain. At Mary's accession five bishops either abandoned, or were deprived of, their sees; but the Anglo-Irish who remained faithful to the Reformation were not subjected to persecution such as would have been their fate on the other side 'of the Channel. Again, under Elizabeth, while two bishops were deprived for open resistance to the new order of things, and while stern measures were taken to suppress treasonable plotting against the constitution, the uniform policy of the government in ecclesiastical matters was one of toleration. James I. caused the Supremacy Act to be rigorously enforced, but on political rather than on religious grounds. The episcopal succession, then, was unbroken at the Reformation. The question of the continuity of the pre-Reformation Church with the Church of the Celtic period before the Anglo-Norman conquest of Ireland is more difficult. The present Church of Ireland claims to be the direct and legitimate successor of the Church of the 14th and 15th cen turies, but it cannot be demonstrated that any existing organiza tion is continuous with the Church of St. Patrick.
On the accession of Charles II. the Church was strengthened by the translation of John Bramhall (the most learned and zealous of the prelates) from Derry to the primatial see of Armagh, and the consecration of twelve other bishops, among whom was Jeremy Taylor. But though the Church had now been reformed
for more than loo years, she had made little progress; and the tyrannical provisions of the Penal Code introduced by the English government made her more unpopular than ever. The clergy, finding their ministrations unacceptable to the great mass of the population, were tempted to indolence and non-residence; and although bright exceptions could be named, there was much that called for reform. To William King (1650-1729) bishop of Derry, and subsequently archbishop of Dublin, it was mainly due that the work of the Church was reorganized, and the impulse which he gave it was felt all through the 18th century. In 1800 the Act of Union was passed by the Legislature; and thencefor ward, until Disestablishment, there was but one "United Church of England and Ireland." The dissatisfaction felt by the majority of Irishmen, because of the continued existence of the Established Church in her privi leged position, became increasingly plain as the years passed. Her position had been pledged to her by the Act of Union, and she was undoubtedly the historical representative of the ancient Church of the land ; but such arguments proved unavailing in view of the visible fact that she had not gained the affections of the people. The census of 1861 showed that out of a total population of 5,798,967 only 693,357 belonged to the Established Church, 4,505,265 being Roman Catholics; and once this had been made clear, the passing of the Act of Disestablishment was only a question of time. Introduced by W. E. Gladstone, and passed in 1869, it became law on the i st of January, 1871.
The Church was thus suddenly thrown on her own resources, and called on to reorganize her ecclesiastical system, as well as to make provision for the maintenance of her future clergy. A convention of the bishops, clergy and laity was summoned in 1870, and its first act was to declare the adherence of the Church of Ireland to the ancient standards, and her determination to uphold the doctrine and discipline of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, while reaffirming her witness, as Protestant and Re formed, against the traditions of Rome. Under the constitution then agreed on, the supreme governing body of the Church is the General Synod, consisting of the bishops and of 208 clerical and 416 lay representatives of the several dioceses, whose local affairs are managed by subordinate Diocesan Synods. The bishops are elected as vacancies arise, and, with certain restrictions, by the Diocesan Synods, the Primate, whose see is Armagh, being chosen by the bishops out of their own number. The patronage of benefices is vested in boards of nomination.
The finances are controlled by the Representative Church Body, to which a sum sufficient to provide life annuities for the existing clergy (2,043 in number) was handed over by the Church Tem poralities Commissioners in 1870, together with 1500,000 in com pensation for private endowments. So skilfully was this fund administered, and so generous were the contributions of clergy and laity, at and since Disestablishment, that while on Dec. 31, 1926 only 17 annuitants were living, the total assets in the custody of the Representative Church Body amounted at that date to £10,240,750. Since 1869 the members of the Church have paid in to the Representative Body a total sum of £895,000. At the census of 1911 the number of members of the Church of Ireland was 547,49o, or 13.1% of the entire population.
A. T. Lee, The Irish Episcopal Succession (Dub lin, 1867) ; G. T. Stokes, Ireland and the Celtic Church (London, 1888), Ireland and the Anglo-Norman Church (London, 1892), Some Worthies of the Irish Church (London, 19oo) ; T. Olden, The Church of Ireland (London, 1892) ; J. T. Ball, The Reformed Church of Ire land (London, 189o) ; H. C. Groves, The Titular Archbishops of Ire land (Dublin, 1897) ; W. Lawlor, The Reformation in Ireland (Lon don, 1906) ; Reports of the Representative Church Body (Dublin, 1872 ff.)