Before the Reformation
In the Middle Ages (c.500–c.1500 C.E.), just about everyone in Ireland was Catholic, as was nearly everyone in England, Scotland, and Wales. At this time, almost all Western European Christians were Roman Catholic, led by the pope in Rome. Catholic churches were everywhere, in every town. Most people were baptized after birth, attended Mass, married in a church, and were buried in church cemeteries.
What is a Catholic?
Catholics or, more precisely, Roman Catholics, are Christians who accept doctrine and authority from the pope and the Vatican in Rome, Italy. The term
Saints were a very real presence, and believers prayed to them to get help with their problems. Each saint had a different specialty; for example, someone with bad eyes would pray to St. Lucy, musicians would pray to St. Cecilia, and someone with a lost cause would pray to St. Jude for whatever help he could offer. The bones and physical possessions of saints supposedly could work miracles, and believers would travel to the places where these things were enshrined.
The liturgical calendar governed the course of the year. Each day was either an ordinary day or part of a ritual season like Lent or Advent. Every day had its own saint, which created a sort of family called the communion of saints. The liturgy was formulaic and ritualized and made it perfectly clear how a believer should worship.
Religious Leaders
On a local level, the Church was organized into geographical divisions called parishes, led by priests. Bishops oversaw larger territories that might encompass several parishes. A bishop had his seat in a cathedral. Each parish priest oversaw the spiritual life of the people in his area, called parishioners.
Priests said Mass (in Latin, which most people didn't understand) and provided sacraments:
Baptism — accepting a new member into the Church
Penance — confessing sins to the priest, repenting, and being absolved
Eucharist — the ceremonial re-enactment of the Last Supper
Matrimony — the union of a man and a woman in marriage
Extreme Unction — anointing of the sick and dying
In the mid-1500s, the Council of Trent set the official number of sacraments at seven, where it stands today. The other two are Confirmation and Holy Orders. Confirmation makes an individual into a religious adult, and Holy Orders confers the status of priesthood.
Priests also ran schools, mediated quarrels, and helped the poor. In return, parishioners supported their priests with money and goods.
The Irish Church was run locally rather than externally, which made for lots of regional variation in practices. Outsiders tended to find Irish Catholicism both archaic and lax. Priests were respected, but they didn't control social structure; authority remained in the hands of chieftains and lords. The Irish mingled their Christianity with folk beliefs in fairies and changelings. Though the Catholic Church had decided in the eleventh century that its priests should be celibate, Irish priests continued to marry and have children. Divorce was allowed, and marriage between close relatives wasn't discouraged.
But however “unorthodox” their practices, the vast majority of Irish people were Catholic and knew it. They did not take it kindly when the English decided that they should change.
