Research Objectives

Primary data-gathering of information on all traceable confraternities and associations in parishes throughout Ireland between approximately 1775 and 1965 in diocesan, religious and other archives;
Compilation of a data-base to record all the information gathered;
Bibliography of sources, including main primary records, commemorative publications, devotional works, printed rules for the conduct of confraternities, periodical literature containing relevant material, photographs; secondary sources; and literary sources including memoirs and fictional accounts of parish associational life;
Collection of records of oral recollections of confraternal and associational life in the parishes;
Catalogue of sacral objects, art-work and shrines associated with confraternal practice.
To document and study the contribution of parish confraternities to the religious and social history of modern Ireland.

The analysis of the material gathered during the course of the project has involved the discerning of patterns in the chronological and geographical spread of confraternal foundations; the investigation of the role of the associations in the religious life of the parishes and of the dynamic between clergy and laity; the examination of the educational function of confraternities and parish associations over the study period; the assessment of the contribution of the parish associations to charitable and welfare provision, and the development of Catholic social policy; and the assessment of the part played by confraternities in social and political mobilisation since the early nineteenth century.

Research Process

The research process included the gathering of information on all traceable confraternities and associations in parishes throughout Ireland between approximately 1775 and 1965 in diocesan, religious and other archives. A bibliography of sources has been compiled, and a catalogue of memorabilia and objects associated with confraternities drawn up. A collection of printed materials, including manuals and certificates, has been handed over to the Russell Library in Maynooth College for curation. Selected oral recollections of confraternity members have been preserved.

A conference on Irish confraternities and sodalities was held in Maynooth on 7-8 September 2007. The keynote speaker was the internationally renowned expert on the history of confraternities, Professor Nicholas Terpstra of the University of Toronto. Among the other lecturers were Professor Lennon, Dr Kavanagh, Dr Fuller, Dr Jacinta Prunty, Dr Martin Maguire, Dr Dáire Keogh, Cormac Begadon, Máire Ní Cearbhaill, Dr Jennifer Kelly and Dr Carole Holohan.

Research Outcomes

Conference proceedings to be published (later 2010)
Website developed – irishconfraternities.ie. The website incorporates a database of the research information collated during the course of the project and provides a facility for searching by confraternity name, parish and geographical location. Images drawn from manuscripts and photographs as well confraternity iconography may be viewed
Permanent collection of printed materials, artifacts and memorabilia collected and deposited in the Library of NUI Maynooth.