Table of Contents
Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………………2
1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………..3
2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………………………………..7
2.1 Secondary Material……………………………………………………………………………….7
2.2 Primary Material………………………………………………………………………………….13
3. Findings and Analysis…………………………………………………………………………….18
3.1 Proof of ‘souperism’…………………………………………………………………………….18
3.2 Social Implications……………………………………………………………………………….19
3.3 Success of Colonies………………………………………………………………………………21
3.4 Positive Effects…………………………………………………………………………………….22
4. Conclusions…………………………………………………………………………………………..25
5. Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………….27
Introduction
This case study into proselytisation during the famine years in Dingle and Achill Island provides a wide area of scope for the historian to examine. It is necessary to outline what particular areas shall be examined over the course of the study and what the aims of the study are. It is also vital to outline a brief summery about how this study will be structured.
The first aim of the study is to examine the contention that ‘souperism’ was in fact prevalent in these areas before and during the famine. ‘Souperism’ was the term given to the practice of Protestant clergy and landowners of trying to convert Catholics by means of granting them material gain. Fr. Patrick Lavelle of Partry, Co. Mayo gave a vivid description of the term during a court case in 1860. “a person who trafficks in religion by inducing starving creatures to abandon a creed which they believe for one which in their hearts they reprobate, and this for some temporal consideration, be that meal, or money, or soup, or possession of a house or land.” This during the famine meant feeding the starving Catholics if they converted to Protestantism. These converts were christened ‘soupers’ or ‘jumpers’ by the remaining Catholic population in the area and people were said to have ‘taken the soup’ or ‘perverted’. This study aims to investigate some of the social implications which accompanied a person ‘taking the soup’. Where they treated differently in the community? Were the Catholic population willing to allow them to carry on with their lives like before? What, if any, was the response of the Catholic Church to these ‘jumpers’?
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It is important to note that the missions in Dingle and Dugort were well established by the time the famine struck Ireland, so this study will also aim to investigate how the proselytising efforts changed in these colonies. Did they attract more converts due to the famine? Did they use the famine to their advantage to bring more people in the Protestant fold? Another aspect to examine is exactly how successful were the proselytising efforts.
A final facet that deserves attention in this study is whether these Missions or colonies actually had a more positive effect on the local community then negative. Did they provide people with the opportunity to save themselves from the ravages of the famine?
In doing a study such as this, it is necessary to first outline the historical background of the subject. This means giving a short pre-famine summary of what was happening in the two areas of study, Dingle and Dugort, Achill Island. It is also vital to present a short account of the two men who were leading the proselytising efforts in the two missions. These were Rev. Charles Gayer in Dingle and Rev Edward Nangle in Dugort, Achill. It is also necessary to provide an account of the general British feeling towards Catholicism in Ireland.
The Protestant crusade in Dingle really started in earnest when Rev. Charles Gayer was appointed private chaplain to Lord Ventry in 1833. Before that there was not any serious religious conflict reported in the Dingle area, but by the time that Gayer arrived in the area the number of converts increased significantly. Over the years leading up to the famine, the Protestant presence grew in the town and surrounding areas. “Already three additions had to be made to the Protestant Church in Dingle to accommodate the new converts. Protestant Churches had been built in Ventry and Ballyferriter where there had never been any Protestant Church before. Many Protestant schools had been opened in Dingle and west of Dingle, even on the Blasket Island.” Gayer himself firmly believed that it was his duty to convert as many Catholics as possible to the Protestant cause. His work was progressing rapidly in the period leading up to the Famine. He said in 1844 “I am fully persuaded that if the people of God furnished us the means, Popery would be shaken here to its very foundations; but now is the time for exertion, while the minds of the people are so unsettled.”
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In Dugort, Achill Island, the Mission was established in 1831 when Rev, Edward Nangle arrived in Achill. This colony consisted of schools, cottages, an orphanage, a small hospital, a church, a hotel and importantly a printing press. This printing press allowed Nangle to publish his own newsletter, ‘The Achill Missionary Herald’. He used this as a propaganda tool, mainly to gain more financial support for his Mission. Nangle was so committed to the cause of converting the local population that he learned how to speak in Irish and taught through the language. Like Gayer, Nangle was fully convinced that these people were in fact pagans and settled about his task of bring them into the light of true Christianity. The Mission grew and gained fame through Ireland and Britain, leading up to the outbreak of the Famine in 1845.
In Britain the Pope was seen as a great enemy and the Protestant crusade in Ireland was an attempt to dispel evil Popery from the hearts of the Irish. Gayer and indeed Nangle were firm believers in this crusade. An example of the kind of thinking emulating from Britain at the time can be found when the British MP, J.P. Plumptre, learned of a government grant to Maynooth College in 1845. “To endow Popery once more in a land that has been rescued from its yoke is madness, little short of high treason against heaven.” This sort of mentality would seem out of the ordinary today, but at the time this was the prevailing opinion of the population in Britain. People in Britain felt so strong about this that large donations were given to support the proselytisation work being done in places like Dingle and Dugort.
The structure of the study will consist of firstly an overview of the pre-existing literature which exists in relation to this subject. Some of this is contemporary primary source material and also more recent secondary material. This literature review will outline what is currently known on the topic and will also showcase some of the areas of controversy in the current debate. By considering what has already been written on the subject, allows for the formulation of questions for further research. After the literature review, the findings and analysis of the research will commence. This enables the author to systematically examine the topic and analysis the finding. The final aspect of the study will be the conclusion. This is where the author will attempt to answer the questions posed on this topic. It will highlight the main findings and discuss them in the context of the wider literature on the subject.
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Literature Review
There are many books relating to this study, both primary and secondary. It is vital to fully comprehend the arguments put across in these studies and also critically discuss both the strengths and weaknesses of them. These studies help in understanding broadly what was happening in these areas during the time of the Famine, and indeed the timing preceding the Famine. They help in gaining a strong since of what areas of the subject have already been covered. These studies also provide the opportunity to identify areas of controversy in the pre-existing literature and help in discovering what areas need further research. It is also vital to be able to contrast and compare these works, especially with the primary source material. It is important to note that some of these studies are focused solely on the Dingle Mission or the Achill Island Mission, while others are focused on both. While many sources, both primary and secondary have been consulted for this study, not all are of significant importance to be included in this critical review. The focus will be on the work which is most pertinent in the area of this study. The first area to tackle is the existing secondary work done on this subject.
Secondary Material
The first publication to examine is Desmond Bowen’s “Souperism: Myth or Reality?” This text provides a confined study of the issue of proselytization in the dioceses of Ballina and Killala, Co. Mayo and Achonry, Co. Sligo, during the Famine. It also provides a very substantial history of the churches in Connaught leading up to the Famine. The area of the book which is most important to this study are chapters eight and nine. In these he specifically examines the Missionary settlements in both Dingle and Achill. In regards to the Dingle mission his account is mainly a history of the settlement leading up to the start of the Famine. He takes a quite objective view on the settlement, a view which is not always prevalent when writing about such a sensitive matter and this is found throughout the book as a whole. When he does touch on the issues surrounding the Famine in Dingle, he is more interested in discussing the more positive roles that both the Protestant and Catholic clergy had in the area. He uses excerpts from the two Kerry newspapers of the time, ‘The Kerry Evening Post’ and ‘The Kerry Examiner’, to further this point. “When a Protestant clergyman, Matthew Moriarty, visited his Dingle home, he told the readers of ‘The Kerry Evening Post’ of 6 January 1847: ‘The Roman Catholic priests of this district almost live in their saddles, and even so, I am sure, they cannot minister the rites of their church to all who die within its pale,’ Both papers supported Catholic and Protestant clergy who joined in protest when Tralee harbour was filled with food-stuffs.” The important point to understand here is that these two newspapers had opposing religious and social views. ‘The Kerry Evening Post’ was a publication which was more conservative leaning, and favoured the Protestant view, while ‘The Kerry Examiner’ was more liberal and sympathetic towards the Catholic predicament. That Bowen was highlighting these instances where both opposing newspapers shared in their admiration for the good work done by both sides of the religious divide, shows that his objective here is to give a balanced account of the work being done. Bowen makes very good use of primary source material for his study. He takes various quotes from the newspapers of the time, but also makes use of contemporary, first-hand accounts written during the time such as Asenath Nicholson’s ‘Ireland’s Welcome to a Stranger’ and D. P. Thompson’s ‘A Brief Account of the Rise and Progress of the change in Religious Opinion now taking place in Dingle’. These books will be examined later in this study. It is these contemporary accounts which Bowen uses to examine the colony. He does not provide any research of his own, relying on these publications to give a fairly incomplete view of the Dingle mission.
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Bowen’s chapter on Edward Nangle and the Achill mission suffers the same faith as Dingle. He gives a good background history of the settlement leading up to the Famine, yet does not adequately delve into the problem of proselytizing on the colony during the Famine. He does provide an excellent account of Nangle’s life on the mission, which leaves a strong impression on what type of character he was. “There is little doubt that much of the religious strife in Connaught in the pre-famine era was the direct result of Nangle’s intransigence. He even quarrelled with the mission at Dingle, and his criticism of Gayer which appeared in ‘The Christian Examiner’ in 1841 reflects the tension which existed between the two colonies.” He points to the fact that even Nangle’s most ardent followers realised that he was a difficult man to form cordial relationships with. “Lord William Conyngham Plunket, who was the Evangelical Bishop of Meath when Henry Seddall wrote his memoir of Nangle in 1884, ‘Edward Nangle, Apostle of Achill’, apologized for Nangle’s brusqueness in the preface to Seddall’s book: ‘Mr. Nangle was doubtless at times headstrong in forming his opinions, stubborn in holding them, and harsh in giving them expression.’” His account of the Achill colony during the famine years is again inadequate. He focuses more on the work done on the colony and uses evidence from publications such as the ‘Achill Herald’ and Seddall’s book to give evidence of the labour the mission provided for the local people. The problem with this is that these publications are not very reliable because of their close ties to the colony and Nangle himself. The ‘Achill Herald’ was printed and distributed from the colony itself and was in reality no more than a propaganda tool to raise money for the mission.
The title of Bowen’s book is somewhat misleading. It does not fully try to dispel or facilitate the question of ‘souperism’ during the famine and it is not a comprehensive study of the methods used to bring Catholics into the Protestant fold. The aim of the book is to provide a more reasonably and objective view of the proselytization efforts occurring in Ireland before, during and after the famine. While he provides a good background to the missions in both Dingle and Achill, he does not delve deep enough into the issues surrounding ‘souperism’ in these areas.
The next secondary work that needs to be discussed is Cathal Poirteir’s ‘The Great Irish Famine’. Chapter Ten ‘The Stigma of Souperism’ by Irene Walsh largely deals with the debate about ‘souperism’ and gives a good broad general discussion on the issue before, during and after the famine. Walsh recognises how much of a sensitive issue this still is in modern Ireland, and also how seemingly endless debate can rage on the subject due to the difficultly in fully understanding how prevalent the practice of ‘souperism’ actually was. “In 1985 the Abbey Theatre’s production of Eoghan Harris’ play ‘Souper Sullivan’ was followed by a spate of letters to the editor of ‘The Irish Times’ as well as newspaper and radio interviews in which the author was forced to defend his claims and opinions in a way that few playwrights have been called to do in modern times.” This raises the question as to whether the bitterness of alleged ‘souperism’ still lingers today. This also raises another question. Are people today too quick to vilify the majority of the Protestant clergy during the famine because of the perceived sins of the few? Has the charitable and life saving work of the many been overlooked and forgotten because of the perceived immoral work of the minority?
Walsh only briefly discusses the colonies in Dingle and Achill and provides only minimal evidence of the social unrest which existed in these areas. The aim of Whelan’s study is to provide a general outlook on the problem, so clearly it would not be very useful for an in-depth study on either the Dingle or Achill missions. She does however provide some useful primary material on the issue of the colonies angering the local people by purchasing the best available land and, through education and employment, provide people chances of advancement not readably available to local Catholics. Whelan notes an interview give to ‘The Connaught Tribune’ in 1934 by eight-seven year old, Sean Mhic Chonmhara. He was a native of Achill and recalls Nangle’s colony purchasing the best available land and the tenants being kicked off the land if they did not attend the Protestant service. He describes how forty families were kicked off their land in this manner and the land being given to converts. Like Bowen’s study, Whelan’s work is too broad to fully examine the issues surrounding the colonies in Dingle and Achill, but does raise some interesting questions.
Another important secondary study which needs scrutiny is Mealla Ni Ghiobuin’s ‘Dugort, Achill Island 1831-1861: The Rise and Fall of a Missionary Community’. This short book gives the reader a wide and full account of the history of the mission in Dugort, Achill Island. It reads chronologically and is an excellent detailed account of the entire history of the settlement and its impact on the surrounding areas. While the other books mentioned do give a fairly substantial account of the mission, it is specific works like this which provide the narrow scope which is needed in a study such as the one being done in this dissertation. One of the strengths of this study is that it focuses specifically on the impact of the famine on the colony, while also giving the necessary pre-famine background information needed to fully comprehend the changes which took place. One clear point which is made during this analysis of the famines impact, a point which this author also discovered to be true during my gathering of evidence, is that contemporary evidence is almost impossible to come by. This means that publications such as ‘The Achill Missionary Herald’ have to be relied upon when trying to uncover details of the mission. “The reports of the Mission for the years 1845-47 have not survived. The ‘Achill Herald’ and other contemporary or near contemporary writings have to be relied on for information about the response of the Mission to the Famine.” As mentioned earlier, this publication is fairly unreliable due to the fact that it originated from the mission itself. Ni Ghiobuin does use as much primary material possible, drawing on items such as the Irish Census from 1841 and 1851, Register of baptisms, marriages and burials and also using material from the National Archives of Ireland. He also uses other contemporary writings such as Nicholson and Seddall.
Ni Ghiobuin gives a good account of the efforts made by those to relieve the hunger on the Island and importantly creates a good and fair appraisal of the character of Nangle himself. This is strength of this account of the mission and Nangle. He does not merely speculate on what conceivably happened during the famine, but instead relies upon the contemporary material to draw fair assessments. This does however raise a question. How can anybody draw a definite conclusion on whether ‘souperism’ was definitely occurring during the famine in Dugort when the sources are deemed by most as unreliable? Ni Ghiobuin does attempt to draw some conclusions, but he does not fully commit to the notion that ‘souperism’ was occurring here during the famine.
The final secondary material book on proselytization during the famine is by Micheal O’ Mainnin from ‘Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society’. In this Journal is a chapter relating specifically to the Dingle Mission entitled ‘A Post-Mortem on the Protestant Crusade in Dingle’. Much like Ni Ghiobuin’s work on Dugort, this is a specific examination of the proselytization efforts made by the Protestant clergy in Dingle during the famine. O’ Mainnin provides a sufficient background to the colony in the lead up to the famine. He also includes a national background to the Protestant crusade as well as a short and articulate account of Rev Charles Gayer leading up to the famine. The crux of his argument is not to crucify or condemn the mission, but rather give a fair and unbiased account of what happened during the famine, a task he manages to accomplish. He uses a vast array of primary material to support his thesis including D. P. Thompson’s ‘A Brief Account…..’, Reports from the Dingle and Ventry Mission Association, Parliamentary papers from the National Library and of course the two Kerry newspapers, ‘The Kerry Evening Post’, and ‘The Kerry Examiner’. This allows him to formulate an accurate picture of what was occurring in the mission and the surrounding areas. This excerpt was taken from ‘The Kerry Examiner’ in March 1845 from John Power a convert who then returned to the Catholic faith:
Mr. Bennett: Come now, my man, by virtue of your oath, what induced you to go back to Mass?
Witness: What would make me go back but the love of God.
Mr. Bennett: And what induced you to go to Church? (i.e. ‘Teampall’ or Protestant Church).
Witness: ‘Twas my belly of course, what else (roars of laughter)? Faith I used never get the belly-ache while I was in the church.
Mr. Bennett: Did you eat meat on a Friday while you were going to the church?
Witness: No indeed, faith, I did not. I would not eat meat for them on a Friday, any day, nor I would not eat meat today either.
This is a clear indication of the proselytization practices which were being carried out in the area and O’ Muinninn makes very good use of contemporary sources such as this one to prove this fact.
The problem with this study is that O’ Mainnin rather scrapes the surface when discussing the social implications for the ‘soupers’. This is an area which needs further examination. It is a vital aspect to this study to understand how locals reacted to the converts and also to gain an understanding of how the Catholic church itself reacted. His focus is more on the point of view that the Protestant clergy had and trying to understand why they felt the need to convert the local Catholic population. Another drawback to O’ Muinninn’s work is that he provides little evidence pertaining to the actual the amount of Catholics who ‘took the soup’ during the famine. In a study such as this, the facts and figures are a necessary component to fully examine the problem.
Primary Material
Contemporary sources are of the upmost importance when considering the problem of fully understanding the issues which surrounded the two colonies. Asenath Nicholson has written two such contemporary works, ‘Ireland’s Welcome to a Stranger’ and ‘Annals of the Famine’. In these two books Nicholson visits both the Dingle and Dugort missions and provides an excellent and vivid account of the atmosphere of these areas. It is important to provide some background information on Mrs. Nicholson before discussing her books. She was a widowed American Protestant, who decided to travel to Ireland and journey throughout the country to ‘personally investigate the condition of the Irish poor”. She stayed in the homes of the poor around the West and South of the country during her first expedition in 1844, and published the details of her travels in ‘Ireland’s Welcome to a Stranger’ in 1847. She decided upon another journey around Ireland in 1847-48, to perform charitable work to the poor who needed help. This trip was recorded and published in ‘Annals of the Famine’, in 1850. Both books are superb first-hand accounts, with one dealing with the problems which existed in these areas immediately prior to the famine and the other highlighting the issues which were present during the height of the famine.
‘Ireland’s Welcome to a Stranger’ is an exceptional account of the condition of country just prior to the outbreak of the famine. It is important to this study because Nicholson travels to both the Dingle and Dugort colonies. The greatest strength of the work is that you get a sense of pure honesty from Nicholson, which is a rare occurrence when reading most of the contemporary accounts of the time. Other work such as Henry Seddall’s ‘The Apostle of Achill’ and D. P. Thompson’s ‘A Brief Account….’, have clear agendas and are not unbiased enough to take at face value. Nicholson, on the other hand, had no problem in criticising any person or organisation which she found was not living up to her own standards. Her visit to Dingle provides the reader with a rich eye witness account of the daily running of the mission and grants a first-hand opinion of Rev. Gayer. She does not hold back on her criticisms of Gayer, or indeed her opinions on his converts. “But what the new birth implied, or any work of conviction and operation of the Holy Spirit on their hearts, they could tell nothing, for they seemed to know nothing”. Nicholson also travels to Nangle’s mission in Dugort as provides the same impartial opinions. She is scathing in her opinion of Nangle and his wife, following a meeting in which they were most discurtious to her.
While Nicholson’s account is important because it allows the reader to examine a clear, external opinion on the work of the missions, and indeed the personalities of the two men in charge of the missions, the problem of this work is that she does not stay long enough to fully comprehend what was occurring. She gives a mere glimpse into the operation of the mission. She paints a clear and vibrant picture of life surrounding these areas, but does not explore the issue of proselytization. Being a Protestant herself, it is clear that she would support any of the Catholic population converting.
In ‘Annals of the Famine’, Nicholson travels occurred during the harshest time of the famine. She does not return to Dingle, but she does make another trip to Dugort. This is a more useful study in regards to the study being undertaken in this dissertation because it occurs during the famine. It shows her own charitable nature, she was running a soup kitchen in Cook Street, Dublin which started in 1847. This is important because it is possible to contrast her chartable nature with those of the places she visited. She is unrelentingly harsh with those who fall below her standards of charity. Her views on the charitable nature of Nangle and the colony are unyielding in their criticisms. “Mr. Nangle had many men working in his bogs, near Mr. Savage, and so scantily were they paid, sometimes but three pence and three pence-half penny a day, that some at least would have died but not for the charity of Mrs Savage. These men had families to feed and must work til Saturday, then go nine miles into the colony to procure the Indian meal for the five days work. This he truly called giving his men employ.” She was also quite harsh on the quality of the Indian meal being given to the local population to eat. The account of conditions is quite shocking and her objective view on what she saw around her is admirable. The problem again with this work is that Nicholson does not spent enough time at the mission in Dugort. While she does provide fantastic general opinion on the practical running of the relief work being done, or not done, she does not discuss any issues regarding Nangle’s mission taking advantage of the situation to convert Catholics. That being said, her eye-witness account is invaluable, as is her never-ending honest appraisal of what was occurring during the time.
Henry Seddall’s biography ‘Edward Seddall, The Apostle of Achill’ is a book which offers a wide examination on the life and work of Nangle. In reality however, this is nothing more than a wholly bias and favourable account of Nangle and his mission in Dugort. They say to never judge a book by its cover, but in this case it is possible to get a fairly accurate picture of the book, judging solely on the title. Seddall was a member of the Achill Mission Committee with Nangle, and a close personal colleague. What is useful about this biography is that Seddall uses documents and letters from Nangle’s relatives which would possible not been readily available to others. He uses these, along with excerpts from ‘The Achill Herald’ to give the reader a clear picture of the life of Nangle. Seddall does briefly touch on the accusations of ‘souperism’ levelled at Nangle during the famine. “Mr. Nangle was constantly charged by the enemies of the Mission with making use of funds entrusted to him for the relief of temporal distress in order to further the cause of Protestantism. There never was a more baseless charge.” This is an example of the defence of Nangle prevalent throughout the book, offering little or no evidence to the contrary. He uses accounts given to him by people who, by all measures, were supportive of his work on the Mission and he is satisfied that their testimony can be relied upon as fact. “The facts which I am about to relate have been communicated to me by one who is intimately acquainted with all the circumstances in his life, and upon whose statements the fullest reliance may be placed.” Clearly this does not constitute as a fact and this is the sort of one-sided, biased account that is rife in this biography. Seddall does not place enough importance to the fact that many on Achill were starving during the famine and his account of the famine years are too short. He merely provides a brief description on how Nangle provided work on the island for the people, but a few pages does not suffice for this period. If Nangle was doing positive work for those on the island, then surely Seddall would have dedicated more pages to it. This raises the question about whether Nangle was doing enough to help the starving during the famine, or was he merely using it as an opportunity to further the Protestant cause on the island? The weak defence offered by Seddall does not do much to dispel the accusations of ‘souperism’.
The last book which needs discussion is D. P. Thompson’s ‘A Brief Account of the Rise and Progress of the change in Religious Opinion now taking place in Dingle and the West of the County of Kerry, Ireland’. Much like Seddall’s work on Nangle, Thompson’s work on the Mission in Dingle and Ventry is clearly biased. She was a Protestant herself and vehemently supported the work being done in the area to convert local Catholics. Her husband had also a staunch Protestant who himself was a part of the proselytising movement in the area. The first Lord Ventry had produced a rent-roll many years earlier, set the price at a very high rent, but only demanded what was considered to be a fair rent. He never sought to claim the balance. David Peter Thompson, who had full power over the Ventry estate, when he was appointed receiver by the court in 1827. He used this rent-roll to motivate the Catholics to become Protestant. If they did, the full rent would not have to be paid. Clearly Mrs. Thompson was of a similar mentality to her husband. It is difficult to take her accounts of the mission at face value because of this stance.
In the book, Thompson provides many accounts of individual cases of the ‘jumpers’. She also provides a narrative which shows how Gayer approach to his proselytization work evolved over time. The most important aspect of this book is to this study is that Thompson provides a vast amount of examples of how the converts were treated in Dingle. She provides the reader with a vivid picture of the social and class issues which existed and the clear, them versus us mentality in the area. One account which fully illustrates this is when she describes how Ventry House was attacked by armed men, and Lord Ventry’s son-in-law shot at. When a large reward was offered for any information, nobody claimed it. Clearly accounts written at the time of the famine are important for research purposes, however when discussing the views in books such as Thompson’s and Seddall’s, one must tread carefully. The agenda and objectivity of the writer must always be carefully considered and it puts a cloud over the opinions expressed in their work when their impartiality is in question. This is clearly the case in both the work of Thompson and Seddall.
Findings and Analysis
Proof of ‘Souperism’
There are some contentions that the practice of ‘souperism’ did not in fact, take place. Bryan Fanning in his book ‘Racism and social change in the Republic of Ireland’ contends that the practice did not take place to the extent which is reported and that there is no evidence to back up claims of this. “The myths of mass defection from the Catholic Church as a result of ‘Protestant souperism’ were unfounded. The 1861 census showed no marked increase in the number of Protestants even in the areas where proselytisation was most prevalent”. This can easily be explained. The reason why the 1861 census does not show any marked increase in the Protestant numbers is because of the number of converts who ‘took the soup’ and then after converted back to Catholicism. It was well within reason to argue that some Catholics were desperate enough to renounce their religion, at least for a time, in order to keep themselves and their families from starving. “A fair contingent went to the colony in Achill. Others held out by getting food in Ayer’s kitchen and a little meal in return for this attendance at church or by sending their children to the Protestant school.” There is plenty of testimony from both Dingle and Dugort to support the contention that ‘souperism’ was happening during the Famine. Fr. Michael Gallagher wrote a letter to Fr. Synnott in Dublin in Jan 1848 describing the problem. “Poverty has compelled the greatest number of the population to send their children to Nangle’s proselytising villainous schools; he has at this moment one thousand children of the Catholics of the Parish attending…….and so he can, for they have no other refuge. They are dying of hunger, and rather than die, they have submitted…” This statement grants the reader an insight of the position of not only the starving but also the Catholic Church’s position. It was difficult seeing their Catholic followers leave for the colonies, but if they did not, many would have died. A letter written to ‘The Kerry Examiner’ in 1847 also gives a clear indication of ‘souperism’ occurring in the area. “The reason for this melancholy singularity is, that nowhere but in this land has utter uncharitableness assumed the name of religion. Dingle has long been the hotbed of bigotry, under the auspices of reverened cooks, by whom ‘soup kitchens’ had been long established, in order to bribe the starving Papists into an artificial Protestantism. The theory of the English fanatics has been reduced to practice by their fellow labourers, who must deem the present awful crisis a seasonable occasion for their detestable system of alimentary proselytism.” First-hand accounts such as this removes all doubt as to the question of whether the practice of ‘souperism’ was taking place. The year 1847 was a particularly harsh one in Ireland. The people of Dingle would have more important things to worry about at this time, than making up stories about ‘souperism’ taking place in the area. When you uncover letters such as the one mentioned above, it shows the anger which were directed at the colonies. A final piece of evidence can be found in a report from the ‘General Irish Reformation Society’ from 1848. “If ever there was a time for England to make a great effort for the evangelizing of Ireland it is the present-the poor are ready-the great distress has softened the heart of the poor. A famine shows the poor Romanist the incapacity and tyranny of their priest, and the humanity and integrity of the Protestant clergy.” This is clear evidence showing the willingness of some Protestants in Ireland to use the horrors of the Famine as a means to convert the Catholic population.
Social Implications
The social implications of becoming a ‘souper’ were sometimes very harsh. In a letter send to ‘The Kerry Evening Post’ in 1846, a man describes the life of a convert in Dingle during the time. “A convert can hardly buy or sell anything. Last Saturday week a convert had his pig sold and a penny earnest on his hand. Someone came up and said he was a ‘souper’. Immediately the purchaser let go of the pig, she was kicked around the market, the man himself was shouldered, thumped and pelted with mud.” This clearly shows the kind of reaction which the converts were given. This is a clear example of ‘exclusive dealing’ which occurred at the time. This was where the Catholic population refused to trade with any of the converts and boycotted their goods.
There was another case in Achill where a description is given of a man who ‘took the soup’, but died shortly afterwards. He was buried in the local Catholic graveyard, which angered many of the local community in the village. Shortly after a group of them went into the graveyard and dug up the body and threw it outside the walls of the churchyard. This story perfectly illustrates how converts faced persecution for abandoning their community and its values. The people were often ostracized by the locals and denounced from the pulpit by the local Catholic priests. D. P. Thompson tells a story of a man in Dingle who decided to convert. When the Catholic priest found out about this he demanded his return to the Catholic fold and threatened him with ex-communication and the locals put pressure on him not to ‘pervert’. “the friends interfered, the wife threw her arms around his neck, his children clung to his knees and implored him not to bring so heavy a curse upon them. The poor man had not searched deep enough into the mine of truth, his moral courage gave way, having no one to stand by him and he gave up the books to the priest after a siege of three weeks.” The source of this tale can be called into question because of Thompson’s undoubted support of the Protestant cause. However, it is not an altogether far-fetched account of the pressures which must have been placed upon would-be ‘jumpers’. An interesting point about this story is the description of the Catholic pressure put on this man as a ‘siege’. This word conjures up images of a war or a battle being fought. It really puts into context the way the Protestant locals viewed the proselytising effort.
Success of Colonies
Whether or not the methods of the colonies were immoral or not, an important aspect to investigate is whether they were successful in gaining more converts during the Famine. Certainly evidence exists which shows that the Missions did manage to attract more people to join during the Famine then they managed before it. The Dingle colony was certainly gaining more converts during the first couple of years of the Famine. Mrs Thompson relates to the fact that the Protestant Church had been failing in Kerry until the arrival of Gayer. “the lack of interest in religion had been so great that by 1831 the Protestant population had almost completely disappeared.” However the establishment of the Dingle Mission dramatically changed the Protestant success in Dingle and Ventry. “In the year 1846, Bishop Ludlow Tonson of Killaloe confirmed 142 person in Ventry and 245 at Dingle.” This was to be the height of the success of the Dingle Mission. The sheer anger and hostility displayed by the local population against those in the Mission, meant that many started to move away from Dingle. Threats were not uncommon against the Protestants and indeed Gayer OR Lord Ventry themselves. The following is an anonymous letter sent to Lord Ventry on 24th December, 1844:
TAKE NOTIS
That if you do not send Gayer the bastard out of this country, from a quiet and pesible people, and discountenance all blagards that deny their holy religion for soup: this do, and you will do right. By the Eternal God I will drive a brace of balls through your carcass privately, otherwise in the noon-day if not.
Signed by,
A RIGHT GOOD AIM
The hostility grew as the Famine ravaged on and the emigration of some of the Protestants coincided with the arrival of Vincentian missionaries to the area. These helped regain some of the converts and the Christian Brothers started to build up Catholic schools in the area. Gayer’s death in 1848, placed even further decline on the Mission, and by 1854 “there was only 180 Protestants left in Ventry and not many more in Dingle.”
The Mission in Dugort enjoyed more sustained success than its Dingle counterpart. While the figures of the amount of converted can be contested, it is clear that there was a sharp increase during the Famine years. Bishop Plunket confirmed 400 children in September 1849. This is a huge number considering that the total population on the island at the time was around 7,000. “According to Nangle, only twenty-eight of this number were children of Protestant parents. The remaining 372 were converts, the majority children in Mission schools, but also some older persons.” The success of the Mission can be associated with the schools. By feeding large numbers of children in the Mission schools, Nangle was presented with the ideal opportunity to teach them the bible. This could clearly be interpreted as ‘souperism’ on Nangle’s part, although he stated that the parents of the children had given their consent. Another advantage that Nangle enjoyed in his proselytising efforts was that the government store was located on the Mission. It seems probable that the relief which came to Achill would be distributed to the converts first. This seems more probable when taking into account the increase in the amount of converts during the worst years of the Famine.
Positive Effects
In the case of Dingle, it is difficult to discover any real reports of positive effects that the Mission had on the local Catholic community. There was one instance reported in ‘The Kerry Evening Post’ in September 1847, “where over 200 people had gathered to cut the corn of the colony farms in gratitude for the help given to the poor during the period when outdoor rations were not available. As soon as the situation began to improve, however, past cooperation was forgotten and religious animosities reappeared.” Gayer himself did have some positive effects on the community during the Famine. It was Gayer who built the Beacon Tower at the entrance to Dingle Harbour. This was built to prevent ships from missing the entrance to the harbour and being shipwrecked on Inch Strand.
A strong case can be made for claiming that the Mission in Dugort had a very positive effect on Achill Island during the Famine. The first aspect to examine in this hypothesis is the employment that the Mission provided during the Famine. According to a report in ‘The Achill Herald’ in January 1847, the Mission gave employment to 4,458 labourers in the previous month. Of this 2,006 were Catholics. This number is questionable considering the source, but nevertheless, there can be no doubt that the Mission was providing much needed employment to both Catholics and Protestants. Also in February 1847 Nangle writes in ‘The Achill Herald’ that “During the last month we gave employment to 2192 labourers, of whom 740 were Roman Catholics and 1452 Protestants. This aggregate number gives an average of 100 men per day.” While the pay might not have been great, as pointed out by Aseneth Nicholson in ‘Annals of the Famine’, it was desperately needed and no doubt was the difference between life and death for many families on the island. He also mentions in the same issue that “the feeding of the 600 children, mentioned in our last, was partially suspended for some time, as our supply of Indian meal was consumed, but on our being allowed the privilege of purchasing at the government store, the charitable work was resumed.” Whether Nangle was using the food to convert Catholics or not, he was important in trying to get more food into the island, which would have been beneficial to all. “Mr. Nangle determined at all risks to procure food for the starving people. He ordered at once a shipload of meal, the value of which, with costs of carriage, was £3,000, and he made himself personally responsible for the whole amount, agreeing to pay the sum by instalments as money was collected in response to an appeal which he issued.” This was another example of Nangle stepping forward and taking the initiative in trying to provide food for the island. As well as this, other people associated with the Mission were involved in helping the local people.
Conclusions
The questions posed in this study are not necessarily ones which can be easily answered, due to the complex nature of the topic. Proselytisers such as Gayer and Nangle clearly saw their work as God’s work, so for them the ends justifies the means. Their mission was to rescue the Irish Catholics from the evils of Rome and Popery and bring them into the true faith. While some might say they acted immorally and took advantage of a situation to allow them to convert more Catholics, they would have seen it in a different light. In the case of Nangle, he viewed the Famine as God’s punishment for the sinful nature of Roman Catholics. “To the Roman Catholics of Ireland in general, and of Achill in particular-Fellow countrymen-, Surely God is angry with this land, the potatoes would not have rotted unless he sent the rot to them; God never can be taken unawares; nothing can happen but as he orders it.” Due to mentalities such as this one, Nangle and indeed Gayer would have seen it as their duty to convert the people by any means necessary. The moral implications of how they achieved these conversions were irrelevant. While they refuted the accusations of ‘souperism’, it is clear that both Missions practiced a sort of immoral charity. However they might have justified their actions, there is a certain irony to their actions. By claiming to be doing God’s work and also acting in a most uncharitable and unchristian nature towards the people who needed help the most, is the height of irony. “the principles upon which it has been conducted have not been in accordance with the divine precept of ‘charity’, nor has the clergyman under whose control the settlement is placed been an example of that gentle, peace-loving, and persuasive zeal, that ‘meek and unaffected grace’, which should distinguish a humble follower of ‘The Lord and Master’.”
Regardless of the moral implications of the actions of Gayer and Nangle, the social implications of their work was clearly evident. The Missions caused outrage and anger both in Dingle and Dugort and divided the communities. It turned neighbour against neighbour and even in some cases created division between families. There was a case in Dingle which D. P. Thompson recalls which illustrates how it caused strife in families. It involved a man converting and soon after he fell ill. “Bailiffs took his bed- Gayer was present and he said to him ‘they may take what they please, they cannot take away my peace. I feel safe in Jesus Christ and have no care but her’, pointing to his wife. ‘If I could see her believe in Christ, I should die happy’. ‘That you will never see!’ she replied, so hard-hearted had the bigotry rendered this woman.” It was a very disruptive for the communities for these sort of divisions to be taking place at such a difficult time. Many of the people would had resisted the lure of ‘taking the soup’, must have been outraged by the preferential treatment that the converts enjoyed on the colony. While this anger was somewhat justified, it is difficult to lay blame at the feet of the ‘jumpers’. It was a life and death situation, and for people to renounce their faith shows how desperate their plight was. The amount of people who renounced and then proceeded to convert back to Catholicism shows that they were merely doing it because of the desperate circumstances which they found themselves in. “An indication of the desperate position in which many people found themselves is shown in the record of the numbers who recanted between 1844 and 1846.”
This study also raised the question of whether these Missions actually had a more positive effect on the communities during the famine. It is difficult to quantify the positive aspects of the Missions, because behind these positive aspects lurked their negative hidden agenda. The reasons outlined as to why the Missions could be classed as helpful are valid. However when you hear of Nangle distributing food to the hungry, the well founded accusation of favouritism towards the converts still stands. To answer the question was it worth it would be impossible, but there can be no doubting the fact that on Achill, more people would have died if not for the presence of the Mission. The issues surrounding both the Missions in Dingle and Dugort are still raging today, and because of the complex nature of the issues, will probably still be raging in another 150 years.
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