The church considers itself to be in direct succession from Ireland's ancient Celtic Christianity . When Henry VIII and the Church Of England broke with the Pope , the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland underwent Reformation; and so the Church remains heir, in its cathedrals and churches, to much of the island's medieval heritage. Although the Roman Catholic Church remained the church of the majority of the populace, the Church of Ireland was the established church until 1871 .
According to legend the Church of Ireland traces back to the ancient Celtic Church in Ireland, which was founded at Paris by disciples of St. Phillip c. AD 108 and expanded into Britain and Ireland shortly thereafter. This claim, though widely repeated, is unsupported by historical record and appears to be a late medieval construction intended to bolster the authority of the church.
A monastically-centred institution, the Celtic Church had a unique calendar and usages. The Pope had Henry II Of England invade Ireland and declared Henry II to be "Overlord" over the Irish people. The Pope hoped that this action would force the Irish people to start practicing Roman Catholicism. The Celtic Christian faith was forcibly abandoned in the Twelfth Century after the Anglo- Norman Conquest of Ireland. A parish- and diocese-centered model replaced the old monastic one. Hence it was the English (ironically, given their later policies) who brought the island firmly into the Roman fold, although the Celtic Church was Catholic in the universal sense, she did have her own rites.
In 1536 Henry VIII had the Irish Parliament declare him head of the Irish Church, so breaking with the Holy See . Later, in 1541 , he had the same parliament declare him King of Ireland. When the Church Of England travelled in a more Protestant direction under Edward VI so too did the Church of Ireland; unlike in England, however, Roman Catholicism remained the majority religion in Ireland.
As before the Reformation , some clergymen of the Irish Church sat as Lords Spiritual in the Irish House Of Lords ; under the provisions of the Act Of Union 1800 , one archbishop and the three bishops chosen by rotation would be Lords Spiritual in the newly united United Kingdom House Of Lords in Westminster, joining the two archbishops ( Canterbury and York ) and the twenty-four bishops from the Church Of England .
Though the religion of a minority of Irish people, it remained the official religion of Ireland, until its Disestablishment by an 1869 Act of Parliament came into effect in 1871 . Previously, it had been funded by Tithes , taxes that all, whether Anglican or not, were obliged to pay to it. The representation of the Church in the House of Lords also ceased.
To deal with its new situation, it made provision in 1870 for its own government (General Synod) and financial management (Representative Church Body). Like other Irish churches, it did not divide when Ireland was Partitioned in 1920 , and continues to be governed on an all-island basis, with twelve dioceses organized as two provinces ( Armagh and Dublin ).
The contemporary Church of Ireland, despite having a number of High Church (often described as Anglo-Catholic ) parishes, is developing on the Protestant end of the spectrum of world Anglicanism . Historically, it had little of the difference in churchmanship between parishes characteristic of other Anglican Provinces, although a number of more markedly liberal, High Church or Evangelical parishes have developed in recent decades. It was the second province of the Anglican Communion after the Anglican Church Of New Zealand ( 1857 ) to adopt, on its 1871 disestablishment, Synodical Government , and was one of the first provinces to ordain women to the priesthood, in 1991 .
The Church is structured on a model inherited from pre- Reformation times. The Primate Of All Ireland is the Archbishop Of Armagh , whose seat is the medieval Saint Patrick's Anglican Cathedral, Armagh . (There is also a Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and a Victorgian Saint Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Armagh .) The Church is organised on diocesan or bishopric lines. The Archbishop Of Dublin , like his Catholic counterpart, is called the Primate Of Ireland . The existence of two primates is quite unrelated to the political division of the island, predating this by several centuries; and the boundary between their provinces does not follow the political boundary.
Canon law and Church policy are decided by its , near Portadown .
The current Archbishop of Armagh is Archbishop Robin Eames . (He is also called Lord Eames, having been appointed to the House Of Lords as a Life Peer ). The Archbishop of Dublin is Archbishop John Neill .
The Church of Ireland experienced major decline during the 20th Century , both in Northern Ireland, where 75% of its members live, and in the Republic of Ireland. However, recent censuses shown an unexpected increase in Church Membership membership, the first in almost a century. This is largely explained by the great number of Anglican immigrants who moved to Ireland, particularly from Africa ; but some parishes, especially in middle-class areas of the larger cities, report a number of former Roman Catholic s joining. There are a number of clergy originally ordained for the Roman Catholic church who have now become Church of Ireland clergy. Ex-Roman Catholic lay members are amongst the most dedicated and active members of the church and many go forward for ordination.
The Church has two cathedrals in Dublin: within the walls of the old city is Christ Church Cathedral , the seat of the Archbishop, and just outside the old walls is St. Patrick's Cathedral , the Church's National Cathedral of Ireland.
Members of the Church of Ireland include or have included:
- John Millar Andrews (Prime Minister of Northern Ireland)
- Samuel Beckett , playwright and Nobel Prize laureate
- Heidi Bedell , Irish Green Party councillor. Married to Trevor Sargent and first cousin of U2 bassist, Adam Clayton
- William Bedell Stanford , former member of the Irish Senate (1948), Regius Professor of Greek in TCD from 1940-1980, and Chancellor of the University Of Dublin from 1982-1984.
- George Berkeley , philosopher
- Jack Boothman , the first member of the Church of Ireland to have been elected president of the GAA
- Sir Basil Brooke (Prime Minister of Northern Ireland)
- Phyllis Browne , author of "Thanks for the Tea, Mrs Browne", published by New Island Books. Married to the late Noel Browne , the Minister for Health famously remembered for the Mother and Child showdown of 1951
- Edmund Burke , statesman and philosopher
- Robert Malachy Burke , contested Dail elections in Galway for the Irish Labour Party from 1933-1948 when he was elected to the Upper House. Donated Toghermore House to the State, originally as a rehabilitation centre for TB patients.
- Ernest Blythe , Minister for Finance in W.T. Cosgrave's pro-Treaty government. Served as managing director of the Abbey Theatre 1941-67
- Edward Carson , Dublin-born Unionist - political leader and lawyer
- Roger Casement , Irish republican leader
- Erskine Hamilton Childers , fourth President Of Ireland
- Hazel Blair , mother to the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair . She was born in ancient coastal town of Ballyshannon, Donegal, in 1923 (two years after partition kept it in the South)
- Countess Of Wicklow , Irish Labour Party Senator (1948-52) and member of the Irish delegation which helped to draft the statute of the Council Of Europe . Although very critical about the partition of Ireland, she was one of the founders and first chairman of the Glencree Reconciliation Centre and she joined hands with the Peace Movement in NI in the mid-1970s.
- James Craig , (Prime Minister of Northern Ireland)
- Susan Denham , the second most senior Supreme Court judge in Ireland (in terms of years served)
- Robert Dowds , Irish Labour Party county councillor
- Myles Dungan , RTE broadcaster and convert to the Church of Ireland
- Robert Emmet , Irish republican leader
- George Fitzmaurice , writer
- Arlene Foster , Democratic Unionist politician in Northern Ireland
- Roy Foster , Professor of Irish history at Oxford University
- Johnny Fox , Former TD - father of Mildred Fox , currently an Independent TD for Wicklow
- Douglas Gageby , Former editor of the Irish Times
- Alan Gillis , former president of the Irish Farmers' Association and former Fine Gael MEP. Among one of the very few MEPs to have spent time in prison, as a result of his involvement in the farmers' rights struggle of 1966.
- Henry Grattan , defender of Irish parliamentary independence
- Arthur Guinness , (Brewer)
- TC Hammond , evangelist, later Principal Moore Theological College , Sydney
- Mary Henry , Senator for the University of Dublin
- Rev Stephen Hilliard , Irish Times journalist and alleged IRA member, killed by intruder in Rathdrum rectory
- Douglas Hyde , first President Of Ireland
- Lady Valerie Goulding , Fianna Fáil Senator and founder of the Dublin Remedial Clinic , which provided physiotherapy for children who had been disabled by polio. Converted to Catholicism in 1962
- Jennifer Johnston , Award-Winning Novelist
- Sean Lester , Director of Publicity at the Department of External Affairs (1924), Diplomat at the League Of Nations , serving as its last secretary-general
- Proinsias Mac Aonghusa , former vice-chairman of the Irish Labour Party . Broadcaster for Radio Eireann (1952), and for RTE, UTV and the BBC (1960s). Chairman of Bord Na Gaeilge and was president of Conradh NaGaeilge between 1989 and 1994
- Louis MacNeice , Poet
- Catherine McGuinness , a former independent senator who came to the Bar in middle age. Served as a judge of the Circuit Court (1994) and High Court (1996) before being appointed to the Supreme Court in 2000. Dublin & Glendalough Diocesan Chancellor of the Church of Ireland
- Sam Maguire Irish Republican and Gaelic Footballer
- Martin Mansergh , Fianna Fáil Senator
- Van Morrison , Belfast born singer
- Joe Neville , Fianna Fáil county councillor and Peace Commissioner
- David Norris , Senator and gay rights campaigner
- Graham Norton , comedian
- Ivan Yates , Owner of Celtic Bookmakers and former Fine Gael cabinet member
- Sean O'Casey , playwright
- Terence O'Neill (Prime Minister of Northern Ireland)
- Jan O'Sullivan , Irish Labour Party TD and daughter of the late Ted Gale , (the well-known Limerick Leader journalist, and former treasurer of the National Union Of Journalists )
- Charles Stewart Parnell , Irish nationalist leader
- Howard Robinson , a successful businessman and banker, he created the City of Dublin Bank (commonly known today as the Anglo-Irish Bank ), Father-in-law to Mary Robinson , former President of Ireland
- Trevor Sargent , leader of the Irish Green Party
- William Sheldon , had the distinction of being the Independent TD on whom Eamon De Valera depended for an overall majority during the minority Fianna Fáil government of 1951-1954.
- Richard Brinsley Sheridan , playwright
- Bram Stoker , creator of Dracula
- Jonathan Swift , writer (who served as Dean of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin )
- Julie Parsons , novelist and former RTE producer. Married to John Caden , a lifetime producer of the Gay Byrne radio show.
- George Plant , Tipperary IRA man who was given a state execution in controversial circumstances, in 1942
- Theobald Wolfe Tone , eighteenth century revolutionary
- Canon George Townsend , Church of Ireland clergyman who became the first Irish convert to the Bahá'í Faith in 1917
- Hilda Tweedy , founding member of the Irish Housewives' Association, an influential pressure group that spoke out about injustices and the needs of Irish women, inside and outside the home. Held high office in the IHA and the CSW (now the Women's National Council of Ireland). In 1975, International Women's Year, she led the Irish delegation to the UN meeting in Mexico and was a board member of the International Alliance of Women.
- James Ussher , scholar, Archbishop Of Armagh
- Oscar Wilde , writer, but converted to Roman Catholicism on his deathbed.
- William Butler Yeats , poet and Nobel Prize laureate
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