Over the past few decades, British and Irish Catholic history has progressively developed into a substantial scholarly field. Its impact within wider British and Irish historiography has grown in part because of the interdisciplinary nature of Catholicism in fields including art, material culture, literature, architecture, pedagogy and music. Since the Reformation, Catholic history has intersected various confessional boundaries within Britain and Ireland, at a time when each of the four nations was developing its own sense of national identity. The nineteenth century was a time of opportunity and change for British and Irish Catholics; the 1829 Catholic Emancipation Act formally granted religious and political freedoms to Catholics across the four nations. Yet, it was also a period in which faith and identity was becoming increasingly polarised. It had reached a critical juncture by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

This fourth volume in the series outlines thematically the continuities and changes experienced by Catholics in Britain and Ireland from 1830, the year after Catholic Emancipation, until 1913, the eve of the First World War. As the book’s editors Carmen Mangion and Susan O’Brien argue, this approach enables scholars to understand how Catholic identity became distinguished by gender, social class and nationalism at a time of great change. Notably, Cardinal Henry Newman and the Oxford Movement do not have dedicated chapters in the collection, though both their influence and impact within British and Irish Catholicism is present throughout the volume.

The chapters cover a broad range of topics charting how British and Irish Catholics built their identity across the nineteenth century. One such theme was how Catholics experienced the practical realities of post-Emancipation life. Carmen Mangion’s chapter on Catholic revivals extensively confirms that it was still an uphill struggle for Catholics living in post-Emancipation Britain and Ireland, and that many continuities and changes are more nuanced than they initially appear. Yet, Mangion also shows that among the positive revivals, Catholics gained a sense of belonging in wider society through their participation in Catholic Associations, societies and charities, enabling them to develop their own cultural and religious identities. Similarly, John Wolffe’s chapter on anti-Catholicism explores how the legacy of ‘popery’ remained a dominant presence in Britain and Ireland. He observes that internal tensions within the Protestant Churches, the influence of the Oxford Movement and changes within the Evangelical movement, continued to enflame hostility and antipathy towards Catholics. Likewise, V. Alan McClelland’s essay on the relationship between Catholics, politics and the state uncovers that, despite the victory of Catholic Emancipation, there was little progress for Catholics politically. Yet, McClelland also notes that despite the limited political presence of Catholics within parliament, they were able to elevate themselves nationally through their social welfare work, which enabled them to bridge social and religious divides and help them to develop relationships with their local communities. Judith Champ’s chapter on priests and parishes covers the transformative role and character of the Catholic priesthood across the nineteenth century. Champ acknowledges that the influence of training colleges, including Maynooth and Ushaw, across the British and Irish landscape dramatically reversed the short supply of priests, while also charting the tensions that arose between the secular clergy and the laity as they openly promoted social and pastoral activities in their communities.

Other chapters in this volume give further attention to how Catholics were part of the impetus for change in social welfare and educational reform. The chapter by Maurice Whitehead, Deirdre Raftery and Jane McDermid, on education and schooling, charts how the transnational nature of Catholic religious congregations enabled schools to collaborate in the same pedagogical and religious values as their Continental counterparts, in the hope that this would vastly improve the living conditions of those living in abject poverty. Similarly, Ciarán McCabe’s essay on poverty and social action examines how Catholic attitudes and responses to poverty evolved during this period, noting that the Catholic belief in caritas – charitable Christian love – influenced Catholic philanthropists as well as Catholic social activism. The drive for better education is shown by James Murphy to have influenced both Catholic writings and fictional depictions of Catholicism. Murphy’s chapter shows that while Catholic fiction was targeted towards ‘Old Catholic’ families and middle-class converts influenced by the Oxford Movement, fiction was also used by authors to showcase the continuity of Christianity in Britain and Ireland since the Roman period, with authors from both nations seeking to assert the respectability of Catholicism in post-Emancipation society.

Religious devotion and outward displays of Catholic worship also feature heavily in this collection. Salvador Ryan’s essay on devotional and sacramental culture focuses on the reception, experiences and practices of Catholics, noting the importance of material objects in aiding Catholic religious devotion, including rosaries, sacred images and medals, while also remarking upon the enduring legacy of Catholic devotional texts, among them Richard Challoner’s Garden of the soul. Similarly, Susan O’Brien’s chapter assesses the multi-adaptability of Mariology, arguing that the rise in translated devotional texts sold after 1850 inspired Marian devotion in the four nations, while her apparitions at Lourdes and Knock in the second half of the nineteenth century shaped identities of faith and nationhood. The transformation of religious devotion was also reflected in Catholic music and architecture. Bennett Zon’s essay on music as theology argues that the nineteenth century was a flourishing time for English hymn-writing, uncovering the enduring influence of plainchant and Gregorian Chant, and that polyphony encouraged congregational singing. Likewise, Kate Jordan’s chapter examines how post-Emancipation churches were developed to tailor to a Victorian audience, giving particular attention to the architectural innovations of Pugin and Gribble who modified gothic and classical styles from the Continent to suit a modern audience.

The power of episcopal leaders, female religious orders and congregations, and the clergy is also central. Peter Doyle’s essay on episcopal leaders and leadership highlights the unequal ecclesiastical structures in the Catholic landscape in Britain and Ireland, arguing that it was partly caused by the bishops dealing with the lingering remnants of pre-Emancipation Catholic traditions. Doyle further outlines that in the new Catholic hierarchy, the bishops saw themselves as pastors for their congregations, often meddling in the affairs of religious institutes and female religious congregations, which sometimes led to heated clashes. Hilary Carey’s chapter on Catholic missionary activity underscores the important role that religious orders and congregations played in overseas missions. Carey outlines the competitive nature of the different British and Irish colleges in sending missionaries around the world, and shows that Benedictines and Jesuits from the English and Scottish Colleges were among the most vigorous and active missionaries in pushing Britain’s imperialist ambitions in the nineteenth century. Colin Barr’s essay provides an alternative outlook into the impact of overseas migration through the Irish diaspora. He observes that while the Irish diaspora grew extensively before the Famine, Irish migration to the USA, Canada, Australia and the Caribbean increased dramatically in the second half of the nineteenth century, with this vast surge forcing the Irish Catholic Church to compete for ecclesiastical control across the globe.

Chapters by Oliver P. Rafferty and Andrew Pierce uncover the undercurrent of nationalism, especially as the nineteenth century witnessed increased political tensions among Catholics over their identities in Britain and Ireland. Rafferty’s chapter charts the legacy of Daniel O’Connell on national, religious and political affairs in nineteenth-century Ireland, arguing that Irish nationalism emerged because of a multitude of factors, including the Irish Famine and the rise of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Andrew Pierce’s essay similarly focuses on how the Catholic Church confronted modernity, noting that while Emancipation prompted a re-evaluation of neo-scholastic writings by Thomas Aquinas, there was also a suppression of biblical criticism amid the increase of ultramontanism, with contemporaries such as John Henry Newman pre-empting these tensions within the Church for British and Irish Catholics in their own writings.

This is a valuable handbook which provides readers with a broad introduction into how Catholics in Britain and Ireland confronted many challenges that affected their faith politically, socially, culturally and nationally across the long nineteenth century, as well as how they built and developed an identity that befitted a post-Emancipation era. This volume offers scholars access to the latest approaches and methodologies through which to understand and interpret modern British and Irish Catholic history during a crucial period in the nineteenth century. Building identity will be valuable both to scholars familiar with Catholicism in the nineteenth century, as well as those interested in political, cultural and social history.