Eucharistic belief and practice in Ireland, 1660-1740

Abstract

In 1691, after the defeat of Jacobite forces by William III, the foregoing declaration against transubstantiation was included as part of the Act for abrogating the Oath of Supremacy in Ireland and appointing other oaths for all those who wished to enter public office. Just over a decade later, the Eucharist was again included in further penal legislation of 1704, when a sacramental test was appended to An act to prevent the further growth of popery. Now, instead of simply denying the central Eucharistic tenet of Roman Catholicism, officials had to publicly receive the sacrament in the Church of Ireland as a symbol of their political loyalty. This manifestation of the sacred in the secular world was the instigation for this thesis, and provides the fulcrum around which an analysis of Eucharistic practice and belief is arranged