The search for the Irish national identity through church architecture

Abstract

In the early twentieth century, Ireland is liberating four centuries of English rule. This process, formally initiated in the previous century, more precisely from 1829, with the Act of Emancipation, provides the Irish Catholic Church with greater self-confidence regarding the external manifestation of its newly recovered freedom, at the same time that in the following decades, already on the way to the new century, it is becoming economically more powerful and begins to deploy a new energy in an impressive program of church building, mainly of great capacity and in urban areas. On the other hand, many Irish priests begin to form outside of Ireland, and others begin to travel more often, so that when they return to their country they bring with them ideas to meet the needs of the Irish Church, applying them without reflecting on the lost tradition. . From this crossroads emerge the two main currents: Neo-Gothic and Neoclassicism, to which the Hiberno-Romanesque is then superimposed. In parallel appear some attempts to build churches linked to modern trends prevailing in Europe, and that will not really get underway until the 50s of the twentieth century.
Within this context, the present communication will try to answer the following questions: Do the Neo-Gothic and the Neoclassical satisfy the desire for Irish national affirmation through ecclesial architecture? What factors or circumstances trigger the emergence of the Hiberno-Romanesque style? What distinguishing characteristics mark this style? What validity does Hiberno-Romanesque achieve as an Irish national style in ecclesiastical architecture? Within this state of affairs, when can one speak fully of a modern ecclesial architecture in Ireland? What is the response of Irish ecclesiastical architecture to the new liturgical approach of the Second Vatican Council?