About Us
This website has been compiled as a result of a project funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Entitled, 'Religion and social identity in Ireland: the role of parish confraternities and associations, 1775-1965', the project was hosted by the Department of History at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth from 2005 to 2008.
The Principal Investigator was Professor Colm Lennon whose research interests include the history of confraternities. The Associate Investigators were Professor R.V. Comerford (NUI Maynooth), Dr Louise Fuller (NUI Maynooth) and Dr Kevin Willaims (Mater Dei Institute). The Research Fellow on the project who assisted in development of this website was Dr Robin Kavanagh.
The aim of the project was to document and study the contribution of parish confraternities to the religious and social history of modern Ireland. The objectives included the gathering of information on all traceable confraternities and associations in parishes throughout Ireland between approximately 1775 and 1965 in diocesan, religious and other archives. A bibliography of sources has been compiled, and a catalogue of memorabilia and objects associated with confraternities drawn up. A collection of printed materials, including manuals and certificates, is being handed over to the Russell Library in Maynooth College for curation. Selected oral recollections of confraternity members are also being preserved.
A conference on Irish confraternities and sodalities was held in Maynooth on 7-8 September 2007. The keynote speaker was the internationally renowned expert on the history of confraternities, Professor Nicholas Terpstra of the University of Toronto. Among the other lecturers were Professor Lennon, Dr Kavanagh, Dr Fuller, Dr Jacinta Prunty, Dr Martin Maguire, Dr Dáire Keogh, Cormac Begadon, Máire Ní Cearbhaill, Dr Jennifer Kelly and Dr Carole Holohan. The occasion elicited many new lines of enquiry and it is hoped to publish the proceedings.
The website incorporates a database of the research information collated during the course of the project and provides a facility for searching by confraternity name, parish and geographical location. Images drawn from manuscripts and photographs as well confraternity iconography may be viewed. It is hoped that the database will be expanded during the course of future research and in the light of contributions from visitors to the site who wish to contact the researchers.
