With the Reformation, the English monarchy, took the opportunity to take control of the land of Ireland and the native Irish political system so that the Irish could never be a threat to the English monarchy in any future dealings the English had with the strong Catholic countries of Europe. To achieve this goal they saw it as necessary to take control of the Catholic Church in Ireland and replace it with a new reformed church similar to the Anglican Church already being formed in England.
This attempt at reform of the Catholic Church in Ireland coincided with the imperial policy of colonisation which meant the confiscation of the land of Ireland and the takeover of Church buildings and property including monasteries.
In 1536-37, the King’s plans for the Reformation of the Catholic Church in Ireland were discussed at the so-called ‘Reformation Parliament’. This ‘parliament’ was called to enact the Reformation inaugurated by England’s King Henry VIII in Ireland. Under the Act of Supremacy Henry VIII became the head of the Catholic Church. Another Act for the Dissolution of the Monasteries which had more devastating results was passed in this parliament.
The Irish parliament 1536-37 made no objection to these laws because they knew that anyone who did so would face execution. The Irish remembered what happened to the Fitzgeralds ( Lord Edward Kildare and his son ‘Silken’ Thomas) when they rebelled.
When Catholics voted for the Reformation in the ‘Reformation parliament’ they did not believe they were cutting themselves off from the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. The vast majority of the native Irish population and the Old English families remained faithful to the Pope in Rome and rejected the Lutheran Reformation. However, they were willing to accept the reforms introduced by the counter –Reformation decided at the council of Trent for the entire Catholic world.
The native Irish Catholic people rejected Henry 8th as head of the Church even though he continued to adhere to the Catholic liturgy and doctrine. The Catholic liturgy and Catholic doctrine continued to be the norm – even after King Henry claimed supreme authority. It might be difficult for us today to understand such an ambiguous situation.
It was only after Henry VIII’s son and heir Edward VI (1547-1553) came to the throne in 1547 that many changes came about in the Liturgy and doctrine of the church which meant that there were now two different kinds of Church. This was due to the influence of an influential theologian and anti-Roman -Cranmer.
Edward was succeeded by Mary Ist, a Catholic in 1553. She was the eldest daughter of Henry 8th and Catherine of Aragon whom he divorced. She was responsible for executing almost 300 Protestants -including bishops Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer in Oxford. She was known as ‘Bloody Mary’ and died in 1558.
Mary 1st was succeeded in by her half-sister Elizabeth I the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. She and her administration set out on a serious conversion of the Irish to the Anglican faith in what is known as the Elizabethan Church Settlement (1559). So began the Anglican Church of England and by extension the Anglican Church of Ireland. The settlement included an Act of Uniformity according to which every person was legally bound to join the Anglican Church and attend that church’s services.
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