The Church of Ireland

Origins and History

The Church of Ireland dates from the mission of Saint Patrick. Being an institution with monastically-centered character, and having an unique calendar and usages, the early Celtic Church of Ireland was a part of the Western church.

In 1166 Henry II of England, basing on the Papal Bull Laudabiliter, that claimed him to be given lordship over Ireland, came in the country and became “Overlord” of Ireland.

During the Reformation, which coincided the reign of Henry VIII, the Irish Parliament declared him as a head of the Church of Ireland.

During the reign of Edward VI in England, the Church of England was reformed. This consequently guided to the Reformation in the Church of Ireland too.

The Elizabethan Settlement was accepted by all the Irish bishops, except two of them. Since then, in the Church of Ireland, separate from that in the Church of England and in spite of the doubts raised from the consecration of the Canterbury bishop Matthew Parker, there is sequence in Apostolic succession.

The Calvinist doctrine was much more radical in the Church of Ireland, than in the Church of England.

In 1615, the Irish Articles, written by James Ussher(who later became Armagh’s Archbishop) were adopted. The Irish Convocation in 1634,along with the Irish Articles, adopted the Thirty-Nine Articles(they were English). After 1660, when was the time of the Restoration, the thirty-Nine Articles took priority and even after the disestablishment, still remain in the official Irish Church’s doctrine.

The Church of Ireland Today

In spite of having a number of High Church(Anglo-Catholic), the contemporary Church of Ireland, in the spectrum of the world of Anglicanism, is generally on the Low Church end. A markedly liberal evangelical parishes have been developed during the recent decades.

Today the cathedrals of the Church of Ireland are two. They are in the capital- Dublin. The Christ Church Cathedral is within the walls of the old city. The St.Patrick’s Cathedral, designed by the church in 1870 is just outside the walls and the seat of the Archbishop of Dublin.