Mobilisation nationale, souveraineté populaire et normalisations en Irlande (années 1820-1840)

“The priests do their best to inflame the people.” Religious actors in Ireland, 1800–1845: Instigators of violence or peacemakers?

“…The Catholic Association founded by O’Connell and Richard Lalor Sheil sought to channel violence into a campaign of peaceful mass protests 10 (Colantonio, 2011: 65), shifting class conflicts to demands that could be shared by all Catholics, and therefore sought the clergy’s support. Reluctant at first, a shift occurred when it was revealed in 1808 that the British government and the Irish bishops had agreed upon a government veto for the appointment of Catholic bishops.…”

“…The scale of the national mobilization, however, cannot be explained solely by the role of the priests, because, as Laurent Colantonio (2011) argues, the movement also involved “demonstrations of the appropriation of the public space during which spectators expressed the desire to become actors , to determine their destiny freely and independently” (p. 54). For example, mass meetings brought together a total of 250,000 people in 1828—a real intrusion into the political debate of the non-voting majority.…”