Toward a 21st Century Irish Spiritual Empire

Reviving an ancient idea.

An ancient concept

Despite our pre-dominant political and economic globalisation, Irish people are still one of the most ethno-centric nations in Europe. By that, I mean to say most Irish people are overwhelmingly conscious, and proud, of their ethnic identity—particularly when its represented on the world stage. A large aspect to this owes to our longstanding historic tradition as the moral conscience of Europe. This national purpose was most developed by the notion of the ‘Irish spiritual empire’.

The concept held the position that mass emigration from Ireland in the nineteenth century fulfilled a special, God-given mission for Irish emigrants to spread the Catholic religion throughout the world. This idea gained significant traction among Catholic clergy and commentators and served as a source of pride during challenging periods in Ireland.

The notion of a ‘spiritual empire’ emerged from the mid-nineteenth century, though some form of it existed as early as the 1830s. It drew parallels with Ireland's earlier medieval ‘golden age’ of missionary activity, when prominent Irish monks like Columbanus, Colm Cille, and Aidan established significant early Christian settlements across Europe.

Early medieval Irish monastic communities flourished after the arrival of Christianity in the early 5th century, becoming centres of scholarship and spiritual resilience. Irish monks meticulously copied and illuminated texts, preserving classical and Christian intellectual heritage.

These monks established a ‘transcontinental network of religious and educational centres’ across Europe, profoundly influencing its intellect and culture. St. Columba, for instance, founded the monastery of Iona in 563, which was pivotal in spreading Christianity in Scotland. Irish teachers and evangelists were said to have carried ‘the lamp of learning into the dark places’ of Europe, including Cornwall, Wales, and Scotland (Sceilig, p. 184). Marianus Scotus's chronicle described:

Ireland, the island of saints, is, to a sublime degree, full of holy men and of innumerable wonders. (F. Moran, Patrick. 1887. Missionary labours of St Columba, p. 4.)

Irish monks also brought practical benefits to the Continent, such as ‘hospitals, asylums, shelters for the poor’. Notably, Irish missionaries generally ‘never sought to perpetuate their jurisdiction over the peoples they evangelised’ (Sceilig, p. 284).

There denotes the ‘spiritual’ aspect to the Irish empire. They were not building an empire like that of the British or the Americans today—one which was purely based on mammon, power and control over ‘the nations’. Instead, the Irish empire was not of this world. Unlike the spiteful, resentful and paranoid elites who ran the British empire, the Gael transcended historical injustice and debasement, in a love for justice and enlightenment.

As a people, in a way we are the holy mirror image of the Pharisees. Where their nation responded to their displacement by way of an internalised victimhood—and aspired to dominate the world—the Gaels resurrected themselves through their oppression.

The martyr nation and the revival of an idea

As mentioned, our historical displacement and oppression inadvertently led to a revival of our unique imperial identity. Even before its consolidation as a historiography, there was always an overlap between Christendom and Irish identity over the centuries, from the Laudabiliter (often misunderstood) to the wars of religion. The Irish colleges abroad certainly added to this in France as well as in Spain (particularly Salamnca).

Despite this, the fall of Gaeldom is what necessitated the self-conscious development of our identity. Particularly in the case of the British Empire, the opportunity arose for Irish missionaries and others to invert the mechanical materialism upon which it was built.

The unprecedented exodus from Ireland, beginning in 1846, magnified this idea, leading many to believe in an ‘unprecedentedly extensive – and exclusive – Irish mission’ (Roddy, p. 610).

Several converging factors lent plausibility to the ‘spiritual empire’ thesis from the mid-century onwards. Mass emigration was interpreted as the fulfilment of a ‘specific, divine “destiny”’ accorded to the ‘Irish race’. Ireland was often called a ‘martyr nation’ chosen by God to have its exiled children form the core of new Catholic congregations globally (Roddy, p. 183).

Irish Catholics were seen as ‘inviolably attached’ to their religion, capable of retaining their faith despite centuries of challenges, including penal laws and Protestant proselytism. Cardinal Gibbons observed, ‘no other people ever suffered for their Catholic faith as they’. Irish Catholicism was also considered to possess an ancient ‘purity’ because ‘Ireland had never belonged to the Empire of the Caesars’ and was thus ‘saved from its corruption and final ruin’. This tested faith made them ‘of all the peoples of Europe…the best fitted to open the way for religion in a new country’ (Ibid, p. 184).

This dedication and loyalty to the faith could be easily appreciated by those who were not of it, as well as those who were not Irish. On a global scale, this contributed to a wider image of the Irish as a resilient nation of believers, willing to uphold their truth and destiny against all odds and invasions. There are many international analogues to this over the years, but one can argue the most pertinent for today is that of the Iranian martyr tradition. Faced with overwhelming odds and pressure, Shia mystics have held to the belief that their resistance is required by divine providence. No matter one’s background, those who are grounded in tradition can recognise this heroism as the essence of civilisation.

To be willing to die for something greater than oneself, to situate one’s people within a wider historical cosmos, is what distinguishes a free people from slaves. No matter how severe our state of servitude was, our role as spiritual and moral leaders gave us pride in our nation once again. This is what imperial interests and our British colonial masters feared: a self-confident, morally righteous and globally conscious Ireland.

De-Anglicising our soul as well as our mind

The ideological essence of the Irish spiritual empire bled into the broader Sinn Féin philosophy in a very natural way. It marked an undeniable contrast between Anglo secularism, and demonstrated the necessity of having an Irish mind and character. It also situated our suffering within a broader historical matrix of destiny and providence.

Some commentators, particularly those with nationalist leanings, saw the spread of Irish Catholicism through emigration as a form of ‘revenge for Skibbereen’ against English misdeeds. Paul Cullen described it as God ‘confound[ing] the counsels of the wicked, and turn[ing] the arts of the children of darkness against themselves’ (Ibid, p. 184).

Many influential figures articulated and promoted the idea of an Irish spiritual empire. One example is that of Paul Cullen. As Irish primate, Cullen was ‘acutely conscious of the advantages to the worldwide church of the Irish outflow’. He believed that Ireland's suffering from its connection with England had allowed them ‘to confer the benefits of our holy religion on other countries’ (Ibid).

John MacHale expressed similar views to Cullen. The Archbishop of Tuam claimed that:

England is suffering from Ireland the generous retaliation of the Gospel; for, by filling England with its industrious Catholic emigrants, our country is silently bringing that fine nation back to the yoke of the Gospel (Ibid, p. 193).

And finally then there is the controversial, in my eyes at least, Daniel O'Connell. He reportedly believed that through emigration, ‘Ireland is fulfilling her destiny – that of Catholicising other nations’ (Ibid)

Sentiments such as these certainly added to the quiet feeling that the culture and Faith of the Irish nation was spiritually superior to perhaps all others (bar Rome herself). In his tribute to the ‘Irish race,’ Auguste Thébaud stated that ‘persecution had admirably fitted them for the mighty work that lay before them’ of spreading the Gospel (Ibid, p. 202).

This tested faith made them ‘of all the peoples of Europe’, ‘the best fitted to open the way for religion in a new country.’ For Canon Patrick Sheehan, he contrasted Ireland's ‘noble empire of the spirit’ with Britain's ‘venal materialism and unchecked cruelty’. Preferring to see Irish harbours filled with ‘emigrant ship[s], carrying your evangelists over the world’ than warships (Ibid, p. 187).

It was generally a lay-led mission which defined the Irish spiritual praactice. It was primarily seen as a mission of the laity, where the people ‘precede the pastor’ carrying their faith and devotion wherever they settled, forming the ‘nucleus of a Christendom’ (Brownston, Orestes A., p. 560).

Forging the path for a 21st Century Irish Catholic millennium

Looking at the world today it is clear that humanity, and Europe in particular, is in dire need of moral guidance. What nation but the Irish have the influence, respect and historical wisdom to provide this? While our cultural power is at its height, and with our humanitarian conscience for Gaza on display, there is no better time. Irish populists, Irish-Irelanders and Catholics have the opportunity to set the seeds for a new Irish spiritual empire for the next a thousand years.

With the rise of generative AI, mass-surveillance and the possibility of a new Zio-American world hegemon reshaping the middle east, it is vital that Gaels speak up yet again. In the name of rootedness, self-determination and of course, the Christ, Ireland could forge an alternative future for Europe and civilisation writ-large.

Unlike the cash nexus, mammon and colonialism of the British Empire and today’s technocratic oligarchy, ours would be a fortress humanism and the Sacred Heart. With this, we can set the stage for a Europe of 100 Flags, a world of liberated nations and communities of communities. It would mean the salvation of Europe, Christendom and the the vestiges of Antiquity: simply put, a the rescue of spiritual civilisation itself.

Bibliography

Cahill, Thomas. 1997. How the Irish saved civilization.

Fennell, Desmond. 1968. The changing face of Catholic Ireland.

Roddy, Sarah. 2019. The spiritual empire at home.

Sceilig. 1923. Ireland elements of her early story.