Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter: The Clergy and 1798

This study focuses on the role played by clergymen of different denominations in the 1798 Rebellion. Raymond Murray describes the tragic career of the Armagh priest, James Coigly, who was executed at Tyburn, while Nicholas Furlong gives a biographical account of the celebrated Fr Murphy of Boolavogue. W.D. Baile chooses William Steel Dickson, a Presbyterian minister who was a leader of the United Irishmen in Belfast, and who ended his life in exclusion and poverty for his commitment to the cause. His fellow Presbyterian ministers, involved in what has been described as a Presbyterian Rebellion , are sketched by William McMillan, as the Catholic priests in the Wexford Rebellion are detailed by Kevin Whelan. The involvement of the Protestant (Anglican) clergy in Wexford is discussed by Patrick Comerford, while Sheila Molloy deals with priests in the Connacht Rebellion. Liam Swords concentrates on Irish priests and students in Revolutionary Paris, while Louis Cullen and Daire Keogh set the overall context, historical and ecclesiastical.