Portrait of Ireland’s First Cardinal published by Dublin Priest

A priest of the Dublin Diocese has just published a book on Ireland’s first Cardinal, Paul Cardinal Cullen. This study of one of the country’s most influential church figures draws on primary sources, not researched before.
“Portrait of a Practical Nationalist” is written by Fr. Ciarán O’ Carroll, the Diocesan Episcopal Vicar of Evangelisation and a Doctor of Ecclesiastical History.
Cardinal Cullen returned to Ireland, “the poorest country that one can know, as described by the Vatican at the time”, from Rome in 1850. ‘He would go on to dominate Irish ecclesiastical and religious life. His influence in Church affairs was so great that his achievements have been described as ‘the Cullenisation of Ireland.’
This book looks at two phases of Cullen’s secular activities. It traces his role and influence in two separate movements, one parliamentary the other revolutionary, both organised to improve the circumstances of Irish Catholics who were poor, wretched and dispirited on his arrival. The first of these campaigns was the Independent Irish Parliamentary Movement of the 1850s, the other, the revolutionary Fenian movement, prominent in the 1860s.
The book, published by Vertias will be launched this evening (Thursday) by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Diarmuid Martin. Dr. Martin said the book was an extraordinary well researched work on a person and on events in the nineteenth century, which he said challenged him to look at situations today in a different way.
Archbishop Martin said the challenge which Cardinal Cullen faced is not unlinked to the realities of Irish political culture at various points in history, and in our own times.  He said, “The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice. She has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper”.

About the Author
Fr. Ciarán O’Carroll holds a doctorate in ecclesiastical history from the Gregorian University, Rome.  He has taught ecclesiastical history in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and Holy Cross College, Clonliffe. A priest of the archdiocese of Dublin, Ciarán O’Carroll has contributed to a variety of works on the Catholic Church in Ireland in the nineteenth century. His most recent publication is a two-volume work entitled Theology for Today, Church History, published by The Priory Institute (2007)
This book is published by Veritas and is on sale for €24.95.  ISBN 978-1-84730-131-4