The Preacher and the Prelate: The Achill Mission Colony and the Battle for Souls in Famine Ireland, Patricia Byrne
Patricia Byrne's The Preacher and the Prelate delves into the intense spiritual struggle on 19th-century Achill Island, where evangelical clergyman Edward Nangle established the Achill Mission Colony amidst the devastation of the Great Famine. Nangle aimed to uplift the impoverished islanders from what he perceived as ignorance and idolatry, confronting not only the island's harsh conditions but also fierce opposition from Catholic authorities.
It's an ultimate tale of two great male egotists battling it out for their own ideological certainties. It’s as relavent today, as it ever was, and would make a kick-ass movie, I think. The book intertwines themes of faith, resilience, cultural conflict, and social dynamics.
Check out my interview recorded on Achill Island with Patricia Byrne about this whole story on my RTÉ podcast The Almanac of Ireland. https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/series/32164-32164-the-almanac-of-ireland/ ~ Manchán Magan
This is the extraordinary story of an audacious fight for vulnerable souls on famine-ravaged Achill Island. Religious ferment swept across Ireland and Protestant clergyman Edward Nangle's Mission Colony was to lift the destitute people of Achill out of degradation and into salvation. The fury of the island elements, the devastation of famine, Nangle's own temperment and the suffering of his wife Eliza and her children all threatened the projects survival.
In the years of the Great Famine the ugly charge of offering food and material benefits in return for religious conversion tainted the Missions work. John MacHale, powerful Catholic Archbishop of Tuam spearheaded the Catholic Church's fight back against the masses of conversions.
This dramatic tales disputes if Edward Nangle and the Achill Mission Colony saved hundreds from certain death or if they shamefully exploited people to religious conversion and exposes the fault lines of religion and politics down to this day.
Patricia Byrne's The Preacher and the Prelate delves into the intense spiritual struggle on 19th-century Achill Island, where evangelical clergyman Edward Nangle established the Achill Mission Colony amidst the devastation of the Great Famine. Nangle aimed to uplift the impoverished islanders from what he perceived as ignorance and idolatry, confronting not only the island's harsh conditions but also fierce opposition from Catholic authorities.
It's an ultimate tale of two great male egotists battling it out for their own ideological certainties. It’s as relavent today, as it ever was, and would make a kick-ass movie, I think. The book intertwines themes of faith, resilience, cultural conflict, and social dynamics.
Check out my interview recorded on Achill Island with Patricia Byrne about this whole story on my RTÉ podcast The Almanac of Ireland. https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/series/32164-32164-the-almanac-of-ireland/ ~ Manchán Magan
This is the extraordinary story of an audacious fight for vulnerable souls on famine-ravaged Achill Island. Religious ferment swept across Ireland and Protestant clergyman Edward Nangle's Mission Colony was to lift the destitute people of Achill out of degradation and into salvation. The fury of the island elements, the devastation of famine, Nangle's own temperment and the suffering of his wife Eliza and her children all threatened the projects survival.
In the years of the Great Famine the ugly charge of offering food and material benefits in return for religious conversion tainted the Missions work. John MacHale, powerful Catholic Archbishop of Tuam spearheaded the Catholic Church's fight back against the masses of conversions.
This dramatic tales disputes if Edward Nangle and the Achill Mission Colony saved hundreds from certain death or if they shamefully exploited people to religious conversion and exposes the fault lines of religion and politics down to this day.
Patricia Byrne's The Preacher and the Prelate delves into the intense spiritual struggle on 19th-century Achill Island, where evangelical clergyman Edward Nangle established the Achill Mission Colony amidst the devastation of the Great Famine. Nangle aimed to uplift the impoverished islanders from what he perceived as ignorance and idolatry, confronting not only the island's harsh conditions but also fierce opposition from Catholic authorities.
It's an ultimate tale of two great male egotists battling it out for their own ideological certainties. It’s as relavent today, as it ever was, and would make a kick-ass movie, I think. The book intertwines themes of faith, resilience, cultural conflict, and social dynamics.
Check out my interview recorded on Achill Island with Patricia Byrne about this whole story on my RTÉ podcast The Almanac of Ireland. https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/series/32164-32164-the-almanac-of-ireland/ ~ Manchán Magan
This is the extraordinary story of an audacious fight for vulnerable souls on famine-ravaged Achill Island. Religious ferment swept across Ireland and Protestant clergyman Edward Nangle's Mission Colony was to lift the destitute people of Achill out of degradation and into salvation. The fury of the island elements, the devastation of famine, Nangle's own temperment and the suffering of his wife Eliza and her children all threatened the projects survival.
In the years of the Great Famine the ugly charge of offering food and material benefits in return for religious conversion tainted the Missions work. John MacHale, powerful Catholic Archbishop of Tuam spearheaded the Catholic Church's fight back against the masses of conversions.
This dramatic tales disputes if Edward Nangle and the Achill Mission Colony saved hundreds from certain death or if they shamefully exploited people to religious conversion and exposes the fault lines of religion and politics down to this day.