Half-Truths: The Irish College, Rome, and a Select History of the Catholic Church, 1771-1826 [Paperback]

The history of the Irish College in Rome between 1771 and 1826 offers aninsiders view of more than just the College itself; it sheds importantlight on the effects of the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773 and thesuppression of the Church more generally during the French period(1796-1814). Using the Irish College as a prism, this work reveals howtroubling, how long, and how deep-rooted the effects of these fatefulevents were on the Church. For a half-century, the College felt thetheological, financial, and administrative anomalies which followed<i>Dominus ac Redemptor</i>, the papal bull of suppression. The men atthe centre of the Jesuit plot were also those who took up roles atinstitutions like the Irish College, following the orders demise. Whatis less understood is that the efforts to topple these men and theiragendas produced another wave of deleterious effects during thepontificates of Pius VI (r. 1775-1799) and Pius VII (r. 1800-1821).Thus, the lies, or half-truths, which were necessary to effect theJesuit suppression, were adopted by subsequent administrations,initially to further this agenda under Clement XIV (r. 1769-1774) andlater to overturn it, producing a weak Church and ineffective memberinstitutions, such as the Irish College.