Charting the material culture of the ‘Devotional Revolution’: the Advertising Register of the Irish Catholic Directory, 1837–96

• Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C, Archaeology, Celtic studies, History, Linguistics, Literature Archaeology, Celtic studies, History, Linguistics, Literature, 2016-01, Vol.116C (1), p.265-294
• Main Author: Godson, Lisa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advertising campaigns; Altars; Business; Catholicism; International Statistical Classification of Diseases; Irish culture; Irish literature; Manufacturing industries; Material culture; Religious buildings
• ISSN: 0035-8991; 2009-0048; 2009-0048
• DOI: 10.1353/ria.2016.0006

This article addresses the material culture of Catholicism in Ireland from the late 1830s to the mid-1890s through a close examination of the advertisements carried by the Irish Catholic Directory. It explores the origins, dissemination and types of goods advertised over this time period. This is considered in four distinct phases: up to the late 1840s, liturgical equipment formed the bulk of the advertisements; from the late 1840s to the 1860s there was a new focus on devotional objects for the laity; from the 1860s there was an emphasis on church furnishings; and from the 1880s branded goods made their appearance. It is argued that an analysis of businesses that served a religious market in this period demonstrates the importance of specific forms of material culture in embedding a sacramentalist, devotional Catholicism in Ireland, and suggests that standardised objects may have been a significant factor in regularising religious expression and experience.