The Eucharistic Congress of 1932 was an international Catholic festival held in Dublin to celebrate the 1,500 year anniversary of St. Patrick's arrival in Ireland. Over 1 million people attended massive religious events, including mass led by the Papal Nuncio in Phoenix Park. The Congress demonstrated the dominant role of Catholicism in Irish society and the close relationship between the Irish government and Catholic Church, with laws passed restricting divorce, contraception, and censorship in line with Church teachings. It further solidified the religious and political divisions between predominantly Catholic Ireland and Protestant Northern Ireland in the wake of their partition.

1. Title: Eucharistic Congress 1932

2. What was it?
• An international Catholic religious festival
bringing in people from all over the world.
• It was held in Dublin in 1932 to celebrate the
1,500 year anniversary of St. Patrick’s arrival in
Ireland.
• The Congress was the idea of the Cumann na
nGaedheal government but Fianna Fail were in
power when it took place.

3. What happened?
• Dublin was decorated with flowers, banners and
religious pictures
• There was a massive mass in the phoenix park (lead by
the Papal nuncio)
• Religious people came from all over the world (mainly
priests and nuns )
• A live papal broadcast (Pope speaks to crowd via radio)
from Rome.
• Worlds largest PA system (at the time) was used to
broadcast message from the pope
• Performances from John McCormack the famous Irish
Tenor singing religious songs

4. What did it show?
• How Catholicism was the most important religion in
the new state (93% of people considered Catholic)
• There was a close relationship between the
government and the Catholic Church.
• That Independent Ireland could organise a large
international event
• Religions other than Catholicism were marginalised
despite the 1922 constitution saying all religions
would be treated equally
• Solidified partition between the North (protestant)
and South (Catholic) of Ireland

5. Moral Panic
• The 1920s and 30s saw new forms of music (jazz),
cheap magazines, films, radio, make-up and
colourful and fashionable clothes become more
available in Ireland (and all around the world)
• Young people now had more freedoms than in the
past
• This concerned the church who saw it as the
declining moral standards of young people
• Bishops and priests condemned these moral evils
• The governments of the time listened to the
Catholic church on these issues

6. Power of the Church
• 90% of population was Catholic as were leaders
such as Cosgrave and De Valera
• Leaders ignored the church on political issues (such
as during the civil war)
• On moral issues such as divorce, contraception and
censorship, they listened to the church
• People such as Bishop John Charles McQuaid were
powerful and could influence government
decisions

7. • The Intoxicating Liquor Act 1924 (shortened pub
opening hours and number of pubs)
• Censorship of Films Act 1923
• Censorship of Publications Act 1929 (banned
indecent or obscene books, magazines, films)
• The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1935(banning
contraceptives)
• Divorce outlawed under Bunreacht na hEireann
• Many politicians and church leaders sought to have
a ‘catholic country for a catholic people’
• For the next 50 years the church was to have a
significant say in how Ireland was governed

8. Essay
and
Essay Plan

9. Introduction
Cumann na Gaedheal:
Conservatism of
government,
censorship, planning
of congress, 1500
years since St. Patrick,
work of O’Duffy in
planning event, fall
from power
Fianna Fail comes into
power: Strained relations
from civil war, had to
prove their loyalty, fear of
declining moral standards
during the 1930s,
influence of religion on De
Valera
Events of the Eucharistic
congress, large mass in
phoenix park, decoration
of Dublin, church events,
John McCormack singing,
emigrants coming home,
air crops doing a fly-over,
papal legate, largest PA
system in world, Papal
radio broadcast from
Rome, 1 million people
arrive in Dublin
Results of congress: What
laws were introduced,
what did Bunreacht na
hEireann say? What does
this show about church
influence?
Impact of the Congress:
What does it show? Why was
it important for Ireland?
What did it show about
church-state relations? What
impact did it have on
partition? Now two very
different states (Protestant
North and Catholic South)
Concluding paragraph
What was the significance
of the Eucharistic
Congress, 1932, for the
Irish Free State?