HOW THE POPES GAVE IRELAND TO ENGLAND
GENERATIONS of Roman Catholic Irish Republicans have proclaimed loud and long that the source of all of Ireland’s woes has been the presence of the English. The Emerald Isle, once famed as a land of Saints and Scholars, has been drenched in blood down the centuries, as inhuman fiends posing as patriots have murdered, maimed and massacred, rebelled and waged civil war, often with the blessing of the Roman Catholic clergy, in the supposed cause of Irish freedom.
However the suppressed facts of history are that when King Henry II of England landed with an army of 4,000 at Waterford in October 1171, he came at the Pope’s behest and carrying as his authority the Papal Bull Laudabiliter, by which the Roman Pontiff claimed the right to bestow Ireland as a gift to the English King on condition that he suppressed the ancient Celtic or Culdee Church, and brought the island and its people into submission to Rome.
We reproduce herewith the Bull Laudabiliter by which Pope Adrian IV gave Ireland to England:
“Adrian, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our well beloved son in Christ, the illustrious King of the English greeting and Apostolic Benediction. Laudably, and profitably, does your majesty contemplate spreading the glory of your name on earth and laying up for yourself the reward of eternal happiness in heaven, in that as becomes a Catholic Prince, you propose to enlarge the boundaries of the Church, to proclaim the truths of the Christian religion to a rude and ignorant people (the Irish), to root out the growth of vice from the field of the Lord; and the better to accomplish this purpose you seek the counsel and goodwill of the Apostolic See. In pursuing your object the loftier your aim and the greater your discretion, the more prosperous we are assured with God’s assistance will be the progress you will make: for undertakings commenced in the zeal of faith and the love of religion are ever wont to attain to a good end and issue. Verily as your excellency doth acknowledge, there is no doubt that Ireland, and all the islands on which Christ the sun of righteousness has shone, and which have accepted the doctrines of the Christian faith, belong to the blessed Peter and the Holy Roman Church, wherefore the more pleased are we to plant in them the seed of faith acceptable to God, inasmuch as our conscience warns us that in their case a stricter account will hereafter be required of us.
Whereas then well beloved son in Christ you have expressed to us your desire to enter the island of Ireland in order to subject its people to law (Papal Canon Law) and to root out from them the weeds of vice (the ancient Culdee faith) and your willingness to pay an annual tribute to the blessed Peter (the Pope) of one penny from every house, and to maintain the rights of the Churches of that land whole and inviolate. We therefore meeting your pious and laudable desire with due favour, and according a gracious assent to your petition, do hereby declare our will and pleasure, that with a view to enlarging the boundaries of the Church, restraining the downward course of vice, correcting evil customs and planting virtue and for the increase of the Christian religion (Romanism) you shall enter that island and execute whatsoever may tend to the honour of God, and the welfare of the land; and also that the people shall receive you with honour and revere you as their Lord: provided always that the rights of the Churches remain whole and inviolate and saving to the blessed Peter and the Holy Roman Church the annual tribute of one penny for every house. If then you should carry your project into effect, let it be to your care to instruct that people in good ways of life … that the Church there may be adorned, that the Christian religion (Romanism) may take root and grow … that you may deserve at God’s hands the fulness of an everlasting reward and may obtain on earth a name renowned throughout the ages.”
Pope Adrian’s successor Alexander III wrote to the Bishops of Ireland calling on them to submit to King Henry:
“Understanding that our dear son in Christ, Henry, illustrious King of England stirred by divine inspiration and with his united forces has subjected to his dominion, that people a barbarous one, uncivilized and ignorant of the Divine Law – we command and enjoin upon you that you will diligently and manfully assist the above said King to maintain and preserve that land and to extirpate the filthiness of such great abominations. And if any of the Kings, Princes or persons of the land shall rashly attempt to go against his due oath and fealty pledged to the said King you shall lay ecclesiastical censure on such a one.”
In a similar vein Pope Alexander addressed these words to the Princes of Ireland:
“Whereas you have received our dear son in Christ, Henry, illustrious King of England as your king and Lord and have sworn fealty to him … we ward and admonish your noble order to strive to preserve the fealty which by solemn oath you have made.”
The same Roman Pontiff in a letter congratulating Henry on his conquest of Ireland wrote:
“We have been assured how you have wonderfully triumphed over the people of Ireland and over a Kingdom which the Roman Emperors, the conquerors of the world left untouched, and you have extended the power of your majesty over the same people, a race uncivilized and undisciplined. We understand that you, collecting your splendid naval and land forces have set your mind upon subjugating that people … so we exhort and beseech your majesty and enjoin upon you that you will even more intently and strenuously continue … and earnestly enjoin upon your majesty that you will carefully seek to preserve the rights of the See of St. Peter.”
This was indeed what King Henry did and one of his first acts was to call the Council of Cashel in 1172 at which the ancient Celtic Church of Ireland was brought into submission to the yoke of Roman bondage. As for the Papal insults that the Irish were a rude, ignorant, uncivilized people, had not the missionaries of Patrick’s Celtic Church brought the uncorrupted Gospel not only to the rest of the British Isles but to Europe? Was it a savage people who produced such beautifully illuminated Christian manuscripts as the Book of Kells, and who preserved the primitive Christian faith in their communities even under Viking attack, whilst Papal Rome was sunk in, the depths of vice and superstitions?
The Roman Catholic writer O’Driscoll admits:
“The Christian Church of Ireland was founded by St. Patrick, existed for many centuries free and unshackled … and differed on many points from Rome. From the days of Patrick to the Council of Cashel was a bright and glorious career for Ireland. From the sitting of that Council to our own times the lot of Ireland has been unmixed evil and all her history a tale of woe.” Views of Ireland, Vol. 2, Page 84.
It was only when the rest of the British Isles and the British Monarchy embraced Protestantism at the Reformation, that the Papacy changed its policy and began to pose as the champion of Irish freedom. The bloody wars, wholesale massacres, and midnight assassinations incited by the Romish clergy in the name of Irish patriotism were in fact conflicts fought purely and simply to secure the continued domination of this island by Roman Catholicism. Papal policy is best summed up in this letter sent to the Irish rebel leader Shane O’Neill by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Mentz – dated in Rome April 28th, 1528:
“My dear son O’Neill, thou and thy fathers are all along faithful to the Mother Church of Rome. His Holiness Paul III, now Pope, and the Council of the Holy Fathers there, have lately found a prophecy of one Saint Lazerianus Bishop of Cashel, wherein he saith that the Mother Church of Rome falleth, when in Ireland the Catholic Faith is overcome. Therefore for the glory of the Mother Church, the honour of St. Peter, and your own secureness suppress heresy and His Holiness’ enemies, for when the Roman Faith there perisheth (in Ireland) the See of Rome falleth also. Therefore the Council of Cardinals have thought fit to encourage your country of Ireland as a Sacred Island, being certified whilst the Mother Church hath a son of worth as yourself, and those that shall succour you and join therein, that she will never fall but have more or less hold in Britain in spite of fate.” Â Mant’s History of the Irish Church, page 40.
The Irish Republican terrorists currently waging their war of genocide against the Protestant majority in Northern Ireland, loudly demand that we:
“Break the British connection.”
and boldly declare that:
“Ireland unfree will never be at peace.”
Their political philosophy and hence their murder campaign is based on a perversion of Irish history and the deliberate suppression of facts. The real truth is that:
Ireland will only truly enjoy peace and liberty when the chains of Roman Catholicism are broken by the Gospel of Christ, and the blight of priestcraft and Popery are banished from our island home for ever.
