"Whatever her Faith may be": Some Notes on Catholicism in Maria Edgeworth's Oeuvre

The relationship between the Anglo-Irish writer Maria Edgeworth (1768- 1849) and Catholicism has always been close and conditioned by the authoress’s inscription in the Protestant Ascendancy ancatholod by her father’s enlightened ideas. The intention of the present study is to reevaluate the role...

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Main Author: Carmen María Fernández Rodríguez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad de Zaragoza 2014-01-01
Series:Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/8829
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author Carmen María Fernández Rodríguez
author_facet Carmen María Fernández Rodríguez
author_sort Carmen María Fernández Rodríguez
collection DOAJ
description The relationship between the Anglo-Irish writer Maria Edgeworth (1768- 1849) and Catholicism has always been close and conditioned by the authoress’s inscription in the Protestant Ascendancy ancatholod by her father’s enlightened ideas. The intention of the present study is to reevaluate the role of Roman Catholics in the fictional and non-fictional texts some of which Edgeworth wrote alone and others in collaboration with her father. The Edgeworths were more interested in individual worth than in sectarianism and promoted the economic and intellectual advancement of Ireland, a process in which Catholics not only played an important part but also appeared in a quite favourable light. The defence and acceptance of Catholics is articulated in Edgeworth’s works around the insistence on the education of the Irish Catholics and the depiction of the legitimisation of the Anglo-Irish landlord and his marriage to a woman of Catholic ancestry. It will be shown that, rather than embrace the position of a colonist, Edgeworth bravely attacked prejudice and abuses of power on the part of the English against the Irish and at the same time she foresaw a society where Roman Catholics would retain their identity and would also occupy the same social level as the rest of the British.  
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spelling doaj.art-7ff30ff0b00f4d868ae73f910fbce3b62023-07-05T16:57:06ZengUniversidad de ZaragozaMiscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies1137-63682386-48342014-01-014810.26754/ojs_misc/mj.20138829"Whatever her Faith may be": Some Notes on Catholicism in Maria Edgeworth's OeuvreCarmen María Fernández Rodríguez0Universidad de A Coruña The relationship between the Anglo-Irish writer Maria Edgeworth (1768- 1849) and Catholicism has always been close and conditioned by the authoress’s inscription in the Protestant Ascendancy ancatholod by her father’s enlightened ideas. The intention of the present study is to reevaluate the role of Roman Catholics in the fictional and non-fictional texts some of which Edgeworth wrote alone and others in collaboration with her father. The Edgeworths were more interested in individual worth than in sectarianism and promoted the economic and intellectual advancement of Ireland, a process in which Catholics not only played an important part but also appeared in a quite favourable light. The defence and acceptance of Catholics is articulated in Edgeworth’s works around the insistence on the education of the Irish Catholics and the depiction of the legitimisation of the Anglo-Irish landlord and his marriage to a woman of Catholic ancestry. It will be shown that, rather than embrace the position of a colonist, Edgeworth bravely attacked prejudice and abuses of power on the part of the English against the Irish and at the same time she foresaw a society where Roman Catholics would retain their identity and would also occupy the same social level as the rest of the British.   https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/8829Maria EdgeworthCatholicismIrelandColonialismWomen-authored literature
spellingShingle Carmen María Fernández Rodríguez
"Whatever her Faith may be": Some Notes on Catholicism in Maria Edgeworth's Oeuvre
Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies
Maria Edgeworth
Catholicism
Ireland
Colonialism
Women-authored literature
title "Whatever her Faith may be": Some Notes on Catholicism in Maria Edgeworth's Oeuvre
title_full "Whatever her Faith may be": Some Notes on Catholicism in Maria Edgeworth's Oeuvre
title_fullStr "Whatever her Faith may be": Some Notes on Catholicism in Maria Edgeworth's Oeuvre
title_full_unstemmed "Whatever her Faith may be": Some Notes on Catholicism in Maria Edgeworth's Oeuvre
title_short "Whatever her Faith may be": Some Notes on Catholicism in Maria Edgeworth's Oeuvre
title_sort whatever her faith may be some notes on catholicism in maria edgeworth s oeuvre
topic Maria Edgeworth
Catholicism
Ireland
Colonialism
Women-authored literature
url https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/8829
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