Sir, - In his Rite and Reason article, "Presence of religion in Irish culture a cause for celebration" (July 23rd), Kevin Williams seems hell bent on perpetuating the myth of a pre Reformation Christian Ireland. He refers to the "vitality of religious practice and the absence of anti clericalism" at that time.
In The Personality of Ireland, E. Estyn Evans informs us that those who are familiar with the historic strength of the Elder Faiths find it difficult to accept the pious assumption that the early missionaries quickly converted the mass of the Irish people to Christianity. Evans quotes Professor R. A. S. Macalister of UCD, a Gaelic enthusiast turned cynic, who used to say in private that, the number of believing Christians in the early centuries of Christianity could probably be reckoned by counting the number of Irish, saints.
According to Evans, "The Elder Faiths are part of the Irish heritage. It was cultural diversity and cross fertilisation between pagan and Christian that brought into being what will always count as Ireland's greatest cultural achievements in the Golden Age of the seventh and eighth centuries: the Book of Durrow and Kells, the Ardagh Chalice, the great Celtic monasteries and countless works of art and literature."
Evans writes that the estimated regular attendance at Mass of little more than 30 per cent of the population rose sharply after 1850 to a figure of over 90 per cent. Before 1850, attendance was very low in Gaelic speaking areas where it frequently fell to 25 per cent: "native Irish culture is not the source and strength of modern Irish piety". Evans, quoting Professor Emmet Larkin, writes that it was only after the Great Famine that "the mass of the Irish people became practising Catholics." Yours, etc.,
Tobernea Terrace,
Seapoint,
Co. Dublin.