Ian - O'Sullivan devotes a chapter (2 pages) to Carolan And The Catholic Church. It opens: "When we consider the circumstances of Carolan's life, the social success that he enjoyed among the Protestant gentry, and the material profit that would doubtless have accrued to him from a change of religion, it says much for his strength of character that he lived and died a fervent Catholic". It then goes on to tell of some his religious practices, music he wrote for church (The Elevation the only survivor), and church friends and patrons. It finishes: "Carolan's religious convictions did not betray him into bigotry...". It goes on to refer to Carolan praising a Protestant patron (Toby Peyton), who was disparaged by a priest, with an extempories verse, translated as:

The kind good man must all our praise command,
Even the sage priest will bless the bounteous hand;
And, by the blessed light that shines above,
To this one rule I'll hold thro' good and ill-
True to my host and to his cheer I'll prove,
And as I find them I must praise them still.



The chapter on The Historical And Social Background says: "Some of the Big Houses were owned by Protestants, others were still in the hands of the old Catholic families, though a number of f these had become Protestant for the purposes of retaining their estates...The duties of a good neighbour often overshadowed religious differences..."


So he seems to have been a devout Catholic, but took people as he found them and was a pragmatist when it came to making a living.

Mick