This book examines Spanish interest in the training of Irish Catholic clergy on the continent over the course of a century, providing a detailed analysis, in particular, of the provision of pensions and travel support for Irish clerics after they had completed their education in Habsburg territory. This is an important phenomenon because such clergy acted as the backbone of the movement of Catholic renewal in Ireland and one of the strengths of the book is its close mining of Spanish archival deposits. The study could, however, demonstrate a greater awareness of the overall context of the development of Irish Catholicism in the seventeenth century.

After a brief introductory sketch which examines Irish–Spanish relationships and the mythological background which contributed to an assumption of kinship, Chapter 2 has as its principal focusing agency the Cadiz pension, originally allocated to David Kearney, archbishop of Cashel, and thereafter chased and coveted by a variety of actors, including Richard Bermingham, Michael Cantwell, and Kearney’s eventual successor as metropolitan of Cashel, Thomas Walsh. The chapter provides an intriguing glimpse into the politics and mechanics of payment related to this not inconsiderable sum, which was originally intended to amount 2000 ducats, and which at all times was susceptible to the financial exigencies faced by the Spanish Crown, the exercise of papal prerogatives, the variability of exchange rates, and the difficulty of supervision of nominated agents in a transnational context. The complexity and difficulties of payment of the pension, its vulnerability to claims and counter-claims, and the difficulties of communication are analysed in great detail. It can be surmised that a pension of this size probably exceeded the annual revenues which any ten Irish bishops were able to extract from their sees through the imposition of levies on their diocesan priests during the early Stuart period. Nevertheless, whether the pension actually deserves such exhaustive treatment is open to question. There is no real evidence, for instance, no matter how assiduously he sought its efficient payment, that the claimant of this pension, Thomas Walsh, was enabled to function more successfully in a pastoral context than his contemporaries who lacked access to such a resource.

The timeframe of this chapter includes the foundation of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide which is somewhat disappointingly dealt with, putting far too much emphasis on the Capuchin order as a counterweight to the Jesuits, whose lack of engagement with the Congregation’s activities stemmed from a very complex set of circumstances. The analysis of Philip IV’s recommendations to Irish bishoprics in 1626 is also somewhat unconvincing. More evidence needs to be presented to support the assertion that the king of Spain considered himself to be presenting a candidate rather than merely indicating support and approval. Royal nomination to episcopal sees was one of the most fraught and scrutinised issues in early modern ecclesiastical politics, with both kings and the curia intensely aware of precedent and the nature and limits of royal prerogatives. Rather than a royal presentation, what is outlined with regard to the elevation of Thomas Walsh to the metropolitan see of Cashel appears to represent the exertion of Spanish influence on his behalf, communicated through the cardinal protector of the Irish nation.

The much shorter third chapter focuses to a greater extent on the more significant topic of the continental colleges which were the most important institutions of the mission. Chapter 4 examines the Restoration. At times it drifts too much into a concentration of the minutiae of Spanish reactions to the vagaries of English politics although the details relating to the spike in applications for a viaticum to return to Ireland in 1673 provide an interesting reflection both of the concrete effects of the 1672 Declaration of Indulgence as well as the reorganization of Spanish structures to supply such demands. Similarly, the bulk of Chapter 5 represents an evaluation of the political considerations of James II’s accession and the reaction of the Spanish monarchy towards the events culminating in his deposition. The final three short chapters then trace various aspects of the mission and the political context in which it operated down to 1707. Regrettably there is no conclusion to the book although there is a notable collection of appendices which offer detailed information and statistical analysis of the 1044 applications by Irishmen who applied for a financial viaticum to return to work in Ireland. Very interestingly, the number of Dominican applications greatly exceeded those of the Franciscans—indeed down to 1700, 293 Dominican requests were traced as opposed to 185 by Franciscans. Remarkably, the figures for the combined orders of St Dominic and St Augustine were more than double those of the Franciscans. While to some extent, these interesting disparities may reflect a Dominican tendency to make group applications, the relative dearth of Franciscan requests is certainly noteworthy since they represented by far the most popular order in early modern Ireland. The total absence of Jesuit applications for this financial assistance from the latter part of the 1640s is also striking.

The book’s concentration on financial payments to Irish clergy, in particular the Cadiz pension and the viatica, offers some interesting insights into the mechanisms of oversight and incentive used by the Spanish monarchy to encourage the clerics educated in Iberia to return to Ireland. At all times, it is clear that many Irishmen preferred not to return and this required a process of trial and error in order to reduce the possibility that the money committed by the Crown would not be used for its intended purposes. The risk of too much emphasis on the viatica, however, is that it can distort the importance of what was a relatively small amount of money and consequently the sheer abundance of the documentation generated by Spanish bureaucracy around this topic can result in a magnification of the importance of this resource.

The book is in the main well written, despite a few errors in syntax. At times, the manner in which Spanish sources shape its understanding becomes evident. The references to Presbyterians in the latter chapters are probably not always to Presbyterians in the modern understanding of the term but arguably reflect contemporary Spanish assumptions concerning certain Protestant attitudes. Nevertheless, it is certainly a strength of the book that it offers a clear insight into the influences which helped to shape Spanish attitudes and policies towards the Irish clergy educated in Iberia.