The Irish College of Alcalá de Henares (1630-1785) from an European perspectivea guideline to the Irish colleges on the Continent: a Counter-Reformation cultural consequence

Resumo

The main object of the present study is to establish the different relationships between Ireland, the Continent -and particularly Spain- in a common and decisive background: the European Counter-Reformation. In this way, the work contains four different parts: Firstly, a reference to the growing in Ireland and among the Irish community in the exile of a "nationalist" ideology based on a common Catholic religion and fatherland; the second part is an attempt to determine the decisive factors and stages towards the foundation of the Irish Colleges abroad and a reference to the main Seminaries on the Continent; thirdly, we will attend to the Spanish-Irish connection and its importance to the establishment of Irish Colleges at Salamanca, Lisbon, Santiago, Seville and Madrid; the final part, on the Irish Colleges of Alcalá de Henares itself, tries to clarify its foundation, consolidation, administration and future of this institution until its union to Salamanca (1785)