Victoria Pearson, (PhD Researcher)

E: [email protected]

X: @vpearsonduffy

B: @vapearsonduffy.bluesky.social

My thesis focuses on the life and work of Dr. Francis Moylan, Bishop of Kerry and later Cork (1735-1815). A close friend and professional collaborator with Honora ‘Nano’ Nagle, the founder of the Presentation Order, he was best known in his own lifetime for his public opposition to the United Irishmen, his involvement in the establishment of the National Seminary, Maynooth and the negotiations that proceeded the Act of Union.

Moylan’s life traces the evolution of Catholicism as a multifaceted belief system where devotional practice intrinsically coexistent with a complex political conviction; an identity that was diametrically opposed to the ruling monarchy and government. It reveals how Catholics navigated, survived but also crucial resisted discrimination, recrimination and exclusion in eighteenth century Ireland. 

My research explores the history of belief in Ireland particularly the creation and practice of popular devotions and social movements, the evolution of Catholic identity and social thought in the eighteenth century.