For the Pope and Rome: Irish Catholic Soldiers of the Papal Battalion of St. Patrick in Italy in 1860

Abstract

The aim of this essay is to provide an overview of the main Irish contribution to the Italian Risorgimento, the Papal Battalion of St Patrick’s. This Irish unit, which arrived in Italy in the summer of 1860, was part of an international network of Catholic supporters of Pope Pius IX, and highlights the centrality of Rome’s influence on mid-nineteenth century Ireland. The wider campaign in support of the papacy in Italy was an obvious demonstration of both the global nature of Roman Catholicism, and the strength and depth of Irish Catholic nationalism, which made the temporal sovereignty of the pope such an important issue for Irish Catholics.