Catholicism and the Concept of ‘the State’ in the Irish (1937) Constitution

Abstract

Abstract The concept of the State is expressed more frequently and in more ways in the Irish (1937) constitution than in most European constitutions. The previous 1922 constitution had hardly mentioned the concept at all. Using the tools of conceptual history this article shows how a combination of Catholicism and nationalism led to the inflation of the State in 1937. The article also considers what this inflation of the State tells us about the controversy over the religious origins of the constitution. Rejecting the possibility that it was ‘contaminated’ by the values of the 1930s, the language of statehood is seen rather as an example of how a constitution could harmonize religious with secular values without ‘contaminating’ the secular meaning of the State.