Towards a religious understanding of the Orange Order: Belfast 1910 to 1914

Abstract

ABSTRACT For over two centuries the Loyal Orange Institution, or Orange Order, has been a self-avowedly religious body. Devoted to preserving Protestantism across the globe, it is striking that few historians have sought to examine the religious history of the Order. Using a range of Orange documents, it is considered here in Belfast during the third Home Rule crisis for the first time. Through a religious understanding of the Orange Order, new ground is broken, as Orange rites and rituals are revealed detailing a vital religious life. In the process, important aspects of the historic sectarianism of the Order are unearthed, altering contemporary perception of the Loyal Orange Institution.