Christian Curses in Medieval Ireland

Medieval Christians believed in the power of God, his saints, and his clergy to bless or curse their endeavours. Many of Ireland's most prominent saints, including St. Patrick, St. Adomnán of Iona, and Dublin's patron St. Lorcán Ó Tuathail, were celebrated or feared as champion cursers. This can sometimes be surprising, given the modern Christian emphasis on the biblical command to "bless them that persecute you: bless, and curse not."

Why did medieval Christians believe in the power of their saints and priests to curse? How did such curses work? And what kinds of miraculous punishment did they believe those curses could bring about? This talk will explore the rich traditions of Christian curses and their associated beliefs in medieval Europe and Ireland.

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This talk is being given by Dr. Jesse Patrick Harrington (below), a research fellow at the School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. He has previously held a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship at University College Cork and has been a visiting researcher at the Norwegian Institute in Rome, the Centre d'études supérieures de civilisation médiévale in Poitiers, and the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris on a fellowship awarded by the French Embassy in Dublin.

His PhD at the University of Cambridge explored depictions of divine vengeance and saintly cursing in medieval England and Ireland, a theme on which he has widely published. His principal research project currently concerns St. Lorcán Ó Tuathail, twelfth-century archbishop and patron saint of Dublin, for which he is additionally advising the international octocentenary and nonocentenary commemorations planned in France and Ireland for 2025 and 2028.

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Now in its seventh year, Samhain agus Science brings together researchers from DIAS and around the world for a series of free events that take inspiration from the Celtic festival of Samhain and look at the dark side of science.

The festival aims to make the big scientific questions of our time and Celtic history relevant, accessible, and fun to a general audience who might not normally be familiar with these topics.

We hope you can join us for this in person event on 05 November.