The Irish in Rome Conference

The Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame and St. Isidore's College invite you to ‘The Irish in Rome': a conference commemorating 400 years of an official ‘Irish’ presence in Rome, beginning in 1625 with the establishment of St. Isidore's Irish Franciscan College by Luke Wadding. The conference will be held across the days of Wednesday, May 28 - Friday, May 30, 2025 and will explore the cultural exchanges and historical impacts arising from four centuries of Irish clerical, scholarly, and artistic presence in Rome. 

SCHEDULE:

28 MAY, DAY ONE: St Isidore’s College (Via degli Artisti, 41 00187 Rome)

5:30 – 5:45 WELCOME: Rev. Prof. Mícheál Mac Craith OFM, Guardian of St. Isidore's College & Prof. Colin Barr, University of Notre Dame
5:45 – 6:45 OPENING PLENARY: "The Irish in Rome"
•    Plenary Speaker: Dr. Matteo Binasco, Università per Stranieri di Siena
•    Chair: Patricia O'Brien, Irish Ambassador to the Republic of Italy
7:00 – 8:00 RECEPTION at St. Isidore’s College

29 MAY, DAY TWO: ND Rome Center (Via Ostilia, 15 00184 Rome)

 9:15 – 10:15 PLENARY LECTURE: "St Isidore's College, the evolving Irish Franciscan College network and Luke Wadding's vision for the Irish Mission in the seventeenth century"
•    Plenary Speaker: Prof. Marian Lyons, Maynooth University

 10:45 – 12:00 PANEL ONE: Irish views of early modern Rome
•    "‘Collected in travelling’: early modern travel and travel writing"
o    Prof. Jane Grogan, University College Dublin
•    "Henry Piers in Rome, 1595-1597"
o    Rev. Dr. Brian Mac Cuarta, University of Oxford
•    "The Ulster Chieftains, their followers and Early Modern Rome"
o    Dr. Nollaig Ó Muraíle, University of Galway
•    Chair: Prof. Iolanda Plescia, Sapienza Università di Roma

 1:00 – 2:15 PANEL TWO: The Curran Sisters
•    "Sarah Curran’s Cultural and Creative Life in Italy"
o    Dr. Angela Byrne, Royal Irish Academy
•    "More than an imperfectly trained amateur: Amelia Curran, her art and art networks"
o    Dr. Laura McKenna, University College Cork
•    "Hogan, an eminent Irish sculptor in the Eternal City"
o    Prof. Emeritus Paula Murphy, University College Dublin

 2:15 – 3:30 PANEL THREE: Early modern Irish poetry in Rome
•    "A bhean fuair faill ar an bhfeart"
o    Dr. Deirdre Nic Chárthaigh, Trinity College Dublin
•    "From the hill of Peter to the graves of Glasnevin: performative politics in An Síogaí Rómhánach and the writings of P.H. Pearse"
o    Dr. Róisín Ní Ghairbhí, Mary Immaculate College
•    "The envoi to O’Molloy’s Grammatica Latino Hibernica (1677)"
o    Prof. Fionntán de Brún, Maynooth University

 4:00 – 5:20 Readings by Joseph O’Connor and Liam Mac Cóil
•    Reading from the Rome Escape Line trilogy by Prof. Joseph O’Connor, University of Limerick
o    Q&A moderated by Prof. Barry McCrea, University of Notre Dame
•    Reading from Bealach na Spáinneach (the last book in the Lúcás Ó Briain trilogy) by Liam Mac Cóil
o    Q&A moderated by Prof. Clíona Ní Ríordáin, University of Notre Dame

30 MAY, DAY THREE: ND Rome Center (Via Ostilia, 15 00184 Rome)

 9:30 – 10:45 PANEL FOUR: Irish-Italian Literary Links, Part 1
•    "‘Puzzle me/ the right answer to that one’: translating Heaney’s poetic world into Italian"
o    Dr. Debora Biancheri, Italian Cultural Institute Dublin
•    "90 works of Irish literature in Italian translation: Literature Ireland's support to Italian publishers and translators, 1995-2025"
o    Sinéad Mac Aodha, Executive Director of Literature Ireland
•    "A Bridge between Ireland and Italy: a Tribute to Rosangela Barone"
o    Prof. Irene di Angelis, University of Turin

11:15 – 12:30 PANEL FIVE: Irish-Italian Literary Links, Part 2
•    “The Sicilian Joyce, the Irish Verga”
o    Prof. Barry McCrea, University of Notre Dame
•    "The weight of the past: the ghosts of Rome in 20th century Irish writing"
o    Prof. John McCourt, Università di Macerata
•    "Worlds within Worlds: Merchant Prince by Thomas McCarthy"

o    Prof. Clíona Ní Ríordáin, University of Notre Dame

 1:45 – 3:00 PANEL SIX: The Eighteenth Century
•    "Irish nuns in Rome: Absence of evidence or evidence of absence?"
o    Dr. Bronagh McShane, Trinity College Dublin
•    "The Brullaughan Affair, 1749"
o    Prof. Ian McBride, University of Oxford
•    "Rome as Part of the Irish North Atlantic Experience, 1770-1830"
o    Dr. Luca Codignola FRSC, University of Notre Dame

 3:00 – 4:15 PANEL SEVEN: Nineteenth Century to Today
•    "Fr. Mullooly of San Clemente"
o    Fr. Paul Lawlor OP, Prior of San Clemente Community and Basilica Rector
•    "Learning Italian: Or How to Open Doors in Rome"
o    Prof. Anne O’Connor, University of Galway
•    "La Bella Croce – Denis McDaid's Wartime Rectorship of the Irish College in Rome"
o    Dr. Alexandra MacLennan, University of Caen Normandy
•    Chair: Prof. Kathleen Cummings, University of Notre Dame

 4:45 – 5:45 PLENARY CONVERSATION: "The Legacy of Luke Wadding"
Plenary Speakers: Prof. Clare Carroll, CUNY, and Prof. Thomas O’Connor, Maynooth University

Registration Deadline: 30 April 2025

Plenary sessions and panels are free and open to the public to register for online or in-person attendance. You may register for single or multiple conference dates using the registration forms above. Please note that there are capacity limits at each venue, and the form will no longer accept submissions once capacity is reached.

Questions about the conference can be directed to Ariel Clark-Semyck, Program Administrator, at aclarkse@nd.edu.