The Gavazzi riots of 1859

galway | history and heritage | event notice Thursday April 26, 2007 11:07 by PMG - Galway Labour History Group

Gramsci Commemorative lecture

A free public lecture on an aspect of Galway’s social history will take place in the new Galway City Museum at 8 pm on Friday, 27 April. The focus is on the religiously-motivated Gavazzi riots of 1859, and the lecturer, Dr John Cunningham, will use the opportunity to explore what these riots tell us about popular religious attitudes of working people in 19th century Galway

Alessandro Gavazzi in action

The riots were sparked by the arrival in the city of a renowned preacher, Father Alessandro Gavazzi, to deliver a series of lectures on religious themes. The priest’s reputation had arrived before him, and there were those in Galway who were determined to ensure that he would not be heard. For Gavazzi, a supporter of Italian unity, had become estranged from Pope Pius IX and from the Roman Catholic church, and it was as a guest of evangelical Protestants that he arrived in the Mission hall in Merchants’ Road. Arriving at a time when there was a lively interest in Italian affairs in Ireland, when most Galwegians strongly supported the cause of the papal states and opposed the efforts at Italian unity promoted by Mazzini and Garribaldi, the visit was bound to be controversial, but the violence of the response of Galway's working people still caused surprise.

This public lecture at the Museum is held in association with the Department of Sociology and Politics at NUI Galway and the Galway branch of the Irish Labour History Society, and is one of a series of Galway events marking the anniversary of the death of the Marxist philosopher, anti-fascist and political prisoner, Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937).