ABSTRACT
Daniel O'Connell has long had the reputation of being the best known leader in Irish history, and in some ways he was, but there is a great deal about him which has only recently come to light or which has only recently been seen in a new light. His struggle for Catholic Emancipation has been much studied and written about by historians and most aspects of that struggle are now fully known. In order to understand the radical nature of O'Connell's views on Liberal Catholicism it is necessary to consider what the orthodox view was in his time. Liberal Catholicism rested on the belief that the belief in and the practice of any religion should be completely free, that belief in any religion should be freely preached, and that there should be separation of church and state.
