‘Pro Fide et Patria’, but for Europe: Iris Hibernia and a Swiss-led vision for European Ireland

Abstract

This article argues that the journal Irisleabhar Hibernia, later renamed as Iris Hibernia, offered a vision of Irish Europeanism that was wholly different from contemporary, EU-led understandings. The journal was published between 1937 and 1965 from the Université de Fribourg in Switzerland, an institution that makes for an enlightening comparison with the Irish post-secondary sector of the same period, especially St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Throughout its existence, the journal was published by the Hibernia society, which was made up of Irish seminary students at Fribourg. But its interests were broadly interdisciplinary, becoming gradually more so from the 1950s into the 1960s. The journal’s perspective could be generally understood as conservative, communitarian and culture-led. This perspective is not necessarily a matter of simple left-right alignment, however, and the article synthesises the journal’s legacy by elucidating the difference between two Francophone Swiss writers who were important to group behind the journal: Denis de Rougemont and Gonzague de Reynold.