Editing Trinity College Dublin (section)

====Access and religion====
Trinity was originally the university of the [[Protestant Ascendancy]] ruling elite for much of its history, given the conditions for its establishment.<ref name="Leuven University Press"/> While Catholics were admitted from the college's foundation, for a period, graduation required the taking of an oath that was objectionable to them.<ref name=maxwellhistory>{{cite book |last1=Maxwell |first1=Constantia |date=1946 |title=A History of Trinity College Dublin 1591–1892 |url=https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/history-trinity-college-dublin-1591-1892/author/maxwell-constantia |publisher=Dublin: The University Press}}</ref> This requirement was removed under the [[Roman Catholic Relief Act 1793]], before the equivalent change at the [[University of Cambridge]] and the [[University of Oxford]], but certain restrictions on membership of the college remained; professorships, fellowships and scholarships remained reserved only for Protestants.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcd.ie/about/history|title=History of Trinity College Dublin|location=Dublin}}</ref><ref name=maxwellhistory/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://members.pcug.org.au/~ppmay/acts/relief_act_1793.htm|title=Catholic Relief Act, 1793, section 13|website=members.pcug.org.au|access-date=27 September 2020|archive-date=6 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406190505/http://members.pcug.org.au/%7Eppmay/acts/relief_act_1793.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In December 1845, [[Denis Caulfield Heron]] was the subject of a hearing at Trinity College. He had previously been examined and, on merit, been declared a Scholar of the college, but had not been allowed to take up his place due to his [[Catholic]] religion.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irish-diary/2024/02/11/legal-eagle-brian-maye-on-lawyer-and-parliamentarian-denis-caulfield-heron|title=Legal eagle — Brian Maye on lawyer and parliamentarian Denis Caulfield Heron|publisher=The Irish Times |first1=Brian|last1=Maye|date=February 2024|location=Ireland}}</ref> Heron appealed to the Irish courts, which issued a writ of {{lang|la|[[mandamus]]}} requiring the case to be adjudicated by the [[Archbishop of Dublin (Church of Ireland)|Archbishop of Dublin]] and the [[Archbishop of Armagh (Church of Ireland)|Primate of Ireland]].<ref>[[The Times]], ''Important Collegiate Question., Denis C. Heron'' 13 December 1845; pg3 col E</ref> The decision of [[Richard Whately]] and [[John George de la Poer Beresford]] was that Heron would remain excluded from Scholarship.<ref>The Times; ''Ireland. Protestant Alliance''; 9 January 1846; pg5 col D</ref> This decision confirmed that students who were not [[Anglicans]] ([[Presbyterians]] were also affected) could not be elected as Scholars, Fellows, or be made a professor. Within three decades of this, however, all disabilities and restrictions imposed on Catholics were repealed.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://issuu.com/miscellany/docs/misc_hilary_term_2023/s/22727220|title=Slow Surrender: Trinity and the Inclusion of Catholics|publisher=MISC Magazine, Trinity College Dublin|year=2023|location=Ireland}}</ref> In 1873, all religious tests, except for those relating to entry to the [[Divinity school]], were abolished by an [[Act of Parliament]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1834/may/08/catholics-and-trinity-college-dublin|title=CATHOLICS AND TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. |website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|access-date=6 April 2011|archive-date=19 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119014731/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1834/may/08/catholics-and-trinity-college-dublin|date=8 May 1834|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1871, just prior to the full repeal of all limitations on Catholic students, Irish Catholic bishops, responding to the increased ease with which Catholics could attend an institution which the bishops saw as thoroughly Protestant in ethos, and in light of the establishment of the [[Catholic University of Ireland]], implemented a general ban on Catholics entering Trinity College, with few exceptions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pašeta |first1=Senia |year=1998 |title=Trinity College, Dublin, and the Education of Irish Catholics, 1873–1908 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20495087 |journal=Studia Hibernica |number=30 |pages=7–20 |jstor=20495087 |access-date=13 September 2020 |archive-date=23 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123145946/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20495087 |url-status=live }}</ref> "The ban", despite its longevity, is associated in the popular mind with the [[Archbishop of Dublin (Roman Catholic)|Archbishop of Dublin]] [[John Charles McQuaid]], as he was made responsible for enforcing it from 1956 until the Catholic Bishops of Ireland rescinded it in 1970, shortly before McQuaid's retirement. Until 1956, it was the responsibility of each local bishop.<ref name=":2" />