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Beggary was seen as a threat to society on a number of fronts, yet, the practices of mendicancy and alms-giving were also framed by a universal sense of Christian obligation amongst all classes of society to assist those poorer than themselves. The example and teaching of Christ, as expounded in the New Testament, was intrinsic to the language of private and public charity in this period and deeply influenced how individuals and corporate bodies perceived and responded to begging. The long-held distinction between the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor coloured approaches to beggary. Begging and alms-giving were central features of the public discourse on the question of the poor of Ireland and their relief. This discourse was shaped by wider social and economic factors, and in line with these fluctuating forces societal perceptions and responses varied.

Attempts to measure the extent of beggary and the amount doled out in alms to mendicants was part of a desire among the ‘respectable’ middling classes to understand the ‘problem’ of mendicancy. Merchants and social commentators sought to reduce the financial burden of beggary, and the Poor Law debates of the 1830s devoted much energy to the impact of indiscriminate alms-giving. The casual giving of alms far outweighed the amount subscribed to anti-begging charitable societies, yet the significance placed on the monetary impact of beggary was not shared by all social classes.

Perceptions of begging and beggars were not universally shared in pre-Famine Ireland. Fears of the spread of disease and frustration at the inconvenience caused by beggars coloured many hostile reactions to the soliciting beggar. Yet, for some, the itinerant mendicant was an accepted part of (urban and rural) life. Solicitations for assistance provided people with the opportunity to engage in an act of Christian charity (the giving of alms), foregoing any distinctions between the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor.

This chapter analyses distinctions in how Catholic teachings on charity and good works were understood by Catholics and Protestants, with both sides perceiving disparate moral consequences for both giver and receiver in the alms-giving transaction. The exploration of Catholic approaches to poverty, mendicancy and alms-giving are presented in two sections – the first analysing discourses, the second examining actions. Case studies are presented of the views and actions of Archbishop Daniel Murray, and Mary Aikenhead and the Religious Sisters of Charity, while the question of indiscriminate alms-giving is also considered.

This chapter analyses the disparate views and responses towards beggary and alms-giving within Irish Protestantism. The significant role played by evangelicalism in framing approaches towards mendicancy is discussed. Themes which are explored, and which mirror the discussion in the previous chapter on Catholic approaches, include the ‘deserving’ / ‘undeserving’ distinction, the morality of indiscriminate alms-giving, and the role of Protestant commentators and churches on the Poor Law question.

Contemporary discourse on the poor and on beggary was beset with the difficulties of defining just who and what was being discussed. Definitions of begging and vagrancy were imprecise, shifting and problematic. Begging was part of the ‘economy of makeshifts’ which the poor negotiated on a daily basis. Mendicancy in nineteenth-century Ireland was also a practice which involved and enforced gendered attitudes and roles.

Chapter 5 is the second of three chapters focused on oral-literate idioms, this time introducing a new theme—called “poet-patron”—and charting its written oral-connected versions and oral-literate (metaphorical) versions. In Widsith and Deor the theme, as an oral-traditional idiom, portrays poets and patrons as characters who exemplify the symbiosis of appropriate socio-political deeds and words of praise. In Advent Lyrics, The Gifts of Men, “Alms-Giving,” and Thureth the theme metaphorically represents the interrelationship between God’s generosity and human praise.