The word ‘puritan’ is one that we hear occasionally in our daily conversation in today’s society in Ireland and also elsewhere in the Western world. It has a negative connotation, of course, indicating very strict attitudes and practices in relation to morality and religion, ones that the speaker/s does/do not accept. One dictionary puts it like this: A puritan is ‘any person practising or advocating extreme strictness in conduct or religion, usually in a deprecating sense.’