Land
of Saints & Scholars
Christianity first came to Ireland between the 3rd
and 5th Centuries and while much of Europe was plunging into the
Dark Ages, Ireland provided a beacon of light.
This
was Ireland's Golden Era as it became a burgeoning land of
art and literature, culture and Christianity, and many of Ireland's
most famous saints were plying their trade during this time.
Ireland's
most prominent patron saint, St Patrick is as much an integral figure
in Irish culture as he is in the country's Christianity. Brought
as a slave to Ireland from Wales in the 5th century, St Patrick
went on to convert the pagans of Ireland to Christianity.
There
are a great many legends surrounding St Patrick, from great battles
of miracles and magic against druid priests on the Hill of Tara,
sprouting shamrocks to explain the holy trinity, and of course banishing
all the snakes from Ireland. St Patrick established his first cathedral
at Armagh and ever since Armagh has been the Ecclesiastic capital
of Ireland and home to both the Catholic and Protestant Archbishops
of Ireland.
Saint
Brigid was daughter of a pagan King of Leinster and a Christian
Pictish slave who had been baptized by St. Patrick. According to
legend, Saint Brigid prayed that her beauty be taken so that she
could not marry and she became a nun.
Renowned
for her generosity and care for the poor, Saint Brigid famously
converted a dying man by making up a cross with rushes she found
on the ground to bless him with, something children in Ireland learn
to make in school on her feast day 1st February.
In
around 470, Saint Brigid established the Convent of Cill-Dara in
County Kildare and founded a school of art here which went on to
produce the illuminated manuscript; the Book of Kildare.
Born
in County Donegal in the 5th Century, Saint Columba/Columcille was
descended from great Irish nobility, tracing his ancestry to Niall
of the Nine Hostages, the legendary Irish High King.
From
his Irish name Columcille is known as ‘Dove of the Church'
and the saint established his first church in Derry in the 6th Century.
While he was a monk, St Columba, the patron saint of bookbinders
no less, wrote an illustrative book of psalms while at the monastery
of St Finnian. Both saints then fell out over who owned the copy,
the writer or the publisher, resulting in the Battle of Cul Dremhe
in 561. The battle was a massacre for both sides and the stalemate
was concluded in favour of the publisher by the then High King,
who declared ‘to each calf its cow', effectively established
the first copyright law.
In
remorse over those who died, St Columba left his native soil, never
to return. He set sail for Scotland to convert the Pictish pagans
as penance for those who died in the battle. St Columba travelled
Scotland before establishing his abbey on the isle of Iona off the
Scottish coast. During his travels of the Highlands, it is said
St Columba encountered the Loch Ness Monster, healing a local chieftain
who had been attacked by Nessy and banishing the beast to the Loch.
Another
Irish saint from this era with some interesting legends was Saint
Brendan. Known as the navigator it is said he discovered the Americas,
sailing from his home county of Kerry, sometime in the 5th Century.
St
Brendan was ordained by St Erc around 512 and went on to establish
monastic settlements at the foot of Mount Brandon on the Dingle
peninsula and in later years established his great monastery at
Clonfert County Galway, where he is interred.
St
Brendan undertook his legendary voyage across the Atlantic in a
leather coracle, along with 14 other monks in search of the Garden
of Eden. It is believed by many that St Brendan's voyage brought
him to North America, and that Christopher Columbus relied on the
legends of St Brendan for his voyage and even visited, Brendan's
monastery at Clonfert before heading across the Atlantic. Brendan's
voyage was repeated in the 1970s by explorer Tom Severin, whose
coracle boat is exhibited at Craggaunowen Castle in Galway.
From
the 7th and 8th Centuries, Irish Scholars excelled in Latin and
in turn attracted scholars from across Europe to learn Christian
theology in Ireland. This Golden era of Irish history, saw monks
in Ireland craft some of the finest artefacts of medieval Christian
art in the form of illustrative manuscripts and high crosses, such
as the famous Book of Kells on show at Trinity College in Dublin
and the Celtic crosses of Monasterboice in County Louth. Great centres
of Christian learning and pilgrimage grew up around Glendalough,
St Kevin's former hermitage in the Wicklow Mountains and Clonmacnoise,
in County Offaly and the Rock of Cashel in Tipperary.
However
by the end of the 8th Century, as their reputation, importance and
wealth grew, these great churches began to attract a very different
kind of pilgrim, the kind that came with axes and swords in Longboats
from Scandinavia. There was a legacy of off shore plundering before
the Vikings decided they'd settle in the channels along Ireland's
coast, establishing the cities of Dublin, Waterford and Wexford.
From here they could easily weave inland for a spot of pillaging
and be back in time for supper. The great religious centres were
virtually defenceless but quite resourceful and began to build tall
thin round towers that allowed the monks to simple shut the door,
pull up the draw bridge and sit out the siege until the Vikings
got fed up. You'll still see round towers today at Glendalough,
Cashel and Clonmacnoise, a testament to their success.
But
by the time the native Irish had sent their unwelcome Norse guests
packing, the Golden Age of early Christianity was coming to a close
to be replaced by decades of domination by the their British neighbours
and religious strife. Then in 1879, something very interesting happened
in the sleepy town of Knock
On
21st August of that year, fifteen people from the town in county
Mayo, saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary, St Joseph and ST John
the Evangelist at the South Gable of the local parish Church. Since
then Knock has become an internationally recognised Marian Shrine
and is now one of Ireland's most visited places drawing millions
of visitors each year.
Knock
is one of many pilgrimages that people make in Ireland, some dating
back centuries, two of the most well known being The Reek and Lough
Derg. On the last Sunday of July, thousands of people gather at
the town of Westport in County Mayo to walk, (some barefoot!) the
765m to the summit in Croagh Patrick. For over 1,500 years people
have made the pilgrimage to the top of this holy mountain, said
to be where St Patrick banished all the snakes from Ireland.
Lough
Derg in Co. Donegal is known for ‘St Patrick's Purgatory',
the pilgrimage and 3-day vigil on Station Island in the centre of
the lake. From June 1st to August 15th pilgrims gather each year
to the island where they fast for three days and make barefoot circuits
around the island performing the stations of the cross. It's
a very serious undertaking and certainly not for the feint hearted!
Christianity
still plays a huge role in everyday life in Ireland and the country's
once great centres of religion and learning, while mostly ruins,
are visited by pilgrims and tourists alike. Places like the Rock
of Cashel, Jerpoint Abbey, Clonmacnoise, and Glendalough as well
as the Book of Kells, make up some of Ireland's most popular
visitor attractions and offer an insight into Ireland's Golden
Age as the Land of Saints and Scholars.
Seamus O'Murchú
Until this time next month...
Best Wishes,
Conor B & Seamus.
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