Ireland by Vincent McDonnell Read Free Book Online Page B

legend tells us that Saint Brigid made the cross from rushes while she was trying to convert a dying pagan chieftain. It’s claimed that when she had made the cross and showed it to the chieftain he converted to Christianity.
    But while many of these Irish saints remained in Ireland, others left to preach the gospel in Scotland and England and in France and Germany and elsewhere in Europe. It is claimed that Saint Brendan, who was known as The Navigator because he made so many sea voyages, actually sailed to America almost 1,000 years before Christopher Columbus. We don’t know if this is true, but Saint Brendan did sail to the islands of Scotland and to England preaching the gospel. Irish missionaries were so successful in England that for over 100 years the kings of Northumbria spoke Irish.
    Saint Columcille was another man who travelled from Ireland to preach the gospel. He was born into an important family in Garten, County Donegal, in 521 and founded a great monastery at Derry. Later, when he travelled out of Ireland to preach the gospel, he did so for a different reason from other missionaries. You remember how Diarmuid gave his famous judgement, ‘to every book its copy?’ At first, Columcille did not accept this judgement, and he raised an army to fight Diarmuid. There was a great battle at Cúl Drebene in Sligo in which 2,000 men died. Columcille was so horrified at this slaughter, which he had caused, that he determined to travel away from Ireland and convert 2,000 pagans to Christianity. He sailed to the island of Iona off the Scottish coast and founded a famous monastery there.
    Saint Columbanus, who was born in Leinster probably around 550, is another famous Irish missionary. He, along with twelve other monks, sailed to France where they founded a monastery. At a time when Europe was ravaged by wars between different tribes, this monastery was a haven of peace and learning. Columbanus also travelled through Switzerland and on to Italy where he founded another monastery at Bobbio. He died there in 615.
    Other Irish missionaries went to Germany, which was a very dangerous place at this time. The Visigoths, the Vandals and another tribe of people, the Huns, were constantly fighting for supremacy. The Visigoths were successful, but they were then attacked around 750 by Arabs and Berbers who came from the east. Despite this constant warfare, the Irish missionaries founded monasteries there which also became centres of learning. It is claimed that these monasteries kept learning alive in Europe during the Dark Ages. Because of the influence of these Irish missionaries in Europe, many people from there came to Ireland to be educated at our monasteries and this too helped to keep learning alive outside Ireland.
    But not all these holy Irishmen lived in large monasteries, or travelled abroad. Many became hermits, or lived in small groups in lonely, uninhabited places. One of the most famous of those places is the hermitage on Skellig Michael, which is little more than a large rock off the coast of Kerry. Here, with flat stones, the monks built huts, resembling beehives, and lived simple lives of poverty, fasting and prayer.
    Of course, Ireland wasn’t totally at peace during those times, but compared to Britain and Europe, it was a haven of tranquillity. Wars were still fought between different kings as they sought power for themselves. Over the 400 or so years of the Golden Age, new families, or clans, emerged as the most powerful and important in the country. The most famous and powerful of these were the O’Neills of Ulster, the O’Briens of Munster and the O’Connors of Connacht, all of whom would play major parts in the future history of Ireland.
    We said earlier that whoever ruled at Tara claimed to be High King of Ireland. Though he did have great power, he didn’t really control the whole country. As other families, or clans, became more powerful, the power and influence of the king of Tara waned.