The Irish mission extended to the continent under Columbanus and his monks, who established a network of religious houses that included Bobbio in Northern Italy. The most notable of these is Lindisfarne, where monks produced lavish manuscripts like the Lindisfarne Gospels that synthesized Celtic, Saxon, and Mediterranean styles of manuscript illumination and decoration. Monks from Iona went on to found sister houses in the early medieval English kingdom of Northumbria. Columcille (latinized as Columba), for example, took Irish Christianity to Britain when he and his monks established an influential monastery on the island of Iona off the Scottish coast. Patrick’s mission extended beyond Ireland under his successors.
Patrick and his heirs, like Columba and Brigid of Kildare, established networks of monastic “city-states” throughout Ireland that served as centers of learning for religious men and women. Patrick brought Roman-style urbanization to the island, but not in the traditional form. Ireland was overwhelmingly rural prior to its Christianization. Cahill argues that the Romano-Briton (Celtic) Christian named Patricius (Patrick) “civilized” the warring and barbaric Irish while allowing their values of loyalty and courage to survive. The Irish were not, however, destined to save classical learning. Augustine was one of the last persons of the classical era who produced influential work. Their breach of Rome’s frontiers led to the destruction of Roman infrastructure, record-keeping, and learning. The reasons for Rome’s fall include internal political decay and external invasions by bands of Germanic speakers, including the Vandals, Suevi, Goths, and Alans. Thus, Irish Christianity played an integral role in the transition between the classical and medieval periods. The world would have lost many books were it not for their efforts. This study guide refers to the 1995 edition published by Doubleday with ISBN 8-5.Ĭahill argues that Irish monastic scribes “saved civilization” by copying and preserving the remnants of classical knowledge that survived in the West when the Roman Empire fell. It is, pure and simple, a traditional legend of saints" (Bitel, Lisa. Bitel wrote in The Catholic Historical Review, “I cannot begin here to list all the misread texts, over-simplified historical constructs, and biases of this book, but can only kindly suggest that it is not meant to be history, but hagiography. The book received widespread praise from the popular media upon publication but was criticized by academics.
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