The Irish standard., 1894-04-07

noise, Bangor and Iona. After that b
described the buildings in which tn
schools were conducted, the peculia
style Of ancient Irish architecture, ans
/ especially of the churches. Thos'
Igroups of scholastic buildings consisted
Of churches, libraries, study halls, gues
houses, granaries, kilns, mills, and th'
like, all, in fact, that was necessary to-
the intellectual and material nourish
ment Of these unique student communi
ties. After shat he went on to describe
the dress, appearance and occupations o1
the old Irish teachers and the students
who focked from England, Italy, France
and Germany to study under the direc.
tibn of these learned men. He quoted
from the most ancient Irish annals and
contemporary mediaeval authorities tc
show that many of those schools counted
from 900 to 1000 students in regular at
tendance. After that he said something
Of the literary products of those schools.
They might be divided into the Latin
and vernacnlar Irish literature of the
Middle Ages. In both branches the
supply was once abundant, 80 much so,
in fact, that at the end of the eighth CEN
tury Angus and Culdee could speak OF
the "countless hosts of the illuminated
books of Erin" However, the Danes,
the renegade Irish chieftains of the
tenth and eleventh centuries, fire, neg
lebt, the impoverishment of the great
chiefs, the introduction of printing, the
''Eeformation,' the troopers of Cromwell,
and, above all, the unfortunate con:
tempt Of later ages, have destroyed. more
than nineteen twentieths of literature
whose very remnant, one thousand large
[ootavo volumes of manuscripts, mostly
imprinted, are clear evidence OF it's
wealth and variety. :
.None Of the nations Of modern Europe
his literature SO rich, SO old, so full Of
human interest, SO instructive of the his
tory, manners, language, institutions,
laws and the origins of European people.
The preservation of this literature alone
sudices to justify the veneration and es-
TEEN which ought to surround the names
al these ancient scholars and the holy
siteep which they taught so long and
so effectively. We are beginning to
learn to day that the history of the Mid
die Ages, both profane and ecclesiastical,
can no longer dispense with the knowl-
edge of the contents Of the old literature
of the Irish tongue. Moral theology,
canon law and liturgy owe much to the
old teachers and schools, as we'll as the
profane sciences of mathematics, astron-
omy, geography, geometry, surveying and
the like. They kept alive the love of
navigation and of travel by their. per-
petual wanderings over Europe and the
Orient. They built schools on the'Rhine,
on the Po, on the Danube, and they COW
cred by their conquests precisely the
same immense tract of central, southern
and western Europe which their pagan
ancestors four centuries before Christ
had filled with the renown of their arms
and the echoes of the flexible and lyrical
tongue. of the Celt. He then passed in
review the accomplishments Of these en-
inent schools in the matter of the fine
arts, and, above all, the art of caligraphy
or beautiful handwriting, in which the
best medieval critics say they were the
writing masters of Europe, it being once
no uncommon thing for German abbots
and abbeeses to hire band of Irish scribee
to write out their church books for them,
to copy prayer books for the prieste,
nuns and people. So. too, in the mar
velous illumination OF their manuscripts
they have never been surpassed by any
other nation, ancient or modern. The
most astounding illuminated book ex-
tant that has ever existed is the Book OF
Kells, in which human ingenuity, refine
ment and patience have surely reached
their acme. It was only surpassed by
the Gospel of Kildare, now lost, and
which the Irlsh-hating Gerald Barry
agreed must have been written by the
angels. In music these schools have rem
dered a very great service to society,
since they it was which preserved the
plaintive, mystic, tender songs OF the
Irish people. and thus saved for poster
ity the sweetest Of human delights.
He hoped that within no short time q
chair of Irish language and literature
would be- established in the Catholic
University in Washington, and that those
of our race whom God had blessed with
wealth would think it an honor to com
bine and erect in the new faculty of phil
osophy the chair around which might be
gathered instructors and students, libra
riee, collections Of Celtic antiquities, and
all the means necessary to place upon q
firm footing the study Of the Celtic liter
ature and language. The Latin, the
Greek, the Sanscrit, the German and the
Sclayonic tongues all need the illnmina-
n a Il - At~~1