The Irish standard., 1914-03-21
DEBT TO
IRISH MONKS
Their Work in Poetry and Prose
of Historic Value
Spread Gospel as They Travelled
Preached and Taught
Professor Rowan of Milwaukee Con
tributes Valuable Articles to
New World"

l
New World"
| The story Of Irish literature and
Irish monasticism is the story of Irish
wrongs and Irish woes. It is INSOFAR
ably interviewer with Ireland's sublime
record of sorrow, and was sent, like an
angel of light, to strengthen heroism
and console the unconquered subjects
of tyranny. We refer here not to
translations, which we shall meet in
the great monasteries, but to the poet
ry of Ireland, arrayed in the musical
language Of the imaginative Celt. For
more than two centuries after the
aeo+h Of St. Patrick, Ireland was the
mistress of the Muse. both In It's lyrl-
cal and epic Aspects period not pe,
san. "a long as that of her philosopn''
10, prominence, but long enough 70
.nt,t,e her to rank with the Augustine
age Of Rome, or the classical age o.
crooce a. a special development Oh
tho worlds poetry. Agibert, bishop OF
p..,s in a curious document entitled
| "Insula sanctorum ct Doctorum' as
.arta with unmistakable clearness'
that the poetry and liaterature OF an
o,o.+ Ireland constituted the entlre
culture of western Europe aooins
ut ia certain that she hath naa 'no
100 Of letters very anciently and long
before england" He was one OF those
Gauls who, by strange revolution o.
events was forced to emigrate 10 iie.
,.rd in search of the sciences whlcn
Gov, had lost, and who was surrey
atted to appreciate Irish genius in.s
w.a the golden age of Irish literature
n,h,ch thence fiourished with varied IN
oons,.+encv until the seventeenth cen
turv Alas, for the greater elevaeon
~ tho human heart, and mind, for VII
tho and patriotism, the temporary
sawor of the Danes, which vandalizeo
Irish libraries, and later the still lnoie
narn;c;ous and wanton outrage OF per.
adious England during the perlou "
40 reformation, have made 1t impos'
s;h,e for posterity to ascertain the e&-
~ amount of native Irish literature
oreated during this period. Many
manuscripts have persisted, but a ie"
sti,1 survive. and may be seen oy Tue
+rove,er in the libraries OF Armagh,
n,,h,in. London, Paris and even o.
Rome. ,,r+ mon.
tons two hundred poets OF lreianu'
among whom none was dearer 'l'n
Column. Cille. To this great and YER
sati,e genius of the Middle Ages alone
10 ascribed thirty-six original irish
nooms not to mention Latin transla'
4,on. After him we may mention
Furav whose startling visions OF heli'
clothed in all that ardor of romance
and mysticism which characterizeu
tha terribly vivid word-picture OF the
1to,i.n Renaissance, have induced men
tito Ozanam and Ampere to euloglze
him as the precursor of Dante. Caeo'
,,on whom the English claimed py
r;ght If birth, but whom Ireland may
90 strongly claim by right OF Columo,
ci,,a,s school, sang as mere cow'nerd
Of Whitby, of Satan and farau'se a
thousand years before the BRUSH
Homer was born. The history OF the
venerable Bede was but reflection III
.tu,o and arrangement of the carrier
"onna,s" of Irish monks which had re-
n1aced the tales of the bards.
AS in philosophy, scotus alone Oh
his unique pedestal is the 1nterple.a
+ion Of a. whole epoch, so in literature
- their oft mentioned and memoraoie
ro,umb.Cille. He was the genius VINO
clothed the living flesh and gave a
+hrobbing heart to the very emacla.eu
skeleton of Irish dialect, which win
tho Welsh is all that is pure IN the
very ancient Celtic. No PERIOD ~
richer in all that is capaDle VI ioee~
ing the reflective mind; and II time
were at hand, we might demonstrate
how it's influence lived and grew
through the centuries, giving express
sion to a Sir Walter Scott, or 10 Ire
lands own sweet warbler, Moore. We
might demonstrate at length upon the
details of the life of this great apostle
of Christendom; we might lead our
readers up the path of centuries until
they stand at the gate of the palace OF
Cormac McCulliam, King of Munster
and bishop of Cashel, whose metrical
legends, the "Psalter of Cashel," are
still extant; or two centuries later
where we discovered the world
famous annals of Tigernachus." But
we pause for want Of courage to prose
cute so sorrowful task. We are near
ing the infamous period of Strongbow
and De Courcy or later still, that in
glorious epoch from 1900 to 1920, in
which the Celtic language was pro
scribed bv the fanatical oppression o1