READINGS IN IRISH HISTORY

New Zealand Tablet, 10 May 1917, Page 14

READINGS IN IRISH HISTORY

By ‘ Shanachie.’

IRISH MISSIONARIES IN SWITZERLAND AND ITALY. St, Fridolin was the first Irish missionary to preach the Gospel in Switzerland. He had come as a pilgrim to the shrine of St. Hilary of Poitiers, and from thence he passed to the scene of his future labors. The Canton of Glarus was the first district of Switzerland the saint visited. Struck with the religious desolation of the place, he there and then resolved to build a church dedicated to St. Hilary. Later on (511) he chose the island of Seckingen, on the Rhine, near Basle, as the centre of his missions. The memory of St. Fridolin still lingers in Switzerland; he is honored as the chief patron of Glarus. The good work thus begun by Fridolin was carried on by Columban and his companions. When Columban was driven out of Luxeuil he found a safe asylum on the shores of Lake Constance, until he moved thence to Bobbio. By far the most distinguished disciple of Columban was St. Gall. This man remained in Switzerland after his master’s departure, and in the words of A'lzog, ‘ founded there one of the most celebrated monasteries in Christendom.’ So devoted was he to missionary work that he would not accept the bishopric of Constance, which Duke Gunzo pressed on him. He also refused the request of a deputation of Irish monks from Luxeuil, who, in the year 625, wanted him to become Abbot of that great monastery. He gave as his reason for refusal that he was a stranger to them, and moreover, if he accepted their offer he should be obliged to forsake the Alemanni, who were as yet pagans, or only partially converted. He continued to preach the Gospel to the inhabitants of the country round his monastery, and at the time of his death, 646 A.D., in the ninety-fifth year of his age, the whole country of the Alemanni had become a Christian province.

We must be satisfied with the mere mention of other Irishmen who labored for the conversion of Switzerland. Such were: Trudpert, Lahdelin, and Pirminus, ' the founder of Reichenau,' the great twin abbey of that neighborhood, with St. Gall. This spiritual connection between Ireland and Switzerland continued all through the ninth century. St. Findan built a hermitage at Rheinau, near Schaffhausen, which soon grew into a great centre of religious life. During the same century, St. Eusebius established a monastery at Mount St. Victor, and another Irishman, Moengal, taught at St. Gall men who ranked as the most famous German scholars of those days. The first great Irish foundation in Italy was Bobbio. The circumstances of its origin are these : Columban zeal outran his discretion when preaching the Gospel to the pagan tribes round Lake Constance. Accordingly he had to fly with his companions into Italy. He crossed the Alps by the Gothard Pass, though he must have been then over seventy years of age. He made his way to the Court of the Lombard king, who, though an Arian heretic, received Columban kindly. It was, no doubt, mainly through the influence of the queen, a devout Catholic, that the broken-down old man and his companions were so hospitably received. Here, too, there was plenty of scope for Columban's zeal. It was necessary, however, in the first place, to have a permanent abode for himself and his monks. This was soon forthcoming. The king gave them the ruined Church of St. Peter, near the Trebbia, almost at the very spot the great Carthaginian general, Hannibal, first felt the rigors of that fierce winter, so graphically described by Livy. While at Bobbio, Columban converted the Lombard- king, and at his request wrote a formula of Faith, which, according to Cardinal Moran, is in all probability the famous Quicumque Vult.' The great Columban died in 615, a year after the foundation of Bobbio.

We have already treated of St. Cathaldus ' of Taranto. At Lucca another Irish saint, whom the Italians name Erediano, and whose Latinised name is St. Frigidian, is honored as patron. • . . When Charlemagne established the school of Pavia, he placed at its head the Irish monk Albinus. The monastic chronicler of St. Gall describes the coming of this man to the court of Charlemagne, in these words: ‘ When the illustrious Charles began to reign alone in the western parts of the world, and literature waA almost everywhere forgotten, and the worship of the true God was accordingly feeble, it happened that two Scots of Ireland, men incomparably skilled in human learning and the Holy Scriptures, came over with some British merchants to France.’ Referring to Charlemagne and Pavia recalls to our mind another distinguished Irish astronomer and writer, named Dungal. In the year 811, we find Dungal in France. He seems to have been a monk at St. Denis. In that year he addressed a remarkable letter to Charlemagne on the two solar eclipses which were said to have taken place in the previous year. *We have read it over carefully,’ writes Dr. Healy. *lt is written in excellent Latin, and shows that the writer was intimately acquainted with many of the classical authors, especially Virgil and Cicero. After this time we lose sight of Dungal for several years. Charlemagne died in 814, and was succeeded by his son, Louis the Pious, whose son Lothaire was crowned King of Lombardy in 821. The Lombards were a restless and turbulent people. Lothaire, believing that education and religion would be the most efficacious means of keeping them in order, induced Dungal and Claudius, as well as several other scholars of the Imperial Court, to accompany him to Italy. Claudius became Bishop of Turin, and Dungal taught at Pavia. Thus Dungal and Claudius were immediate neighbors. Neighbors, however, sometimes quarrel. Claudius was in secret an Iconoclastan image-breaking heretic. When he became bishop, he threw off the sheep s clothing, and showed himself for what he truly was, a ravenous wolf. He wrote a book censuring the relative worship Catholics pay to images, and by word and deed approved of the Iconoclastic heresy. At once the Irish wolf-dog sprang upon his foe. Dungal came forward with a crushing rejoinder to Claudius. ‘lt is impossible,’ writes Dr. Healy, ‘ not to admire the great knowledge of Sacred Scriptures and Patristic literature displayed by the author. He reasons, too, clearly and cogently; and writes in a limpid and flowing style. Indeed, we know no writer- of that age who excels Dungal in Latin composition, whether in poetry or prose; and this is generally admitted by those acquainted with the Latin literature of the period. Muratori observes that this work shows that Dungal was a man of wide culture.’ It was the death-blow to Iconoclasm in the West; soon the heresy entirely disappeared till revived again in the 16th century by such vandals as Knox and his rascal multitude.’ What wonderful champions of the true Faith these Irish monks were ! At one time it is Virgilius safeguarding the dignity of the sacrament of Baptism, at another it is Columban combating Arianism, now it is Dungal crushing Iconoclasm. Dungal died in 834, and is supposed to be buried in the crypts of Bobbio. Another Irish saint who awaits the Resurrection at Bobbio is Bishop Cummian. The story of his life is brief. He left Ireland when an old man of 75 ; and entering the monastery at Bobbio spent more than twenty years as a monk there. Luitprand, King of the Lombards (711-744), is said to have erected the monument to him which still exists in the crypt of Bobbio Cathedral. We will conclude these sketches with a short reference to -St. Donatus of Fiesole. Donatus was born in Ireland of noble parents towards the end of the eighth century. Having spent a number of years at home, he resolved to make a pilgrimage to Rome. He travelled slowly and by zigzag ways through Franc© and Italy until he arrived at Rome. Here he sojourned for a considerable time. Having obtained the Pope’s blessing, he determined to return home. • Directing his steps towards Tuscany he halted at a monastery in

Fiesole, near Florence. It turned out that the bishop of the place died, and the clergy and people resolved to have Donatus for their chief pastor. This was about the year 824. He died about 861, and his tomb is still pointed out and regarded with much reverence in Fiesole. Donatus wrote a Latin poem in praise of his native land. The following is a translation of part of it mad© over a century and a-half ago by a Dublin poet :— ‘Far westward lies an isle of ancient fame, rpj-. By nature blessed; and Scotia is her name. Enrolled in books; exhaustless is her store Of veiny silver and of golden ore. Her fruitful soil ever teems with wealth, With gems her waters, and her air with health; v- Her verdant fields with milk and honey flow Her woolly fleeces vie with virgin snow ; Her waving furrows float with bearded corn, And arms and arts her envied sons adorn ! No savage bear with lawless fury roves,, Nor fiercer lion through her peaceful groves; No poison there infects, no scaly snake Creeps through the grass, nor frog annoys the lake ; A nation worthy of its pious race, In war triumphant, and unmatched in peace !’ ‘ The memory of our Irish saints is, after their faith and ours, the dearest inheritance which has come down to us. We need their aid and protection, never more perhaps than at the present day ; and if we honor them as we ought, keeping their glorious example before our eyes, we can reckon with certainty on their aid and protection.’ (Cardinal Logue.) They stand forth like a beacon light flashing over the path which the progress of sanctity, learning, and civilisation has traced through the ages, under the fostering care of the Church. They have merited for Ireland, so dear to most of them, the proud title of ‘lsland of Saints and Scholars.’