The barefooted Irish monks that appeared in Europe to combat both Arianism and paganism were a sight to behold. Even the strangeness of their tonsure made them look formidable. Pope St. Gregory the Great summoned them to re-convert the wayward faithful and teach the clergy of the continent the inspired language of the New Testament, which for too long had been forgotten in the West. This army of missionaries from Eirin left behind a grateful legacy in the form of scores of churches and monasteries, from Italy to Germany, which the people named after St. Patrick. Columban (whose rule stressed that a monk should not lie down to sleep, but fall down) and his dozen, were the first of many such waves to come from Ireland to the continent for about two more centuries.
Vatican, Jun. 11, 2008 (CWNews.com) – Pope Benedict XVI (bio – news) spoke of St. Columbanus, the 6th-century Irish monk, at his regular weekly public audience on June 11.
After his education and spiritual formation in an Irish monastery, Columbanus and a group of 12 companions became missionaries on the European continent, the Pope recalled. They spread the faith “where the migration of peoples from the north and the east had caused entire Christian regions to lapse back into paganism.” Full article here.
