【正文】 in groves of oak trees. In the crude state ofknowledge of those times, the Irish priests were considered verylearned, and when Plutarch mentions Ireland, he says that it wasthe dwelling place of holy men. Festus Avienus in the fourthcentury was the first to give Ireland the title of InsulaSacra。 and later, after having undergone the invasions of theSpanish and Gaelic tribes, it was converted to Christianity bySt. Patrick and his followers, and again earned the title of39。Holy Isle39。. I do not propose to give a plete history of the Irish churchin the first centuries of the Christian era. To do so would bebeyond the scope of this lecture, and, in addition, not overlyinteresting. But it is necessary to give you some explanation ofmy title 39。Island of Saints and Sages39。, and to show you itshistorical basis. Leaving aside the names of the innumerablechurchmen whose work was exclusively national, I beg you tofollow me for a few minutes while I expose to your view thetraces that the numerous Celtic apostles in almost every countryhave left behind them. It is necessary to recount briefly eventsthat today seem trivial to the lay mind, because in the centuriesin which they occurred and in all the succeeding Middle Ages, notonly history itself, but the sciences and the various arts wereall pletely religious in character, under the guardianship ofa more than maternal church. And, in fact, what were the Italianscientists and artists before the Renaissance if not obedienthandmaids of God, erudite mentators of sacred writings, orillustrators in verse or painting of the Christian fable ? It will seem strange that an island as remote as Ireland fromthe centre of culture could excel as a school for apostles, buteven a superficial consideration will show us that the Irishnation39。s insistence on developing its own culture by itself isnot so much the demand of a young nation that wants to make goodin the European concert as the demand of a very old nation torenew under new forms the glories of a past civilization. Even inthe first century of the Christian era, under the apostleship ofSt. Peter, we find the Irishman Mansuetus, who was latercanonized, serving as a missionary in Lorraine, where he foundeda church and preached for half a century. Cataldus had acathedral and two hundred theologians at Geneva, and was latermade bishop of Taranto. The great heresiarch Belagius, atraveller and tireless propagandist, if not an Irishman, as manycontend, was certainly either Irish or Scottish, as was his righthand, Caelestius. Sedulius traversed a great part of the world,and finally settled at Rome, where he posed the beauties ofalmost five hundred theological tracts, and many sacred hymnsthat are used even today in Catholic ritual. Fridolinus Viator,that is, the Voyager, of royal Irish stock, was a missionaryamong the Germans, and died at Seckingen in Germany, where he isburied. Fiery Columbanus had the task of reforming the Frenchchurch, and, after having started a civil war in Burgundy by hispreaching, went to Italy, where he became the apostle of theLombards and founded the monastery at Bobbio. Frigidian, son ofthe king of northern Ireland, occupied the bishopric of Lucca.St. Gall, who at first was the student and panion ofColumbanus, lived among the Grisons in Switzerland as a hermit,hunting, and fishing, and cultivating his fields by himself. Herefused the bishopric of the city of Constance, which was offeredto him, and died at the age of ninetyfive. On the site of hishermitage an abbey rose, and its abbot became prince of thecanton by the grace of God, and greatly enriched the library, whose ruins are still shown to those who visit theancient town of St. Gall. Finnian, called the Learned, founded a school of theology onthe banks of the river Boyne in Ireland, where he taught Catholicdoctrine to thousands of students from Great Britain, France,Armorica, and Germany, giving them all (O happy time!) not onlytheir books and instruction but also free room and board.However, it seems that some of them neglected to fill their studylamps, and one student whose lamp went out suddenly had to invokethe divine grace, which made his fingers shine miraculously insuch a way that by running his luminous fingers through thepages, he was able to satisfy his thirst for knowledge. St.Fiacre, for whom there is a memorative plaque in the church ofSt. Mathurin in Paris, preached to the French and conductedextravagant funerals at the expense of the court. Fursey foundedmonasteries in five countries, and his feast day is stillcelebrated at Peronne, the place where he died in Picardy. Arbogast built sanctuaries and chapels in Alsace and Lorraine,and ruled the bishop39。s see at Strasbourg for five years until,feeling that he was near his end (according to his Dauphin) hewent to live in a hut at the place where criminals were put todeath and where later the great cathedral of the city was built.St. Verus became champion of the cult of the Virgin Mary inFrance, and Disibod, bishop of Dublin, travelled here and therethrough all of Germany for more than forty years, and finallyfounded a Benedictine monastery named Mount Disibod, now calledDisenberg. Rumold became bishop of Mechlin in France, and themartyr Albinus, with Charlemagne39。s help, founded an institute ofscience at Paris and another which he directed for many years inancient Ticinum (now Pavia). Kilian, the apostle of Franconia,was consecrated bishop of Wurzburg, in Germany, but, trying toplay the part of John the Baptist between Duke Gozbert and hismistress, he was killed by cutthroats. Sedulius the younger waschosen by Gregory II for the mission of settling the quarrels ofthe clergy in Spain, but when he arrived there, the Spanishpriests refused to listen to him, on the grounds that he was a