Irish Medieval Monastic Schools

In marked contrast with the other Western churches, which were organized on a national and episcopal basis, the Irish Church was tribal and monastic. This was quite natural. The conversion of the chieftain was followed by the conversion of the clansmen and a tribal character was thus given to the nascent church. At an early date the Irish Church took a monastic form which accorded so well with the native social system. The abbot became chief of an ecclesiastical clan most of whose members were descended from the same common ancestor as the abbot himself. 

In Irish Medieval schools, moreover, we also find the origin of the future European Universities and of the famous “Ratio Studiorum”, the educational system of the Jesuits, of the Renaissance time. After the fall of the Roman Empire, in 476, countless numbers of monks, philosophers, teachers and scribes, many of whom hailed from Ireland, brought a new wave of re-moral-cultural renaissance to a Europe, ravaged by barbaric invasions, droughts, decadence and the disappearance of moral values, generating a genuine spiritual improvement, as opposed to advancing colonisation per se.

It in turn produced a healing and civic reunification of almost the entire European continent. In this epochal framework the Irish monks were the principal protagonists. By living their lives in the exemplary way they did, the monks, by example, proved that the power of the spirit and respect for values could be the catalyst to true and sustainable change. 

Irish Monastic Schools in Europe

According to the calculations of Sir James Ware the number of famous medieval schools in Ireland amounted to 164.  The main monastic centres Clonmacnoise, Clonard, Clonfert and Bangor had over 3000 students and monks. According to Professor Padraig O Riain in A Dictionary of Irish Saints,

scarcely a parish in Ireland is without one or more dedication to saints in the form of churches in ruins, holy wells and other ecclesiastical monuments.

He has documented over 1,000 saints associated with over 1000 parishes in Ireland and over 500 places in Europe containing such information as feast days, localizations, chronology and genealogies. Many of the Irish Monastic Centers are on the UNESCO World Heritage List including Skellig Michael, St. Gallen, Regensburg, Wurzburg, Reichenau, Salzburg, Vienna. 

Irish Foundations on the Continent

• In Netherlands: Namur, Liège, Gueldres, Fosse, Haumont, Soignes. 
• In France: Remiremont, Lure, Besançon, Poitiers (f. 511), Bezieres, Romain-Moutier, Brezille, Cusance, St. Ursanne, Fleury (f. 629), St. Riquier (f. 625), Jouarre, Reuil, Rébais (f. 634), Faremoutier, St. Maur-des-Fossés, Lagny, Montier-la-Celle, Caudabec, Hautvilliers, Montier-en-Der, St. Salaberga, Meaux, St. Saens, Fontennelle, Jumieges, Stavelot (f. 656), Corbie (f. 662), Anegray, LUXEUIL (f. 599), Fontaines, Ferrières (f. 630), Peronne (f. 650) or Perrona Scottorum, Toul, Amboise, Beaulieu, Strasbourg.
• In Germany and Switzerland: Hohenaug, Würzburg, Memmingen, Erfurt, Freyburg, Schuttern, Ettenheimünster, Mentz, Cologne, Nuremburg, Altomünster, Ratisbon or Regensburg, Constance, ST. GALL (f. 614), Mont St. Victor, Bregens (f. 610), Reichenau, Seckingen. 
• In Italy: BOBBIO (f. 612), Taranto, Lucca, Faenza, Fiesole.

READ MORE: GUIDE TO IRISH MONASTERIES

Ireland's hereditary ecclesiastical families

A soon-to-be-published book by Jerry Kelly explores the Hereditary Ecclesiastical Families of Ireland. You can follow Jerry's campaign here
 
“The purpose of the book is to comprehensively identify Ireland's hereditary ecclesiastical families.  Our three years of research have revealed that there were hundreds of these families, many more than previously known.  They played an extremely important role in Gaelic society from the earliest days of Christianity in Ireland until the 17th century.  Yet they and their story are largely unknown, even to their own descendants" You can preorder the book here

Generation after generation, Ireland's hereditary ecclesiastical families married, had children, and thereby staffed the church with priests, nuns, abbesses, abbots, monks, librarians, scribes, artists, manuscript illuminators, teachers, builders, braziers, goldsmiths, silversmiths, masters of canon and secular law, masters of classical learning, masters of Gaelic secular learning, annalists, administrators, and more.  This went on for over a thousand years.  Celibacy was a revered option.  But marriage was the norm.  
 
In other words, Ireland didn't become the "Isle of Saints and Scholars" by accident.  Generation after generation, these families systematically provided an abundant supply of holy men, holy women, and scholars.  Devoted to Ireland's native literary tradition, they were even more devoted to the classical learning of Greece and Rome.  Therefore, when you hear people talk about 'How The Irish Saved Civilization', it is the oldest lineages of these ecclesiastical families who were most responsible for accomplishing that feat.

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These families formed the foundation of Christian Ireland.  Knowledge of these families is essential for any comprehensive understanding of Ireland's history, or of Ireland's contribution to Western civilization.  In one place, in one book, the intent is to restore the identity of this singularly important group of Irish families.” 

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Organization of the Irish Monastery

In each of the great monasteries of Clonard, Bangor and Clonfert there were 3000, including probably both monks and students. St. Molaise had 1,500 at Mungret, St. Gobban had 1000 and so on down to the school of St. Mobi at Glasnevin with 50. This last number, fifty, seems to have been the usual number in the smaller monastic schools.

The Erenagh

The lands belonging to the monastery or church were usually managed by an officer called an erenagh. The erenagh, who was usually a layman, first deducted his own stipend and gave the residue for the purposes intended—the support of the church, or the relief of the poor. It was generally understood to be the duty of the erenagh to keep the church clean and in proper repair, and the grounds in order. There were erenaghs in connection with nearly all  the monasteries and churches Lay erenaghs were usually tonsured.

My Corcoran family was a hereditary Erenagh family, first documented in Fermanagh, Cleenish and Devenish on Lough Erne and later in Clogher, Ross Carbery, Inis Cealtra, Lismore, Lorrha, Clonfert, Rahan and Rathangan. Via the Monastic schools of Cleenish and Ross Carbery the served in the continental schools of St. Jacob in Wurzburg and Prague.

St Columbus and the Genealogy of the Irish Saints

The Record Treasury at the Public Records Office of Ireland stored seven centuries of Irish records dating back to the arrival of the Normans. These records were destroyed during the opening engagements of Civil War in 1922.

However despite this great loss, Ireland is fortunate to have a large corpus of ancient genealogies which survive since medieval times. According to Padraig O’Riain, Michael O’Brians Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae, probably contains more medieval texts of this kind than are found in the entire remaining European record.

The Munster manuscript known as The Psalter of Cashel dates from the early eleventh century.The assembly of secular genealogies continued to the seventeen century when the Four Masters compiled the Annals of Ireland and Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh collated in The Great Book of Irish Genealogies what Eugene O’Curry described as the greatest national genealogical collection in the world, certainly in the Western World.

The genealogies of the Irish Saints are contained in these collections as well as The Book of Glendalough (c.1130) and the Book of Leinster (c.1160). The Book of Ballymote, the Book of Lecan (c.1397) and the Book of Ui Mhaine continued this tradition.
These early sources were complimented by the later work of the Ordinance Survey of Ireland in the 1830s by John O’Donovan, Eugene O’Curry and Thomas O’Conor.

ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO FINDING YOUR ANCESTORS IN IRELAND

Much of what we know about Columbanus (St. Columbanus) comes from his own writing and the writings of his monks and followers including Jonas of Bobbio who wrote the Life of Columbanus which was written between 639 and 641.

Columbanus was born near Mount Leinster in Ireland in 540, the year Benedict of Nursia died at Monte Cassino. Prior to his birth, his mother was said to have had visions of bearing a child who, in the judgment of those interpreting the visions, would become a “remarkable genius”;. Columbanus was well-educated in the areas of grammar, rhetoric, geometry, and the Holy Scriptures. Columbanus left home to study under Sinell, Abbot of Cleenish in Lough Erne. He then moved to Bangor Abbey on the coast of Down, where Comgall was serving as the abbot. He stayed at Bangor until his fortieth year, when he received Comgalls permission to travel to the continent.

About the author: Gerard Corcoran is a founder of ISOGG Ireland, the International Society of Genetic Genealogy, with 7K members in the Irish Diaspora of a total of 20K ISOGG members. He regularly gives talks on DNA and Genealogy developments including to the Genealogical Society of Ireland and overseas. He is currently working on a number of projects on Irish Clanns and Ancient Genealogies.

Gerard leads Innovation and Research Partnerships, Medtech and Sportstech for Huawei Ireland Research Centre and was previously Senior Solutions Manager and Account Director for Huawei Enterprise Business Unit in Western Europe with responsibility for Smart and Safe Cities
and Communities.

Over the past 40 years Gerard has lived and worked in most EU countries and visited over 60 cities in China. He is on the Smart Cities Task Force for Smart City Dublin, Smart Docklands, Smart Sandyford, Smart Belfast, TMForum and Dun Laoghaire and is a Board Member of Sandyford Business District. He is also on the board of Irish Georgia Business Council and the Patient Advisory Board of Genuity
Science 

Are you interested in sharing your research with the wider diaspora community please get in touch at info@irelandxo.com

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