Download or read book The Island of Saints and Scholars written by Seán McMahon and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though the description Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum was not actually written down until the sixteenth century, Ireland's fame as the island of saints and scholars had then been established for more than six hundred years. That reputation was won mainly in what might otherwise have really been the Dark Ages. The Christian faith which had collapsed over most of Europe with the decline and fall of the western Roman empire still survived on the rocky fringes of the Atlantic seaboard. The 'pilgrims for Christ' as these Irish voyagers called themselves, spent the rest of their lives relighting a candle in the darkness and in spite of terrible deprivations, not least homesickness, re-establishing not only Christianity but the glories of classical learning which had fallen into their safe keeping. This book lists both saints and scholars (often in the same personality), their foundations and the works that made the period Ireland's truly golden age.